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Unlock Your Potential: 5 Mental Blocks Stopping Your Self-Discipline (Mind Over Matter)
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
Transcript
The Power of Self-Discipline: .
Speaker:5-Minute Exercises to Build Self-Control, .
Speaker:Good Habits, .
Speaker:and Keep Going When You Want to Give Up (Live a Disciplined Life Book 10) .
Speaker:Written by .
Speaker:Peter Hollins
Speaker:Narrated by Russell Newton.
Speaker:Rosa became obsessed with films after
Speaker:watching Back to the Future at the age
Speaker:of eight,
Speaker:and subsequently decided she wanted to
Speaker:be a movie director.
Speaker:There hasn’t been any other ambition
Speaker:for her ever since.
Speaker:She always kept her goal of directing
Speaker:in mind,
Speaker:even though for the next twenty years,
Speaker:she never made any concrete steps
Speaker:toward it other than to be an avid
Speaker:movie watcher.
Speaker:Her knowledge of arcane movie trivia
Speaker:was second to none.
Speaker:Whatever hours she didn’t spend
Speaker:watching films she spent on the
Speaker:Internet and in history books reading
Speaker:about them.
Speaker:If she could have gone on the trivia
Speaker:television show Jeopardy,
Speaker:she would have been a long-running
Speaker:champion.
Speaker:Rosa had read multiple biographies of
Speaker:all of her favorite directors -
Speaker:Spielberg,
Speaker:Kurosawa,
Speaker:Fellini,
Speaker:Miyazaki,
Speaker:and more.
Speaker:Yet she never translated this research,
Speaker:knowledge,
Speaker:and information into action.
Speaker:She had a fairly expensive video camera
Speaker:that she kept confined to her closet,
Speaker:as well as an archive of film editing
Speaker:software that she had only used a
Speaker:handful of times.
Speaker:They were all too intimidating and
Speaker:confusing.
Speaker:Moreover,
Speaker:what if she discovered that all her
Speaker:knowledge and preparation weren’t
Speaker:enough and she was destined to fail at
Speaker:becoming a director?
Speaker:It was easier to take the path of least
Speaker:resistance and remain in inaction.
Speaker:At least learning about Fellini and
Speaker:Miyazaki’s favorite films made her
Speaker:feel productive to some degree,
Speaker:even if she was avoiding the elephant
Speaker:in the room.
Speaker:One day,
Speaker:she discovered an acquaintance of hers
Speaker:had started a YouTube channel that was
Speaker:quickly amassing millions of views.
Speaker:Out of curiosity,
Speaker:she started viewing the videos and was
Speaker:struck by what she saw.
Speaker:This wasn’t art—the shots weren’t
Speaker:framed adequately,
Speaker:her focus was wrong,
Speaker:and the narrative structure was
Speaker:reversed!
Speaker:None of the viewers seemed to care,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:as the views continued to increase.
Speaker:What’s more,
Speaker:the reviews of the videos were all
Speaker:glowing and encouraging.
Speaker:No one cared about the framing or focus.
Speaker:It was impossible for Rosa to ignore
Speaker:the fact that this person had done far
Speaker:more than Rosa and with far less
Speaker:knowledge and expertise.
Speaker:So Rosa made a dramatic decision.
Speaker:If she can do it,
Speaker:why can’t I?
Speaker:For four months she was going to make
Speaker:real,
Speaker:concrete strides toward becoming a
Speaker:director—of anything.
Speaker:It was time to buckle down and keep
Speaker:going when all she wanted to do was
Speaker:give up.
Speaker:No more retreating to her comfort zone;
Speaker:she was going to translate her dreams
Speaker:into reality through sheer willpower
Speaker:and self-discipline.
Speaker:She already had the knowledge;
Speaker:it was just time to put it into action.
Speaker:She first organized her time into two
Speaker:categories - learn and practice.
Speaker:During learn time,
Speaker:Rosa methodically studied how to write
Speaker:a script,
Speaker:assemble a plot,
Speaker:and what methods renowned directors
Speaker:used to get the shots they wanted.
