In this video, we'll discuss the 5 mental blocks that may be stopping

you from achieving self-discipline and how to overcome them. If you're

looking for motivation and ways to boost productivity, this video is for

you! Unlock your potential and reach your goals with these tips.

00:00:00 The Power of Self-Discipline

00:10:38 5 Mental Hindrances To Self-Discipline.

00:18:54 The Brain That Works Against You.

Struggling to achieve your goals? Feeling stuck in a cycle of procrastination and self-doubt? You're not alone!

Hear it Here - https://bit.ly/PowerOfSelfDiscipline

The Power of Self-Discipline: .

5-Minute Exercises to Build Self-Control, .

Good Habits, .

and Keep Going When You Want to Give Up (Live a Disciplined Life Book 10) .

Written by .

Peter Hollins

Narrated by Russell Newton.

Rosa became obsessed with films after

watching Back to the Future at the age

of eight,

and subsequently decided she wanted to

be a movie director.

There hasn’t been any other ambition

for her ever since.

She always kept her goal of directing

in mind,

even though for the next twenty years,

she never made any concrete steps

toward it other than to be an avid

movie watcher.

Her knowledge of arcane movie trivia

was second to none.

Whatever hours she didn’t spend

watching films she spent on the

Internet and in history books reading

about them.

If she could have gone on the trivia

television show Jeopardy,

she would have been a long-running

champion.

Rosa had read multiple biographies of

all of her favorite directors -

Spielberg,

Kurosawa,

Fellini,

Miyazaki,

and more.

Yet she never translated this research,

knowledge,

and information into action.

She had a fairly expensive video camera

that she kept confined to her closet,

as well as an archive of film editing

software that she had only used a

handful of times.

They were all too intimidating and

confusing.

Moreover,

what if she discovered that all her

knowledge and preparation weren’t

enough and she was destined to fail at

becoming a director?

It was easier to take the path of least

resistance and remain in inaction.

At least learning about Fellini and

Miyazaki’s favorite films made her

feel productive to some degree,

even if she was avoiding the elephant

in the room.

One day,

she discovered an acquaintance of hers

had started a YouTube channel that was

quickly amassing millions of views.

Out of curiosity,

she started viewing the videos and was

struck by what she saw.

This wasn’t art—the shots weren’t

framed adequately,

her focus was wrong,

and the narrative structure was

reversed!

None of the viewers seemed to care,

however,

as the views continued to increase.

What’s more,

the reviews of the videos were all

glowing and encouraging.

No one cared about the framing or focus.

It was impossible for Rosa to ignore

the fact that this person had done far

more than Rosa and with far less

knowledge and expertise.

So Rosa made a dramatic decision.

If she can do it,

why can’t I?

For four months she was going to make

real,

concrete strides toward becoming a

director—of anything.

It was time to buckle down and keep

going when all she wanted to do was

give up.

No more retreating to her comfort zone;

she was going to translate her dreams

into reality through sheer willpower

and self-discipline.

She already had the knowledge;

it was just time to put it into action.

She first organized her time into two

categories - learn and practice.

During learn time,

Rosa methodically studied how to write

a script,

assemble a plot,

and what methods renowned directors

used to get the shots they wanted.

During practice time,

she experimented with different shots

and angles,

wrote a few scenes,

and changed perspectives and storylines

to see which ones worked the best.

No more was she spending hours watching

commentary of old movies she’d seen

hundreds of times before.

And no more was she letting her

equipment gather dust in the closet for

fear of not being able to use it

correctly.

For a while,

Rosa was brimming with energy and

enthusiasm at finally doing something

about a dream she had held for so long.

The day those four months ended,

Rosa set out to make her film.

She found a few local actors who were

willing to work for pizza.

She herself was the camerawoman.

Her cousin was her sound person,

and her dog was a prop.

When she finished,

she put it online and it garnered a few

hundred views,

mostly from family and friends.

Rosa wasn’t a professional filmmaker,

but these were all steps on the journey

to seeing her wishes become reality.

She committed herself to completing one

short film every month thereafter.

She soon grew a reputation for being

one of the speediest and most

knowledgeable directors in the business.

A scant three years later,

one of her short films was entered into

a film festival competition,

something she never even dreamed about

when she was just starting out.

While she didn’t win any prizes,

she still gained recognition and began

to be able to support herself through

her childhood dream of directing.

One day,

all at once it seemed,

Rosa took a look at the work she had

done and felt genuinely good about how

far she’d come.

