Here’s why & here’s what I learned:
“Back in 2022, I set a goal to do 5 things every single day:
Study the Bible daily.
Read a wisdom journal daily.
Write a blogpost daily.
Read a minimum of 30-minutes daily.
Train daily.
I wanted to do these things daily to improve my discipline & consistency.
The problem many have when it comes to improving their habits & discipline, is that they give themselves an out before they even get started.
‘If you miss a day or two, it’s not that big of a deal.’
The problem is a day or two becomes a week or two and then a month or two.
Because it was critically important to me to accomplish my goals, daily, I gave myself no outlet.
There wasn’t a choice.
Come hell or high water, I was going to do those 5 things.
In 2022, I went 365 for 365.
When I hit the first day of 2023, I couldn’t have stopped the train if I wanted to.
As James Clear states in his book “Atomic Habits” l’d casted too many (positive) votes for the person I wanted to become, so onward I went.
At the end of 2023 l was now 730/730 in my 5 goals.
When I talk to people l’m mentoring or care about, l often preach the importance of ‘winning the controllables’.
There is a lot in life that is going to happen to you that is outside of your control, but the great ones are savages when it comes to controlling what they can.
During this time, accomplishing my 5 personal goals:
I built 3 businesses, wrote my first book, brought 2 amazing daughters into the world, dealt with immense stress, sickness, injuries, sleepless nights, chronic pain, delayed flights, stitches in my hands (twice), all of it.
But Dan John told me, if it’s important, do it every single day.
Anybody can study the Bible when it’s convenient, read a journal or a book when they feel like it.
The average blogpost goes out monthly.
And everybody can train 3x a week.
But for me, every day means it.
‘You can’t bat 1,000, that’s impossible, it’s unrealistic.’
And there lies the problem.
You can do anything you set your mind to.
Today is day 1,000.
1,000 for 1,000.
Zero misses.
I didn’t accomplish this because I am some superhuman.
I am a regular dude who simply understands how habits work & the importance of them.
Where most people have the choice ‘to do’ or ‘not do’.
I simply removed the ‘not do’ option.
Leaving me only once choice:
Do.
And Do, I did.
It was life or death for me.
‘Come on Ray, that sounds dramatic.’
You’re damn right it is.
The idea of not following through and becoming who l have the potential to be for my loved ones was too much to bear.
This thing wasn’t about me. It was about them.
You see this was never about the Bible studies, the wisdom journals, the blogposts, the reading, or the work outs.
It was about the votes.
Casting votes for the person I wanted to become, so that I could better lead, mentor, & impact, with firm ground to stand on.
Set realistic goals.
But then apply unrealistic action.
DO like your life depends on it.
The universe is going to actively work against you the whole time, but that’s where all the value is.
Lean in. Adjust.
Just don’t fucking miss.
Your life does depend on it.
+1.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I haven’t been motivated in a really long time.
And as I’ve gotten older and my responsibilities and pain have increased, I’ve gotten increasingly less motivated.
It’s easy when you’re a 22-year-old gym bro wearing gymshark clothes your parents paid for to talk about “discipline & the grind”.
But when you get north of 30 and have earned scars from 2 decades worth of beating the shit out of yourself, own 3 businesses, have 3 (beautiful) children, 3 mortgages, 15 dogs, a flock of chickens, and a few barn cats, it’s easy for motivation to be stripped from you.
I’m not complaining, I’ve subjected myself to all of this, I am just telling you like it is.
People ask me “what do you like to do on the weekends?”
Huh?
You mean the busiest days of the week, spent preparing to do all the work all week?
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Christmas, Easter, it’s all the same to me.
The kids need tending, the dogs need fed, and you slip in business for one single second and there the world is, working tirelessly to whip your ass & pound you into submission.
It’s valuable, meaningful work, but it’s work, all the time.
And because there is an endless supply of work in a world where the vast majority of what happens to us is outside of our control, trying to leverage motivation is a very poor strategy.
To achieve great things, you must rely on the anchor that is discipline.
During my time, “batting a thousand” do you know how many days I was motivated to do what I did?
Zero.
I was not “pumped up”.
I did all of what I did without preworkout drinks or performance enhancing drugs.
I did what I did because I knew that in order to get what I wanted out of my goals, I had to do what I said would do.
And doing what you said you’d do, cares nothing about your feelings or “motivation”, it cares only about action.
And consistent action requires discipline.
The amount of days I “didn’t want to do it” were many.
But discipline, like the good friend he is, takes away the illusion of choice.
Be who you said you’d be.
Actions speak.