Speaker:During practice time,
Speaker:she experimented with different shots
Speaker:and angles,
Speaker:wrote a few scenes,
Speaker:and changed perspectives and storylines
Speaker:to see which ones worked the best.
Speaker:No more was she spending hours watching
Speaker:commentary of old movies she’d seen
Speaker:hundreds of times before.
Speaker:And no more was she letting her
Speaker:equipment gather dust in the closet for
Speaker:fear of not being able to use it
Speaker:correctly.
Speaker:For a while,
Speaker:Rosa was brimming with energy and
Speaker:enthusiasm at finally doing something
Speaker:about a dream she had held for so long.
Speaker:The day those four months ended,
Speaker:Rosa set out to make her film.
Speaker:She found a few local actors who were
Speaker:willing to work for pizza.
Speaker:She herself was the camerawoman.
Speaker:Her cousin was her sound person,
Speaker:and her dog was a prop.
Speaker:When she finished,
Speaker:she put it online and it garnered a few
Speaker:hundred views,
Speaker:mostly from family and friends.
Speaker:Rosa wasn’t a professional filmmaker,
Speaker:but these were all steps on the journey
Speaker:to seeing her wishes become reality.
Speaker:She committed herself to completing one
Speaker:short film every month thereafter.
Speaker:She soon grew a reputation for being
Speaker:one of the speediest and most
Speaker:knowledgeable directors in the business.
Speaker:A scant three years later,
Speaker:one of her short films was entered into
Speaker:a film festival competition,
Speaker:something she never even dreamed about
Speaker:when she was just starting out.
Speaker:While she didn’t win any prizes,
Speaker:she still gained recognition and began
Speaker:to be able to support herself through
Speaker:her childhood dream of directing.
Speaker:One day,
Speaker:all at once it seemed,
Speaker:Rosa took a look at the work she had
Speaker:done and felt genuinely good about how
Speaker:far she’d come.
Speaker:She had done it (or rather,
Speaker:she was well on the path to doing it,
Speaker:and keep on doing it!).
Speaker:All the awkward first attempts,
Speaker:early failures and learning curves
Speaker:almost vanished from her memory and she
Speaker:felt proud,
Speaker:accomplished,
Speaker:and confident in her abilities.
Speaker:She wanted to do even more and go even
Speaker:further.
Speaker:Some might say Rosa was lucky.
Speaker:Perhaps some other movie buff who never
Speaker:quite made the leap from “thinking
Speaker:about it” to actually doing it.
Speaker:That is partially true—but if Rosa
Speaker:had never made the decision to buckle
Speaker:down and do what she had been avoiding
Speaker:for years,
Speaker:she never would have been in the
Speaker:position to be lucky.
Speaker:So what brought Rosa the success she
Speaker:attained as a director?
Speaker:She realized just in time that she
Speaker:needed to give herself the gift of
Speaker:self-discipline.
Speaker:She knew that whatever she wanted was
Speaker:behind a door that could only be
Speaker:unlocked by it,
Speaker:and no one else could do it for her.
Speaker:Nobody could push her through that door
Speaker:or open it for her.
Speaker:If she did nothing,
Speaker:she would stay on the wrong side of it
Speaker:forever,
Speaker:dreaming and hoping,
Speaker:yet never any closer to what she craved
Speaker:deep down.
Speaker:She changed her habits,
Speaker:started thinking methodically,
Speaker:and put her ideas into motion.
Speaker:She didn’t expect overnight miracles
Speaker:or get discouraged when her first
Speaker:attempts were a little rough.
Speaker:She didn’t accept a lifestyle devoid
Speaker:of challenge or pain,
Speaker:and she willed herself to a goal
Speaker:through hardship and struggle.
Speaker:She didn’t give up when she wanted
Speaker:to,
Speaker:as she did for years,
Speaker:and put her goals above a sense of
Speaker:temporary discomfort.
Speaker:In a way,
Speaker:she dimply no longer accepted that not
Speaker:striving for her goal was an option for
Speaker:her anymore.