She had done it (or rather,

she was well on the path to doing it,

and keep on doing it!).

All the awkward first attempts,

early failures and learning curves

almost vanished from her memory and she

felt proud,

accomplished,

and confident in her abilities.

She wanted to do even more and go even

further.

Some might say Rosa was lucky.

Perhaps some other movie buff who never

quite made the leap from “thinking

about it” to actually doing it.

That is partially true—but if Rosa

had never made the decision to buckle

down and do what she had been avoiding

for years,

she never would have been in the

position to be lucky.

So what brought Rosa the success she

attained as a director?

She realized just in time that she

needed to give herself the gift of

self-discipline.

She knew that whatever she wanted was

behind a door that could only be

unlocked by it,

and no one else could do it for her.

Nobody could push her through that door

or open it for her.

If she did nothing,

she would stay on the wrong side of it

forever,

dreaming and hoping,

yet never any closer to what she craved

deep down.

She changed her habits,

started thinking methodically,

and put her ideas into motion.

She didn’t expect overnight miracles

or get discouraged when her first

attempts were a little rough.

She didn’t accept a lifestyle devoid

of challenge or pain,

and she willed herself to a goal

through hardship and struggle.

She didn’t give up when she wanted

to,

as she did for years,

and put her goals above a sense of

temporary discomfort.

In a way,

she dimply no longer accepted that not

striving for her goal was an option for

her anymore.

Self-discipline,

willpower,

self-control,

“mind over matter”—whatever you

want to call it,

that was what Rosa summoned,

and that’s what this book is about.

It’s the process of going through

what we’d rather avoid,

in order to reach what makes us

happiest.

Even if you don’t quite believe it

right now,

Rosa possessed no extra superpowers

that you lack.

If it seems difficult,

well,

it is.

But it was no less difficult for Rosa

to get over her sense of doubt and

disbelief,

than it is for you now to imagine that

you could succeed at your dreams.

What I mean is—if she can do it,

then so can you.

On the surface,

it’s easy to explain - ensuring that

we act in accordance with our

intentions.

It means focusing our intentions and

behaviors in one direction to achieve

the life we want.

It represents the ability to do what we

want no matter what.

We intellectually and logically know

that it’s the way to what we want.

The only way.

So why did Rosa wait years to act?

Why is it so hard for many of us?

Self-discipline and matching a thought

to an action involves the mind.

The second part—the action—is not a

problem because our arms and legs

generally do what we tell them to do.

They aren’t pulled in different

directions by stray thoughts.

Even if they don’t listen to us the

first time,

we can physically force them into

compliance.

But the mind—your thoughts,

intentions,

and expectations—can’t be twisted

and forced into anything.

Consider that the goal of most

meditation and mindfulness practices is

to eliminate all mental chatter to

focus on a single thought,

or to focus on a physical sensation and

no thought at all.

Control and mastery over our minds are

a few of the best weapons against

stress and anxiety.

Arguably,

control over the mind and translating

that into action is one of life’s

most elusive achievements.

Quick—don’t think about the purple

elephant wearing a tutu.

Did my warning work?

Are you now not picturing the elephant

standing in a meadow with its big

floppy ears and a white sheer tutu?

Are you successfully not imagining its

trunk and thick legs?

Probably not.

And that’s why the mind is such a

difficult beast to defeat.

Self-discipline is the creation of a

clear path between your internal and

external realities,

no matter what.

No matter if there are no immediate

rewards;

in fact,

the rewards are usually so far away

that you can’t even fathom them at

the moment.

No matter that sometimes the progress

is so gradual that it’s difficult for

one to gauge any difference,

and if they can’t see exactly how

they’re getting better,

then they’re apt to give up.

No matter that other times,

the mind is hijacked by emotions,

triggers,

and otherwise damaging thought patterns.

This is just a small sampling of what

we battle on the road from intentions

to actions.

However well-intentioned you are,

your mind just doesn’t care.

It has to be coaxed,

built,

and even tricked into compliance,

and that’s what you’ll learn in

this book.

Appropriately,

this first chapter is about the various

obstacles we face in putting a leash on

our minds.

5 Mental Hindrances To Self-Discipline.

What blocks us from attaining strong

self-discipline?

An especially illustrative set of

obstacles comes from Buddhist

philosophy.

When you think of Buddhism,

the world discipline is usually not far

away.

In fact,

discipline is right at the core of

Buddhist teachings.

