82. Practicing the Art of Discipline

My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.

Hey there, and welcome to episode 82 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners, and today we’re going to be talking about practicing the art of discipline. So when you think of discipline, what comes to mind, because for some people, it conjures up images of like obeying rules. And if you don’t obey the rules, there’s a punishment being doled out.

But when I think of discipline, I think of training myself to do something on a consistent basis training myself to do something day in and day out. And it’s usually something that I don’t really feel like doing, but I do it anyway. So I never think of discipline as a punishment, but rather, as a means of achieving whatever worthwhile thing that I want for myself.

So if there’s something big that you want for yourself, I’m telling you right now, there’s no like magic formula to making it easy. It just takes practicing the art of discipline to get it. So that’s what we’re gonna be talking about today. Cool.

If you guys haven’t already checked it out, please come join us in the Facebook group, just search for Running Lean community on Facebook, the group goes hand in hand with the podcast, it’s a bunch of people just like you that are cool. And that are into running and maybe want to feel better and want to get leaner and get stronger and run faster and run longer than they ever could before. And that’s what we do.

This month, we’re kind of having some fun with the dry July challenge. We’ve been kind of challenging ourselves to take a break from alcohol for the month of July. And a lot of people have been posting some really positive experiences from doing this. Because a lot of times you don’t even realize that you feel much better when you’re not doing something like drinking alcohol every day or eating sugar every day.

You know, and then you’re just like, well, I feel amazing. You know, I didn’t even know that I could feel this good. Because I’m just not used to this. So there’s nothing wrong with alcohol, alcohol is fine is drinking is awesome, but whatever. But if you’re trying to lose weight, or you know you want to improve your running performance, it may be something you want to explore cutting out. So anyway, join us over in the Facebook group and check it out. Search for Running Lean community on Facebook and join us in the fun.

And here’s a quick little review that somebody posted about the podcast. So this is from Cara Lee and she says, “I only recently found this podcast, and I’m absolutely loving it. Love the podcast about stress. I’m one that’s always hated hills. But after listening to it and thinking of how to get stronger the next morning off, I went to do hill work with your voice inside my head. It was super motivating. And I went back to a few more podcast episodes. So now I’m hooked. So thanks and keep them coming.”

Thank you Kelly for posting that. And share your thoughts about the podcast. I love, love, love doing this podcast and I love when you guys tell me that it’s resonating with you. And if you want to leave a review, you can always do that on like Apple podcasts. Just go to the section where it says leave a review, tap the stars write a few words. And I so appreciate it I read all those reviews and I so appreciate it when you guys do that.

And then lastly, I’ve got a big announcement for you guys. Here’s a big update. I am opening up the Running Lean monthly coaching group starting now. So you can join now this is like something I’m just I didn’t do a lot of build-up to this I just want you to know that it is open and you can join today if you want to.

So what is the monthly coaching group? Well, it’s a group of like-minded people who are all working together to accomplish some big goals right it could be weight loss, it could be just improving your overall health and it could be becoming a more badass runner. It could be like improving your mental and emotional state so that you don’t keep doing the emotional eating and learning how to make all of these habits so that it lasts for the rest of your life.

So it’s a monthly membership program you get access to my online training materials, the weight loss training course for runners. My goal-setting course is called achieving the impossible which is how to create an extraordinary life by going after unrealistic goals. That’s super fun.

You get weekly live coaching with me. So this is a big change. I was only doing this every other week. And I’ve decided that I’m going to give more value to the group. So we’re going to start doing coaching every single week on a group zoom call. And so you’ll get personalized guidance and feedback. And you can hear other people being coached on some of the same things that you’re experiencing.

And you learn, even if you’re not getting the individual coaching if I’m not talking directly to you, hearing somebody else getting coached on a similar topic is so, so helpful. You get the support and the encouragement of people that are just like you and they’re going through the same things, you get accountability.