Speaker:Self-discipline,
Speaker:willpower,
Speaker:self-control,
Speaker:“mind over matter”—whatever you
Speaker:want to call it,
Speaker:that was what Rosa summoned,
Speaker:and that’s what this book is about.
Speaker:It’s the process of going through
Speaker:what we’d rather avoid,
Speaker:in order to reach what makes us
Speaker:happiest.
Speaker:Even if you don’t quite believe it
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:Rosa possessed no extra superpowers
Speaker:that you lack.
Speaker:If it seems difficult,
Speaker:well,
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:But it was no less difficult for Rosa
Speaker:to get over her sense of doubt and
Speaker:disbelief,
Speaker:than it is for you now to imagine that
Speaker:you could succeed at your dreams.
Speaker:What I mean is—if she can do it,
Speaker:then so can you.
Speaker:On the surface,
Speaker:it’s easy to explain - ensuring that
Speaker:we act in accordance with our
Speaker:intentions.
Speaker:It means focusing our intentions and
Speaker:behaviors in one direction to achieve
Speaker:the life we want.
Speaker:It represents the ability to do what we
Speaker:want no matter what.
Speaker:We intellectually and logically know
Speaker:that it’s the way to what we want.
Speaker:The only way.
Speaker:So why did Rosa wait years to act?
Speaker:Why is it so hard for many of us?
Speaker:Self-discipline and matching a thought
Speaker:to an action involves the mind.
Speaker:The second part—the action—is not a
Speaker:problem because our arms and legs
Speaker:generally do what we tell them to do.
Speaker:They aren’t pulled in different
Speaker:directions by stray thoughts.
Speaker:Even if they don’t listen to us the
Speaker:first time,
Speaker:we can physically force them into
Speaker:compliance.
Speaker:But the mind—your thoughts,
Speaker:intentions,
Speaker:and expectations—can’t be twisted
Speaker:and forced into anything.
Speaker:Consider that the goal of most
Speaker:meditation and mindfulness practices is
Speaker:to eliminate all mental chatter to
Speaker:focus on a single thought,
Speaker:or to focus on a physical sensation and
Speaker:no thought at all.
Speaker:Control and mastery over our minds are
Speaker:a few of the best weapons against
Speaker:stress and anxiety.
Speaker:Arguably,
Speaker:control over the mind and translating
Speaker:that into action is one of life’s
Speaker:most elusive achievements.
Speaker:Quick—don’t think about the purple
Speaker:elephant wearing a tutu.
Speaker:Did my warning work?
Speaker:Are you now not picturing the elephant
Speaker:standing in a meadow with its big
Speaker:floppy ears and a white sheer tutu?
Speaker:Are you successfully not imagining its
Speaker:trunk and thick legs?
Speaker:Probably not.
Speaker:And that’s why the mind is such a
Speaker:difficult beast to defeat.
Speaker:Self-discipline is the creation of a
Speaker:clear path between your internal and
Speaker:external realities,
Speaker:no matter what.
Speaker:No matter if there are no immediate
Speaker:rewards;
Speaker:in fact,
Speaker:the rewards are usually so far away
Speaker:that you can’t even fathom them at
Speaker:the moment.
Speaker:No matter that sometimes the progress
Speaker:is so gradual that it’s difficult for
Speaker:one to gauge any difference,
Speaker:and if they can’t see exactly how
Speaker:they’re getting better,
Speaker:then they’re apt to give up.
Speaker:No matter that other times,
Speaker:the mind is hijacked by emotions,
Speaker:triggers,
Speaker:and otherwise damaging thought patterns.
Speaker:This is just a small sampling of what
Speaker:we battle on the road from intentions
Speaker:to actions.
Speaker:However well-intentioned you are,
Speaker:your mind just doesn’t care.
Speaker:It has to be coaxed,
Speaker:built,
Speaker:and even tricked into compliance,
Speaker:and that’s what you’ll learn in
Speaker:this book.
Speaker:Appropriately,
Speaker:this first chapter is about the various
Speaker:obstacles we face in putting a leash on
Speaker:our minds.
