Discipline doesn’t come when the work is easy

Originally written June 23 2021

I recently started two new jobs - super exciting! I’ve been looking forward to a new professional chapter in my life for quite some time and it seemed like these opportunities lined up perfectly.

One role is based out of Jersey City which is rather close to me. Since I don’t have a car where I live currently, I decided to bike to the office the other day.

And let me tell you, it was a little disastrous.

With limited (close to no) bike lanes, my phone somehow calling 911 (not sure how it even happened because the phone wasn’t in my pocket to butt dial), dropping my lunch and phone, it was a rough start to the afternoon.

I was getting pretty frustrated with myself. I pulled over and decided if it was worth it to just bring the bike back and then Uber. The frustration didn’t seem worth it.

But something clicked in my head. I just had to do it. I already started.

Had I turned around and called Uber, that meant the difficult situation won. And I couldn’t say I biked to work. And I wouldn’t feel like I had followed through on the commitment I made to myself.

Keeping a commitment to myself was something I struggled with until this year. It wasn’t until the winter that I realized your mind is so much more powerful than you realize. I’ve been working on my discipline and getting promises that backing out from something as little as not riding the bike to to work (don’t worry it wasn't unsafe I’m not that crazy) would’ve really put me in a mood.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again - confidence and self-esteem is not given, it is created. and it’s created in the moments where you do the hard things. Where you don’t back down. When you finish the run or walk even though you thought you were going to pass out. When you read that extra 5 pages of your book. When you get ahead on that passion project even though you’re tired from your 9-5. Discipline is not built on the easy days, it’s created in the hard ones.