The Myth of Discipline by Charles Poliquin is one of his most read and most shared articles. For me, this article helped explain to myself and other people something I had known for a long time but hadn't been able to put into words. For example, when I was a rugby league player people would often say "oh you are so disciplined" because I would train so hard and so often, and in the last few years my diet was really good, I would either pack my food or go home to eat so I could have the exact amount and type of food I needed. I would train of a morning, go to work, come home do another session, get to training early and do some personal skills, and then do our regular session. This was my life for many years. I would always say I wasn't that disciplined. To me this wasn't hard work. I loved what I was doing, I loved playing rugby league and I loved pushing myself as hard as possible to see how good I could get. It was the one place in the world where I felt confident and could switch off from everything else and it was the only thing I had ever wanted to do with my life.
This is exactly what Charles speaks about in his article. He opens with "There is no such thing as discipline. There is only love. Love is the most powerful creative force in the universe. You are the result of what you love most."
The more I trained, ate well, and began living with more focus on what I loved the more confident I became within myself. I had always been very shy and doubted myself massively. I still do but in comparison to where I was, I am now much more confident and don't really care too much about what others think of me anymore. Obviously I don't want to be disliked, but I am more satisfied with the way I live my life and the choices I make so I am not trying to get the approval of others.
Living this way makes life much more enjoyable and stress free. It is also much easier than trying to grind away doing things you hate day in and day out. I done this with many jobs, labouring away just to get some money in. It wasn't that bad and actually taught me some really good work ethic, especially the scaffolding I done for many years. Doing what I do now as a strength coach and coach, is a passion of mine and something I would do whether or not I could get an income out of it. I love it and I never really feel like it is work. It is enjoyable watching our clients progress and seeing them grow personally as well. The old saying "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life", to me is true.
Read Charles' article. It will either help you understand why you do what you do much more clearly or it may give you some ideas and reasons to go and do what you truly love to do.