Speaker:5 Mental Hindrances To Self-Discipline.
Speaker:What blocks us from attaining strong
Speaker:self-discipline?
Speaker:An especially illustrative set of
Speaker:obstacles comes from Buddhist
Speaker:philosophy.
Speaker:When you think of Buddhism,
Speaker:the world discipline is usually not far
Speaker:away.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:discipline is right at the core of
Speaker:Buddhist teachings.
Speaker:Its tenets emphasize maintaining a
Speaker:sense of control over one’s mind and
Speaker:body as a means to fulfillment.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:it preaches that we are naturally
Speaker:endowed with the ability to do what we
Speaker:want,
Speaker:and feel contentment at all times.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:we give up those feelings of control to
Speaker:someone or something outside of
Speaker:ourselves;
Speaker:we relinquish our own power to an
Speaker:external force that we perceive has
Speaker:more power.
Speaker:We say,
Speaker:“I can’t,” “I shouldn’t,”
Speaker:or “I won’t,” far more often than
Speaker:we should.
Speaker:We say it so much that we believe that
Speaker:fighting against these powers is
Speaker:useless,
Speaker:and thus we lose power over ourselves.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:when we tell ourselves we have no
Speaker:discipline,
Speaker:it ends up being true.
Speaker:Therefore,
Speaker:Buddhism teaches that a lack of
Speaker:personal power is illusory.
Speaker:It can be difficult to take that power
Speaker:back,
Speaker:but this,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:is one of the first steps to
Speaker:self-discipline—believing that it’s
Speaker:possible and within your control.
Speaker:Part of the process involves knowing
Speaker:exactly how we’re being blocked or
Speaker:prohibited from exercising that control.
Speaker:To that end,
Speaker:there are five areas that cover most,
Speaker:if not all,
Speaker:of the sources of our trepidation in
Speaker:taking control of our lives.
Speaker:If you’re just starting to figure out
Speaker:where your shortcomings in
Speaker:self-discipline exist,
Speaker:these five areas are helpful to start
Speaker:investigating yourself.
Speaker:If you’re a grizzled veteran seeking
Speaker:new methods,
Speaker:these five areas may provide new
Speaker:perspective on familiar issues.
Speaker:Below are the five mental hindrances -
Speaker:• giving in to the five senses.
Speaker:• animosity and malice.
Speaker:• apathy and laziness.
Speaker:• anxiety and remorse.
Speaker:• hesitation and doubt.
Speaker:Giving in to the five senses.
Speaker:Control over our thoughts is usurped
Speaker:when we are distracted by our physical
Speaker:surroundings.
Speaker:We put too much attention and
Speaker:importance on information from our
Speaker:senses of sight,
Speaker:sound,
Speaker:smell,
Speaker:hearing,
Speaker:and touch—whether it’s physical
Speaker:beauty,
Speaker:the smell of freshly baked bread,
Speaker:a great love song,
Speaker:or a horrible scene of violence.
Speaker:We allow these sensations to overwhelm
Speaker:us and replace our conscious thoughts
Speaker:and goals.
Speaker:Our senses bring us the most immediate
Speaker:understanding of the external world and
Speaker:help us orient and make sense (quite
Speaker:literally!)
Speaker:of ourselves and our place in the word.
Speaker:But we overstate their importance to us
Speaker:and can forget that we are ultimately
Speaker:in control.
Speaker:Our senses gather data from the world,
Speaker:but it is then up to us whether we get
Speaker:distracted by,
Speaker:attached to,
Speaker:or lost in that data,
Speaker:or whether we can maintain a calm,
Speaker:focused awareness of ourselves despite
Speaker:any stimulus,
Speaker:even as transient sensations pass over
Speaker:us.
Speaker:Many of us only believe in what we can
Speaker:experience with these senses,
Speaker:or we at least allow them to take over
Speaker:our concentration as we seek to gratify
Speaker:ourselves.
Speaker:We forget ourselves.
Speaker:Our attention becomes like a flimsy
Speaker:balloon blown this way or that way by
Speaker:any breeze that comes along.