So we’re going to help you stay on track and help you move toward your goals. It’s a lot of fun to oh my gosh, these calls and this group is such a great group of people, oh my gosh, I do record all the coaching calls so that you’ll have access to them all on a website. And they’re all organized by month.

We’re doing something also new starting in August, we’re doing a topic of the month. So we’re going to focus all of our calls and a lot of the work that we’re going to be doing in August is going to be focused around taking a deep dive into this thought, feeling, action patterns that we have, like, how are your thought feeling action patterns keeping you stuck? And how can you start harnessing the power of your thoughts and your feelings to start getting better results in all kinds of areas of your life, you know. If you find yourself, you just can’t seem to stick to your food plan, you just can’t seem to lose the weight, you just keep getting stuck.

We’re going to talk about how to change your thoughts and feelings about this so that you can start getting unstuck, and start getting better results in your life. Okay. So just go to runningleanpodcast.com/join and you can just sign up today, you can join us we’ve got a members only Facebook group where we’ll all be posting more information about the next group call.

So it’s going to be every Tuesday from now on every Tuesday evening is when we do these group zoom calls. So I would love love, love for you to join us. And the other thing is that I’m not going to close the group, it’s just going to be open from now on.

Now, I want you to know why I’m doing this. I did it in the past because I wanted to, you know, I open the group, maybe once a quarter. And I wanted people to kind of go through the material together and sort of learn together. But I found that a lot of people wanted to join, and they were ready to join. But I was like, well, you’ve got to wait a couple of months.

And I don’t want that I want you to join when you’re ready. If you’re ready today, I would encourage you to just take some action and join. And you can start getting some amazing results in these different places in your life. Cool. So just go to runningleanpodcast.com/join, and we’ll see you over in the Running Lean monthly coaching group.

Okay, so let’s get into this topic today, which is practicing the art of discipline. So before we get into what discipline is, I want to talk a little bit about what we typically think we need in order to accomplish something big, which is motivation, a lot of people think, oh, you know, I need to feel motivated in order to like do something I need to feel motivated in order to take action.

And a lot of people look at their lack of motivation as a reason why they don’t do something. So let’s say you’re trying to stick to your food plan, and you just don’t feel like it. It’s like I’m not motivated to stick to my food plan. So that’s why I didn’t do it. And I’m going to explain a little bit, you know, why the motivation seems to like fade away.

But this is where discipline is going to trump motivation, like every single time, right? But what is motivation? So the definition of motivation is the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. So it’s like a desire and a willingness to do something, right. It’s a, it’s a desire and willingness to take action. Right?

Now, here’s what here’s what’s not the definition of motivation. Motivation is not something that is external. It’s not something that’s outside of you. Motivation is not something that gets bestowed upon you. Motivation is an emotion, it’s a feeling. It’s created within you. You create motivation by your thoughts.

Because if it’s an emotion, it’s created by your thoughts 100% of the time. And motivation is awesome and it can get you really, it can help you to take action. feeling motivated will get you into action, for sure. It’s a driving force. Feeling motivated can definitely help you to do something that maybe you don’t necessarily feel like doing.

Okay, but what happens when the motivation sort of fades away? What happens when you don’t feel like doing something? You know, what happens when you are all excited about losing weight? And so you, you know, maybe you get to change a food plan, you know, maybe you hire a coach, you know, maybe you’re like all gung ho about, you know what, what the future holds for you, and you’re super excited, and you’re like, on track, and you’re like, super motivated, and you’ve got this energy around you and, and you’re excited.

But what happens after a couple of weeks of doing this, and, and that motivation and that excitement, and that energy sort of fades away, then what do you do? Like, how do you keep going? You know, motivation is great for getting you started and getting you into action. But then how do you keep going when you don’t feel like it?

And this is where discipline comes into play. Because when your motivation is gone, you need something else to keep you going. And think about this, like people joining a gym in January, like how many people are motivated and excited to join a gym in January, right? Millions of people, you know, the gyms are so packed in January and February, but by March, I’m telling you, they’re like empty again, there’s like, you know, it’s like, all these people, their motivation went away.