Its tenets emphasize maintaining a

sense of control over one’s mind and

body as a means to fulfillment.

In fact,

it preaches that we are naturally

endowed with the ability to do what we

want,

and feel contentment at all times.

However,

we give up those feelings of control to

someone or something outside of

ourselves;

we relinquish our own power to an

external force that we perceive has

more power.

We say,

“I can’t,” “I shouldn’t,”

or “I won’t,” far more often than

we should.

We say it so much that we believe that

fighting against these powers is

useless,

and thus we lose power over ourselves.

In other words,

when we tell ourselves we have no

discipline,

it ends up being true.

Therefore,

Buddhism teaches that a lack of

personal power is illusory.

It can be difficult to take that power

back,

but this,

of course,

is one of the first steps to

self-discipline—believing that it’s

possible and within your control.

Part of the process involves knowing

exactly how we’re being blocked or

prohibited from exercising that control.

To that end,

there are five areas that cover most,

if not all,

of the sources of our trepidation in

taking control of our lives.

If you’re just starting to figure out

where your shortcomings in

self-discipline exist,

these five areas are helpful to start

investigating yourself.

If you’re a grizzled veteran seeking

new methods,

these five areas may provide new

perspective on familiar issues.

Below are the five mental hindrances -

• giving in to the five senses.

• animosity and malice.

• apathy and laziness.

• anxiety and remorse.

• hesitation and doubt.

Giving in to the five senses.

Control over our thoughts is usurped

when we are distracted by our physical

surroundings.

We put too much attention and

importance on information from our

senses of sight,

sound,

smell,

hearing,

and touch—whether it’s physical

beauty,

the smell of freshly baked bread,

a great love song,

or a horrible scene of violence.

We allow these sensations to overwhelm

us and replace our conscious thoughts

and goals.

Our senses bring us the most immediate

understanding of the external world and

help us orient and make sense (quite

literally!)

of ourselves and our place in the word.

But we overstate their importance to us

and can forget that we are ultimately

in control.

Our senses gather data from the world,

but it is then up to us whether we get

distracted by,

attached to,

or lost in that data,

or whether we can maintain a calm,

focused awareness of ourselves despite

any stimulus,

even as transient sensations pass over

us.

Many of us only believe in what we can

experience with these senses,

or we at least allow them to take over

our concentration as we seek to gratify

ourselves.

We forget ourselves.

Our attention becomes like a flimsy

balloon blown this way or that way by

any breeze that comes along.

Sensory information by its very nature

is instant gratification.

But not everything is beneficial or

even deserves our attention.

We have a choice.

To attain self-discipline,

we need to put sensory information in

its proper context - allowing ourselves

to indulge in and experience those

senses fully but also keeping aware

that they are temporary,

distracting,

and ultimately hindrances.

Animosity and malice.

Emotions have the ability to completely

override our thoughts of

self-discipline,

and anger is one of the strongest

emotions.

People are adept at unconsciously

ingraining all emotions adjacent to

anger,

such as resentment,

bitterness,

and animosity,

into their thought patterns.

The destructive power of malice isn’t

just about what other people do to us,

either—it can also be directed toward

ourselves in the acts of guilt or

self-loathing.

They have the ability to undermine all

of our thoughts and render us

practically blind in fits of rage.

We obsess over past miscarriages of

justice or fairness that hurt us - the

ex who broke your heart,

the company that fired you for stupid

reasons,

or the drive-thru restaurant that got

your order wrong.

These feelings activate our impulse to

exact retribution or punish the people

or institutions who have “done us

wrong."

It’s draining at best and

self-sabotage at worst.

When you act to address animosity and

malice,

you certainly don’t address your

goals.

Apathy and laziness.

The simple act of doing is not usually

preferable.

Being human takes a lot of work.

For many,

it’s easier to allow themselves and

their bodies to seek an escape from

constant mental and physical activity

by shutting down and feeling nothing.

Whatever it takes to get along in the

world is just too much for them to deal

with,

and the end product is apathy and sloth.

This is a mental hindrance you are

probably quite familiar with.

Humans tend to enjoy the path of least

resistance and will seek it whenever

possible.

The problem is when this becomes an

instinctual course of action,

with a corresponding inability to break

out of it when necessary.

Anxiety and remorse.

Like anger,

anxiety has the ability to completely

overpower your more productive thoughts.

The previous three hindrances show how

one can be immobilized by inner

thoughts—but anxiety causes you to be

mentally overactive and do too much.