Speaker:Sensory information by its very nature
Speaker:is instant gratification.
Speaker:But not everything is beneficial or
Speaker:even deserves our attention.
Speaker:We have a choice.
Speaker:To attain self-discipline,
Speaker:we need to put sensory information in
Speaker:its proper context - allowing ourselves
Speaker:to indulge in and experience those
Speaker:senses fully but also keeping aware
Speaker:that they are temporary,
Speaker:distracting,
Speaker:and ultimately hindrances.
Speaker:Animosity and malice.
Speaker:Emotions have the ability to completely
Speaker:override our thoughts of
Speaker:self-discipline,
Speaker:and anger is one of the strongest
Speaker:emotions.
Speaker:People are adept at unconsciously
Speaker:ingraining all emotions adjacent to
Speaker:anger,
Speaker:such as resentment,
Speaker:bitterness,
Speaker:and animosity,
Speaker:into their thought patterns.
Speaker:The destructive power of malice isn’t
Speaker:just about what other people do to us,
Speaker:either—it can also be directed toward
Speaker:ourselves in the acts of guilt or
Speaker:self-loathing.
Speaker:They have the ability to undermine all
Speaker:of our thoughts and render us
Speaker:practically blind in fits of rage.
Speaker:We obsess over past miscarriages of
Speaker:justice or fairness that hurt us - the
Speaker:ex who broke your heart,
Speaker:the company that fired you for stupid
Speaker:reasons,
Speaker:or the drive-thru restaurant that got
Speaker:your order wrong.
Speaker:These feelings activate our impulse to
Speaker:exact retribution or punish the people
Speaker:or institutions who have “done us
Speaker:wrong."
Speaker:It’s draining at best and
Speaker:self-sabotage at worst.
Speaker:When you act to address animosity and
Speaker:malice,
Speaker:you certainly don’t address your
Speaker:goals.
Speaker:Apathy and laziness.
Speaker:The simple act of doing is not usually
Speaker:preferable.
Speaker:Being human takes a lot of work.
Speaker:For many,
Speaker:it’s easier to allow themselves and
Speaker:their bodies to seek an escape from
Speaker:constant mental and physical activity
Speaker:by shutting down and feeling nothing.
Speaker:Whatever it takes to get along in the
Speaker:world is just too much for them to deal
Speaker:with,
Speaker:and the end product is apathy and sloth.
Speaker:This is a mental hindrance you are
Speaker:probably quite familiar with.
Speaker:Humans tend to enjoy the path of least
Speaker:resistance and will seek it whenever
Speaker:possible.
Speaker:The problem is when this becomes an
Speaker:instinctual course of action,
Speaker:with a corresponding inability to break
Speaker:out of it when necessary.
Speaker:Anxiety and remorse.
Speaker:Like anger,
Speaker:anxiety has the ability to completely
Speaker:overpower your more productive thoughts.
Speaker:The previous three hindrances show how
Speaker:one can be immobilized by inner
Speaker:thoughts—but anxiety causes you to be
Speaker:mentally overactive and do too much.
Speaker:Anxiety is the fear of a bad or
Speaker:less-than-perfect outcome leading to
Speaker:agitation and worry,
Speaker:making one become overwhelmed with
Speaker:stress,
Speaker:worry,
Speaker:and then finally remorse after the fact.
Speaker:How can you function if you are
Speaker:crippled with fear?
Speaker:It becomes clear that no action at all
Speaker:is far safer.
Speaker:Self-discipline is relegated to a
Speaker:distant priority compared to safety and
Speaker:security.
Speaker:Hesitation,
Speaker:disbelief,
Speaker:and uncertainty.
Speaker:Why would you engage in self-discipline
Speaker:if you believe it is all for nothing?
Speaker:For somebody who struggles with doubt,
Speaker:low self-esteem,
Speaker:or insecurity,
Speaker:self-questioning can be a debilitating
Speaker:factor that goes well past the point
Speaker:where introspection remains valuable.