And they were like, yeah, just don’t feel like doing this anymore. And so what happens when that, you know, motivation is no longer there? Well, you need something stronger to keep you going, you need something that’s going to keep you going for the long haul. And this is where we need discipline, we need to practice discipline.

So what is discipline? Well, discipline is training oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way. So this is like I love this definition, by the way, training yourself to do something in a controlled and habitual way. Discipline is what creates what it takes to create new habits, right?

Discipline is doing something, even when you don’t feel like it. Discipline means you’re suiting up and showing up every single day, no matter what. So motivation might be that thing that gets you started. But discipline is the thing that’s going to keep you going.

So you might have been motivated when you signed up for that marathon. But then the training started, you’re gonna need some discipline to get you through the months of training, especially if you’re training in any kind of, you know, sub-optimal weather like so around here, this part of the country, if you’re training for a spring marathon, you’re doing all your training in the winter, and it’s dark, and it’s cold, and it’s windy, and it kinda can suck.

And then if you’re training for a fall marathon, guess what, it’s all the opposite. It’s sunny and hot and humid. And it sucks, like, so, motivation is not going to be there, I promise you, at some point, during that marathon training, you’re going to need to get into practicing discipline, or you’re just not going to make it through there through the training.

And you might be motivated when you made the decision to lose weight. So you may have, you know, gotten, you know, finally ready to drop the 40 pounds or whatever you’ve been carrying around and you’re like, you know what, I am finally going to do this for myself and I’m motivated and excited and you’ve got this energy.

And then after a few weeks, you know, you’re just like sticking with this food plan, you’re just not motivated anymore. Discipline is going to keep you on that food plan when you don’t feel like it. Okay? Accomplishing anything worthwhile is going to require practicing the art of discipline, there’s just no other way around it.

Discipline is not the fun and sexy and exciting stuff. Discipline means you’re doing the boring stuff over and over and over again, day in and day out. It’s like discipline is like getting up early, every single day so you can hit the gym and work out. Discipline means like, you know, whatever the run is on your schedule for today just doing it. Right.

It may not be fun. It may not be what you feel like doing but you do it anyway. Discipline is sticking to that food plan. Even though it’s not exciting. Even the food is kind of like it’s a little boring. It’s okay. It means sticking to it anyway. And listen, I totally get that discipline is not easy. It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. It’s unfamiliar and just by the nature of it, like, you’re not gonna feel like doing it, you’re not gonna feel like sticking with it.

But this is the work of discipline, practicing the art of discipline is the work that you have to do. So I want to like challenge you to stop looking outside of yourself for motivation, before you do something, stop waiting to feel motivated before you take action. Because in the grand scheme of things, discipline beats motivation every single time. And here’s something cool. Like when you practice discipline when you get disciplined, and you do something, even though you don’t feel like doing it, oftentimes, just the act of doing, getting out there, and doing the thing will create a ton of motivation for you.

So like, when you don’t feel like running when you’re not motivated to run, and you go head out the door anyway, you will often get super motivated to keep going. So you get out there and you run a mile or so and you’re like, I do not feel like doing this. But then after a mile and a half, two miles, you’re like, you know, I’m feeling pretty good. After three miles, you’re like, you know, I’m actually pretty pumped about this.

People tell me this all the time. They’re like, you know what, Patrick, I didn’t feel like running. But then I did it. Anyway, I headed out the door. And I had like, the most amazing run, I hit a PR for my 5k time or I just had this amazing long run. And they feel super pumped about themselves. And they feel super motivated. That motivation was not there.

Before they headed out the door, they created that motivation, from discipline from being disciplined. Right, so you create the motivation by taking the action. Okay, I love this, I love this idea. Because it means that you have more control and more power.

Like you don’t have to just feel a certain way in order to like, get amazing results. Here’s an example. Like, I did not feel like lifting weights yesterday, I’ve been a little under the weather, I’ve got a little bug of something, you know, a little sore throat, I’ve been taking my temperature, I don’t have a fever or anything like that.