Anxiety is the fear of a bad or

less-than-perfect outcome leading to

agitation and worry,

making one become overwhelmed with

stress,

worry,

and then finally remorse after the fact.

How can you function if you are

crippled with fear?

It becomes clear that no action at all

is far safer.

Self-discipline is relegated to a

distant priority compared to safety and

security.

Hesitation,

disbelief,

and uncertainty.

Why would you engage in self-discipline

if you believe it is all for nothing?

For somebody who struggles with doubt,

low self-esteem,

or insecurity,

self-questioning can be a debilitating

factor that goes well past the point

where introspection remains valuable.

“I don’t know if I can do this,”

“Am I doing this right?"

“What’s the point of this,

anyway?"

“What the heck is this?”—all

these questions serve as barriers to

disciplined action.

They indirectly call out our reasons

for doing anything or raise just enough

uncertainty about a given task that you

might abandon it without much

resistance—the very opposite of what

a self-disciplined person does.

Planning and powering past these doubts

is a key to restoring self-discipline.

Unfortunately,

it’s not as easy as self-awareness,

as you’ll learn in the next section.

Though you may be able to solve a

couple of your mental hindrances

through stopping and pausing,

you’ll need to address some deeper,

biological issues as well.

The Brain That Works Against You.

Almost nobody will argue against the

importance of self-discipline,

even if they know they fall short in

practicing it on a daily basis.

Anyone with some life experience under

their belt knows that they can

accomplish more with a healthy sense of

constraint and willpower.

If they haven’t always exhibited

self-control themselves,

at least they’ve seen examples of

successful people who have—and

they’ll readily admit that such

people at least appear to get more done

than those without self-control.

Why do we fight against our own

self-interests when it comes to

instilling discipline into our own

lives?

Is it just that we don’t want to eat

our vegetables?

Not quite.

Unfortunately,

a major reason—a more general reason

that directly or indirectly causes each

of the five mental hindrances—is the

brain itself.

The brain is a network.

It’s fundamentally composed of nerve

cells,

or neurons.

These neurons communicate to each other

through chemical reactions—an impulse

in one nerve fiber gets activated,

then is converted into a chemical that

flies across the gap and is received by

another nerve fiber.

This act,

multiplied by about a trillion times a

day,

basically controls everything we do,

say,

or think.

That chemical that’s flying across

the gap is called a neurotransmitter,

and different neurotransmitters are

responsible for different

communications to the brain.

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that

our thoughts and reactions are

determined by these chemicals.

Self-discipline is especially tied to a

specific neurotransmitter - dopamine.

Dopamine is one of the agents that work

on the brain’s pleasure and reward

centers.

In other words,

when we experience pleasure or reward

of some type,

dopamine is usually at the root of

it—the greater the amount of dopamine

released,

the greater the pleasure we feel.

It happens during and after a

pleasurable event—you feel it while

you are eating a dozen donuts and also

after you finish a great workout at the

gym.

However,

dopamine is also released in

anticipation of pleasure or reward,

which ties it directly to

self-discipline.

It sabotages it.

The reality of the matter is that we

are all dopamine junkies.

We want it right now and as soon as

possible.

Our brains crave it,

and it plays a big part in telling us

when to act or stop.

This trait makes it difficult for us to

ignore something that gives us instant

dopamine in favor of delayed dopamine,

even if it will be substantially

greater at a later point.

Why go to the gym when you can eat a

pie right now,

even if you know what’s better for

you?

Dopamine is what we seek,

and this causes us to be ruled by one

of the most well-known theories

concerning human behavior—the

pleasure principle.

The reason it’s so renowned is

because it’s also the easiest to

understand.

The pleasure principle was first raised

in public consciousness by the father

of psychoanalysis,

Sigmund Freud,

though researchers as far back as

Aristotle in ancient Greece noted how

easily we could be manipulated by

pleasure and pain.

The pleasure principle asserts that the

human mind does everything it can to

seek out pleasure and avoid pain.

It doesn’t think;

it doesn’t analyze;

it just acts like a blind animal

urgently moving in the direction that

it feels more pleasure and less pain.

It doesn’t have any sense of

restraint.

It is primal and unfiltered.

It doesn’t get simpler than that.

An apt comparison,

in fact,

is a drug addict who will stop at

nothing to get another taste of

narcotics.

There are a few rules that govern the

pleasure principle - Every decision we

make is based on gaining pleasure or

avoiding pain in some way.