Speaker:“I don’t know if I can do this,”
Speaker:“Am I doing this right?"
Speaker:“What’s the point of this,
Speaker:anyway?"
Speaker:“What the heck is this?”—all
Speaker:these questions serve as barriers to
Speaker:disciplined action.
Speaker:They indirectly call out our reasons
Speaker:for doing anything or raise just enough
Speaker:uncertainty about a given task that you
Speaker:might abandon it without much
Speaker:resistance—the very opposite of what
Speaker:a self-disciplined person does.
Speaker:Planning and powering past these doubts
Speaker:is a key to restoring self-discipline.
Speaker:Unfortunately,
Speaker:it’s not as easy as self-awareness,
Speaker:as you’ll learn in the next section.
Speaker:Though you may be able to solve a
Speaker:couple of your mental hindrances
Speaker:through stopping and pausing,
Speaker:you’ll need to address some deeper,
Speaker:biological issues as well.
Speaker:The Brain That Works Against You.
Speaker:Almost nobody will argue against the
Speaker:importance of self-discipline,
Speaker:even if they know they fall short in
Speaker:practicing it on a daily basis.
Speaker:Anyone with some life experience under
Speaker:their belt knows that they can
Speaker:accomplish more with a healthy sense of
Speaker:constraint and willpower.
Speaker:If they haven’t always exhibited
Speaker:self-control themselves,
Speaker:at least they’ve seen examples of
Speaker:successful people who have—and
Speaker:they’ll readily admit that such
Speaker:people at least appear to get more done
Speaker:than those without self-control.
Speaker:Why do we fight against our own
Speaker:self-interests when it comes to
Speaker:instilling discipline into our own
Speaker:lives?
Speaker:Is it just that we don’t want to eat
Speaker:our vegetables?
Speaker:Not quite.
Speaker:Unfortunately,
Speaker:a major reason—a more general reason
Speaker:that directly or indirectly causes each
Speaker:of the five mental hindrances—is the
Speaker:brain itself.
Speaker:The brain is a network.
Speaker:It’s fundamentally composed of nerve
Speaker:cells,
Speaker:or neurons.
Speaker:These neurons communicate to each other
Speaker:through chemical reactions—an impulse
Speaker:in one nerve fiber gets activated,
Speaker:then is converted into a chemical that
Speaker:flies across the gap and is received by
Speaker:another nerve fiber.
Speaker:This act,
Speaker:multiplied by about a trillion times a
Speaker:day,
Speaker:basically controls everything we do,
Speaker:say,
Speaker:or think.
Speaker:That chemical that’s flying across
Speaker:the gap is called a neurotransmitter,
Speaker:and different neurotransmitters are
Speaker:responsible for different
Speaker:communications to the brain.
Speaker:It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that
Speaker:our thoughts and reactions are
Speaker:determined by these chemicals.
Speaker:Self-discipline is especially tied to a
Speaker:specific neurotransmitter - dopamine.
Speaker:Dopamine is one of the agents that work
Speaker:on the brain’s pleasure and reward
Speaker:centers.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:when we experience pleasure or reward
Speaker:of some type,
Speaker:dopamine is usually at the root of
Speaker:it—the greater the amount of dopamine
Speaker:released,
Speaker:the greater the pleasure we feel.
Speaker:It happens during and after a
Speaker:pleasurable event—you feel it while
Speaker:you are eating a dozen donuts and also
Speaker:after you finish a great workout at the
Speaker:gym.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:dopamine is also released in
Speaker:anticipation of pleasure or reward,
Speaker:which ties it directly to
Speaker:self-discipline.
Speaker:It sabotages it.
Speaker:The reality of the matter is that we
Speaker:are all dopamine junkies.
Speaker:We want it right now and as soon as
Speaker:possible.
Speaker:Our brains crave it,
Speaker:and it plays a big part in telling us
Speaker:when to act or stop.
Speaker:This trait makes it difficult for us to
Speaker:ignore something that gives us instant
Speaker:dopamine in favor of delayed dopamine,
Speaker:even if it will be substantially
Speaker:greater at a later point.