But I just feel like I’ve been out in the public more, I think it’s, you know, I just got some bug or something, you know, so I’m just feeling a little under the weather. So I hit the gym yesterday. And I did not feel like lifting weights, I was a little rundown, a little achy. And I was just like, I do not want to do this. And I told my trainer, Chris, I was like, dude, I just feel terrible today. So I’m just gonna, like take it easy, you know, when I was kind of giving myself an out.

And so I found myself putting a bunch of weight on the bar to do some back squats. And actually had a back squat PR yesterday, and I tied my deadlift PR yesterday. And I have to tell you that I didn’t think I was going to be able to do that. And for whatever reason, I just was like, let’s see what we can do. And I did it.

And I have to tell you like after I hit those two like PRs, I was so motivated, it was super motivating. I felt amazing. And the rest of my workout was so good. And I felt so proud of myself for sticking with it. And for showing up and doing what was hard. That’s the hard stuff, you guys, it’s not easy.

You know, maybe you’re like part of our dry July challenge in the Facebook group. And maybe you’re not drinking right now. And I know that this is not easy to do. Like if you’re in the habit of drinking on a regular basis, and then you decide you’re going to like take 30 days off or, you know, just even a few weeks or whatever. Like that could be very challenging, right.

But, you know, let’s say you, you decide you’re just going to skip that after-work happy hour on Friday, you know, and you’re not motivated to do this at all. You’re not going to feel like this is a good idea in the moment. Okay? But because you’re practicing the art of discipline, you say no.

And you see your friends leave and they all go hit the bar. And what you do is you say no, and you go home and you get in a nice run instead. Or maybe you hit the gym. Or maybe you just spend some time playing with your kids. And then I promise you, you’re going to feel something, you’re going to feel accomplished.

You’re going to feel a sense of pride in yourself. You’re going to gain confidence, you’re going to build trust with yourself, and this feeling that you have is just going to it’s going to feel so amazing and so motivating to keep you going back and keep you doing that and keep you staying on your plan.

And you’re gonna feel so good about yourself. Motivation is a feeling it’s an emotion it’s created by our thoughts. Right, discipline is taking action despite how you think and feel despite what your thoughts and feelings are in that moment. You may not think what you’re about to do is a good idea. It may seem like a dumb idea to not go to the bar with your friends, it may seem like you’re missing out on something, you may feel like, you know, left out, you know, you may feel sad, or you may feel, you know, frustrated by that.

And you’re taking action, despite those thoughts and despite those feelings, this is kind of cool. I mean, this is powerful, powerful stuff. And I want you to think about it this way, too. You are already practicing discipline in other areas of your life. And it’s funny because I hear people say, like, well, I’m in disciplined in this area over here, but I just can’t be disciplined in this area of my life.

So for example, like, I’m sure there’s probably been a time where you didn’t feel like going to work, you get up in the morning, and you’re like, I do not feel like going to work today. But you get up, you brush your teeth, you put your clothes on, you take a shower, whatever you do, get in your car, you drive to work, and you do it no matter what.

Or maybe you don’t feel like walking your dog every day at 4:30 in the morning, you know, whatever. But there you are out there in the cold walking the dog. And maybe you don’t feel like taking your kids to soccer practice again. But there you are doing it. And so you might argue, well, Patrick, the stakes are high, you know, with these things like you can’t lose your job, you can’t have poop on the carpet, you know, you can’t let your kids grow up to be mediocre soccer players. Think that’s funny. I’m glad I cracked myself up.

Because, I mean, there’s nobody else here. So it’s just me. You know, and I would argue that your health and your well-being and your fitness are pretty high stakes too. And I say that, if it isn’t for you, it should be. Because if you don’t have that, like what else do you have, you know, you’re not going to be there for your kids and your dog and your family and things like that, right?

So you’re already practicing this in other areas of your life, I just want you to see that. And understand that you can take that same mentality of like, I have to show up to my job, the stakes are high to your health and fitness. You know, you can absolutely apply those same principles here. Okay.