You may have heard about the debate

that there is no truly altruistic and

selfless act in the world.

According to this principle,

there definitely isn’t.

Even giving to charity would in some

way bring pleasure or avoid pain.

No matter what we do in the course of

our day,

it all gets down to the pleasure

principle.

You get a haircut because you think it

will make you more attractive to

someone else,

which will make you happy,

which is pleasure.

Conversely,

you wear a protective mask while

you’re using a blowtorch because you

want to avoid sparks flying into your

face and eyes,

because that will be painful.

If you trace all of our decisions back,

whether short-term or long-term,

you’ll find that they all stem from a

small set of pleasures or pains.

Self-discipline corollary - doing what

we need to do is often painful and

devoid of pleasure,

so we don’t do it.

People work harder to avoid pain than

to get pleasure.

Your behaviors will skew toward pain

avoidance more than pleasure-seeking.

The instinct to survive a threatening

situation is more immediate than eating

your favorite candy bar,

for instance.

You would rather avoid getting punched

in the face than drink your favorite

whiskey.

Self-discipline corollary - giving up

is often less painful than persevering.

So we give up.

Our perceptions of pleasure and pain

are more powerful drivers than the

actual things.

When our brain is judging between what

will be a pleasant or painful

experience,

it’s working from scenarios that we

think could result if we took a course

of action.

And sometimes those scenarios can be

flawed.

In fact,

they are mostly flawed.

For instance,

you might be deathly afraid of heights.

Skydiving would naturally be your worst

nightmare.

It is for me,

anyway.

You might have no idea how it feels.

You have probably never gone

bungee-jumping or even ridden a

roller-coaster.

Perhaps the most you’ve tested your

fear of heights is standing on the

balcony of your two-story house.

But the thought of jumping out of a

plane makes you physically nauseous.

You imagine how the feeling of

weightlessness is a precursor to death.

You imagine that you will indeed die.

But you haven’t actually tried it.

All you have are perceptions and

assumptions,

and that’s enough to magnify the pain

of skydiving to extremes.

Incidentally,

skydiving has an incredibly low rate of

accidents and is over within a series

of minutes.

Your brain deals in the business of

worst-case scenarios.

Self-discipline corollary -

unfamiliarity breeds fear,

which breeds avoidance.

So you avoid acting.

Pleasure and pain are changed by time.

In general,

we focus on the here and now - what can

I get very soon that will bring me

happiness?

Also,

what is coming up very soon that could

be painful and I’ll have to avoid?

Immediacy is king.

One dollar right now is far more

attractive than five dollars in one

month’s time.

The pleasure and pain that might happen

months or years from now don’t really

register with us—what’s most

important is whatever’s right at our

doorstep.

This certainly doesn’t help our sense

of planning for the future if we are

stuck in the present moment.

Self-discipline corollary - the rewards

we seek are rarely immediate,

and often,

the longer-term they are,

the greater they are.

But we’re stuck in the now,

so we avoid action.

Takeaways -

•Self-discipline is the act of

putting mind over matter and dictating

exactly what your actions and behaviors

are.

But control over the mind is like

saying you want to take a casual stroll

to the surface of the sun.

It’s not easy and must be reined in

constantly for you to even have a

chance of self-discipline.

As it turns out,

there are many obstacles to acting

disciplined and controlling yourself.

•Buddhism teaches five mental

hindrances to self-discipline - giving

in to the five senses,

animosity and malice,

apathy and laziness,

anxiety and remorse,

and hesitation and doubt.

The common thread is that they all

require immediate and urgent attention,

even if it is fabricated urgency.

When you are so focused on the now,

the later that self-discipline serves

becomes wholly unimportant.

•Another aspect of being unable to

move past the present moment and plan

for the future is how the

neurotransmitter dopamine influences

our actions.

Humans abide by the pleasure principle;

we seek pleasure and avoid pain

whenever possible,

even subconsciously.

Acting self-disciplined very rarely

brings you pleasure,

and most of the time it actively brings

some measure of pain or at least

discomfort.

That’s a problem.

We must change the way we think about

pleasure and pain,

and who we want to benefit the most -

in most cases,

your future self.

This has been

The Power of Self-Discipline: .

5-Minute Exercises to Build Self-Control, .

Good Habits, .

and Keep Going When You Want to Give Up (Live a Disciplined Life Book 10) Written by .

Peter Hollins

Narrated by Russell Newton.