Speaker:Why go to the gym when you can eat a
Speaker:pie right now,
Speaker:even if you know what’s better for
Speaker:you?
Speaker:Dopamine is what we seek,
Speaker:and this causes us to be ruled by one
Speaker:of the most well-known theories
Speaker:concerning human behavior—the
Speaker:pleasure principle.
Speaker:The reason it’s so renowned is
Speaker:because it’s also the easiest to
Speaker:understand.
Speaker:The pleasure principle was first raised
Speaker:in public consciousness by the father
Speaker:of psychoanalysis,
Speaker:Sigmund Freud,
Speaker:though researchers as far back as
Speaker:Aristotle in ancient Greece noted how
Speaker:easily we could be manipulated by
Speaker:pleasure and pain.
Speaker:The pleasure principle asserts that the
Speaker:human mind does everything it can to
Speaker:seek out pleasure and avoid pain.
Speaker:It doesn’t think;
Speaker:it doesn’t analyze;
Speaker:it just acts like a blind animal
Speaker:urgently moving in the direction that
Speaker:it feels more pleasure and less pain.
Speaker:It doesn’t have any sense of
Speaker:restraint.
Speaker:It is primal and unfiltered.
Speaker:It doesn’t get simpler than that.
Speaker:An apt comparison,
Speaker:in fact,
Speaker:is a drug addict who will stop at
Speaker:nothing to get another taste of
Speaker:narcotics.
Speaker:There are a few rules that govern the
Speaker:pleasure principle - Every decision we
Speaker:make is based on gaining pleasure or
Speaker:avoiding pain in some way.
Speaker:You may have heard about the debate
Speaker:that there is no truly altruistic and
Speaker:selfless act in the world.
Speaker:According to this principle,
Speaker:there definitely isn’t.
Speaker:Even giving to charity would in some
Speaker:way bring pleasure or avoid pain.
Speaker:No matter what we do in the course of
Speaker:our day,
Speaker:it all gets down to the pleasure
Speaker:principle.
Speaker:You get a haircut because you think it
Speaker:will make you more attractive to
Speaker:someone else,
Speaker:which will make you happy,
Speaker:which is pleasure.
Speaker:Conversely,
Speaker:you wear a protective mask while
Speaker:you’re using a blowtorch because you
Speaker:want to avoid sparks flying into your
Speaker:face and eyes,
Speaker:because that will be painful.
Speaker:If you trace all of our decisions back,
Speaker:whether short-term or long-term,
Speaker:you’ll find that they all stem from a
Speaker:small set of pleasures or pains.
Speaker:Self-discipline corollary - doing what
Speaker:we need to do is often painful and
Speaker:devoid of pleasure,
Speaker:so we don’t do it.
Speaker:People work harder to avoid pain than
Speaker:to get pleasure.
Speaker:Your behaviors will skew toward pain
Speaker:avoidance more than pleasure-seeking.
Speaker:The instinct to survive a threatening
Speaker:situation is more immediate than eating
Speaker:your favorite candy bar,
Speaker:for instance.
Speaker:You would rather avoid getting punched
Speaker:in the face than drink your favorite
Speaker:whiskey.
Speaker:Self-discipline corollary - giving up
Speaker:is often less painful than persevering.
Speaker:So we give up.
Speaker:Our perceptions of pleasure and pain
Speaker:are more powerful drivers than the
Speaker:actual things.
Speaker:When our brain is judging between what
Speaker:will be a pleasant or painful
Speaker:experience,
Speaker:it’s working from scenarios that we
Speaker:think could result if we took a course
Speaker:of action.
Speaker:And sometimes those scenarios can be
Speaker:flawed.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:they are mostly flawed.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:you might be deathly afraid of heights.
Speaker:Skydiving would naturally be your worst
Speaker:nightmare.
Speaker:It is for me,
Speaker:anyway.
Speaker:You might have no idea how it feels.
Speaker:You have probably never gone
Speaker:bungee-jumping or even ridden a
Speaker:roller-coaster.