So instead of waiting to be, you know, struck with motivation, instead of waiting to be bestowed with motivation, practice the art of discipline. And I call it an art because it isn’t like an art form is something that you create, and you get to make it your own, you get to do it, however, you want to do it. You get to decide what discipline looks like for you. And then you get to practice it.

And just like an artist has to practice their craft to get better at it. You have to practice discipline to get better at it. And I understand this, it doesn’t come naturally. Our natural instinct is not to be disciplined, our natural instinct is to seek comfort. And discipline is oftentimes the opposite of that it’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel good sometimes. And that’s okay. Because here’s the thing, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes, the more you practice it, the better you get at it, just like anything else in your life.

Also, the art of discipline is making tiny decisions. It’s making little choices consistently over time. Every huge success is really just a series of small decisions that are made consistently, every single day. And all these tiny little actions, all these tiny things that you do all these tiny choices that you make, they can add up to something huge, something big, powerful.

I heard the saying that an ant can eat an elephant, one teeny tiny bite at a time. But this requires discipline. It’s not going to happen quickly. Motivation won’t get you there. So what is your elephant? What’s the big, seemingly impossible goal that you want for yourself? What is it that you want to become? That seems so huge?

It’s just like, there’s no way you could ever do it? And how can you take one teeny tiny bite of that today? And then what can you do tomorrow? And then the next day and so on? What little tiny decisions are you making in this moment right now? Can you lace up your running shoes and head out the door? Even though you don’t feel like it? Can you say no to the pizza that your husband brought home for dinner? Because yeah, that’s not part of your plan.

Can you skip the glass of wine after dinner because you said you weren’t drinking? Like I can say with almost certainty that you will not feel like doing these things you will not feel like running, you will not feel like saying no to the pizza. I mean, it’s pizza. Come on, right? You’re not gonna feel like saying no to the glass of wine. But can you do them anyway? Because that’s what discipline looks like.

Things just don’t happen, right, you make things happen. And in order to make things happen, you have to take action, and taking action requires discipline. And like I said before when you practice this, you get good at it, it becomes easier. There’s another side to this too, like, when you practice slacking off, you get good at that too. slagging off can be an art form, too.

You know, people get really creative and really fanciful with the excuses and reasons why they didn’t do what they said they’re going to do, you know, things are crazy at work, right now, the kids are out of school, you know, so you know, that means or it’s hot this time of the year, it’s cold this time of the year, whatever.

Like, we can get really fanciful and creative with all these excuses. And, and we’re good at this already, we’re good at coming up with excuses for not to do something. What if you instead practiced the opposite, you know, and took a different approach? Instead of practicing excuse as you practiced doing, you practiced taking action, even when the motivation wasn’t there, even when you didn’t feel like it.

So you got some work to do this week, I want you to practice the art of discipline and however that looks for you. Like, maybe you just set your alarm earlier, and you get your butt out of bed. You know, maybe you stick to that running schedule, you lace up your running shoes, and you head out the door. Maybe it’s saying no to that party after work and happy hour and hitting the gym instead. Don’t wait to feel motivated before taking action. Create those feelings of motivation by taking action, even when you don’t feel like it. Okay?

This is all about doing stuff. This is about taking action. So it’s not enough to just listen to this podcast and say, hey, cool stuff, bro. I get it. No, you got to do it. You got to practice it, nothing changes if nothing changes. So I want you to pick something. Pick one thing that you want to be disciplined about this week and stick to it. Do it even though you don’t feel like it, practice it.

And then jump into our Facebook group and post your results. Let’s talk about it. I would love to hear what you’re practicing this week. Because we’re there to support you. We’re here to help you and encourage you. And you know, just you know, celebrate you when you do stick to it for this week. Okay, cool.

You totally got this, you guys. I hope you got something out of this episode today. If you did, please consider sharing it with a friend. I love you all keep on Running Lean. I’ll talk to you soon.

If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.