Speaker:Perhaps the most you’ve tested your
Speaker:fear of heights is standing on the
Speaker:balcony of your two-story house.
Speaker:But the thought of jumping out of a
Speaker:plane makes you physically nauseous.
Speaker:You imagine how the feeling of
Speaker:weightlessness is a precursor to death.
Speaker:You imagine that you will indeed die.
Speaker:But you haven’t actually tried it.
Speaker:All you have are perceptions and
Speaker:assumptions,
Speaker:and that’s enough to magnify the pain
Speaker:of skydiving to extremes.
Speaker:Incidentally,
Speaker:skydiving has an incredibly low rate of
Speaker:accidents and is over within a series
Speaker:of minutes.
Speaker:Your brain deals in the business of
Speaker:worst-case scenarios.
Speaker:Self-discipline corollary -
Speaker:unfamiliarity breeds fear,
Speaker:which breeds avoidance.
Speaker:So you avoid acting.
Speaker:Pleasure and pain are changed by time.
Speaker:In general,
Speaker:we focus on the here and now - what can
Speaker:I get very soon that will bring me
Speaker:happiness?
Speaker:Also,
Speaker:what is coming up very soon that could
Speaker:be painful and I’ll have to avoid?
Speaker:Immediacy is king.
Speaker:One dollar right now is far more
Speaker:attractive than five dollars in one
Speaker:month’s time.
Speaker:The pleasure and pain that might happen
Speaker:months or years from now don’t really
Speaker:register with us—what’s most
Speaker:important is whatever’s right at our
Speaker:doorstep.
Speaker:This certainly doesn’t help our sense
Speaker:of planning for the future if we are
Speaker:stuck in the present moment.
Speaker:Self-discipline corollary - the rewards
Speaker:we seek are rarely immediate,
Speaker:and often,
Speaker:the longer-term they are,
Speaker:the greater they are.
Speaker:But we’re stuck in the now,
Speaker:so we avoid action.
Speaker:Takeaways -
Speaker:•Self-discipline is the act of
Speaker:putting mind over matter and dictating
Speaker:exactly what your actions and behaviors
Speaker:are.
Speaker:But control over the mind is like
Speaker:saying you want to take a casual stroll
Speaker:to the surface of the sun.
Speaker:It’s not easy and must be reined in
Speaker:constantly for you to even have a
Speaker:chance of self-discipline.
Speaker:As it turns out,
Speaker:there are many obstacles to acting
Speaker:disciplined and controlling yourself.
Speaker:•Buddhism teaches five mental
Speaker:hindrances to self-discipline - giving
Speaker:in to the five senses,
Speaker:animosity and malice,
Speaker:apathy and laziness,
Speaker:anxiety and remorse,
Speaker:and hesitation and doubt.
Speaker:The common thread is that they all
Speaker:require immediate and urgent attention,
Speaker:even if it is fabricated urgency.
Speaker:When you are so focused on the now,
Speaker:the later that self-discipline serves
Speaker:becomes wholly unimportant.
Speaker:•Another aspect of being unable to
Speaker:move past the present moment and plan
Speaker:for the future is how the
Speaker:neurotransmitter dopamine influences
Speaker:our actions.
Speaker:Humans abide by the pleasure principle;
Speaker:we seek pleasure and avoid pain
Speaker:whenever possible,
Speaker:even subconsciously.
Speaker:Acting self-disciplined very rarely
Speaker:brings you pleasure,
Speaker:and most of the time it actively brings
Speaker:some measure of pain or at least
Speaker:discomfort.
Speaker:That’s a problem.
Speaker:We must change the way we think about
Speaker:pleasure and pain,
Speaker:and who we want to benefit the most -
Speaker:in most cases,
Speaker:your future self.
Speaker:This has been
Speaker:The Power of Self-Discipline: .
Speaker:5-Minute Exercises to Build Self-Control, .
Speaker:Good Habits, .
Speaker:and Keep Going When You Want to Give Up (Live a Disciplined Life Book 10) Written by .
Speaker:Peter Hollins
Speaker:Narrated by Russell Newton.
