(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
You are listening to Basement Chronicles with Lisa Dublin, episode number 52. Discipline gets you there. Hey, you made it.
Welcome to my basement. I'm Lisa Dublin, a health and life coach, and I help professional and executive women to live, lead, and speak with confidence. Because you know what? Developing your confidence and deepening your faith in God is the best formula for an amazing life.
So, are you ready? Let's go. Hey everyone, how's it going? How was your week? Mine has been very eventful. We're currently accepting enrollment for the next Edmonton cohort of Speak With Confidence.
So, if you are interested and you're in Edmonton, click the link in the show notes and you can sign up. Once there's room, you can get in. You know, I'm just grateful to be able to provide a valuable service for people.
For any entrepreneur listening, keep on going until you find your thing, or it finds you. If you've been listening to this podcast for some time, you will know that I've tried many things in the marketplace, and not everything has landed. Did I ever tell you about my course, Get That Goal, that I developed around maybe 2021 or 2022? You guys, I priced this course at $25.
Yes, $25. And guess how many units of this course I sold? Are you ready? A grand total of one unit. Yes, one person bought that course, and you know what? That person never ever finished the course.
So, here's the thing. Suppose I had stopped at that point. I would never have gotten to the success of Speak With Confidence, or to have been here to see the emergence and the development of this program, which has become my signature offering.
So, what I'm saying is, you can't afford to give up. You have to keep on going, trying, evaluating your efforts, and then trying some more until you get it right. And so, that brings me to today's topic.
What is a lack of discipline in your life costing you? Everywhere we are not disciplined, we pay a price. In this episode, I'm going to take you through my own struggles around discipline, and leave you with a couple pointers on how to get the help that you need to become more disciplined and to get unstuck. There are two areas in my life that I've been very disciplined with, my prayer life and my exercise life, right? But you know where I've slipped in the last couple years? Oh my goodness, my diet.
And it has cost me. In spite of all my running, in spite of going to the gym, I've been consistently putting on weight. And now, it has begun to cost me a whole lot.
So, I want to take you behind the scenes today and show you what that looks like. A couple weeks ago, I saw what it was costing me to be me right now. I did some spring cleaning in my closet, and I found that most of my clothes just don't fit anymore.
And I'm talking about lovely tailored suits and dresses that I've paid a lot of money for. And there they were, getting droopy in my closet because of a lack of use. And I took a good look at myself and I said, you know what, this lack of discipline is costing me thousands of dollars.
And recently, for example, I wore something that was less than palatable. It looked like a tent around me, okay? Because nothing fits anymore. And so, I have just been hoping and praying that I someday get back into my clothes.
And so, I've not been willing to spend as much money as I did on clothes. Anywho, I wore this tent thing that looked really large and whatever, and it was recorded. And guess what? So, I have these friends of mine who will hold me accountable to our elegant standard, okay? And this friend and I were talking, and she mentioned that she saw the video and the top that I was wearing didn't quite fit well under the jacket.
Now, I was not offended, okay? I have given my friends permission to speak into my life. So, I found myself blurting out to her, I've put on weight, nothing fits. I just need to get back to who I used to be.
And that was when I realized I needed to reckon with myself. So, that weekend, I did some spring cleaning in my closet. It was partly because I was trying to take an inventory of what I had, and it was partly because I wanted to see what still fit.
Every lovely piece of clothing I drew out of the nether regions of my closet reminded me of what it was costing me to not eat like I used to. I'm no longer a size 6, or a size 8, or 10, or 12. What on earth happened? Well, I got busy.
I let life get in the way. And there are so many factors that have contributed to my weight gain beyond just being busy and letting life get in the way. I'm now 50, and I believe that I've been in perimenopause since around 47, because that was when I noticed a significant drop in my energy levels and how my body was working and looking, all of these things.
It's not the same. It's just easier for me to put on weight, which means I need to be more careful, and I have not been. But most of the factors that I need to be at the weight that I am comfortable with are within my control.
But it's not as easy as that. That's a lovely statement, very empowering on paper. But here's the thing.
I need help, knowledge, systems, and accountability, because that is what I don't have right now. And so I want to turn the lens on you for a little bit. What about you? Where has a lack of discipline cost you? Maybe it might be your health, your money, your relationships, your family life, or maybe even your relationship with God.
Sometimes, especially with the divine, we lose connection, and it costs us in the times that really matter. So what I did was I divvied up my clothes into the different sizes. And you know what? I'm starting with size 12, and the challenge is to get into those clothes by June.
Then I'll tackle size 10 and keep on moving. But to get back there, I had to figure out a couple of things. How I got to 167 pounds was by eating right and working out right.
There were also other factors. When I began this journey of transformation all the way back in 2019, I was 43 years old. Yes, I can't believe how much time has flown.
Since then, so many things have changed. I started working from home, so thus, I became more sedentary as I took my business online. Also, I've lost trainers.
I lost the best trainer ever, and I've not been able to hire others because I needed to devote all my resources to setting up my business while paying for high-ticket mentors, other coaches, programs, and certifications. So yes, I am in the thick of being an entrepreneur, and no pun is intended. But let's walk through these steps together.
There are several ways to get to the point where you have the discipline that you need to move the needle and get you to your goals. Here are a couple tips. Number one, return to desire or drum up desire.
I think I lost my desire to be in shape. I lost my desire for it, or maybe I didn't appreciate it enough in the first place. So you know what I've done? I've pulled out my old pictures from when I was cut and torn, right? And you know, I've been very careful not to use those photos as an indictment against myself.
You know, I'm a coach, so I know how to coach my mind, but I use them not to make me depressed, but for me to see and to encourage myself by saying, Lisa, if you did it once, you can do it again, and I hope that you can do the same. Number two, return to what worked for you. Take some time, sit down, write out all the things you did when the goal was working, then see what you no longer do and ask yourself why.
Figure out what you can return to and what is no longer an option, and then make adjustments because life changes, right? So one thing I realized is that I no longer do meal prep like I used to, and I no longer drank as much water as I used to. So I've returned to doing those things from this weekend. Number three, get help.
I'm not quite sure what is going on with my body, so I think I'm going to start with my doctor to figure out what's happening on the hormonal side. You know, I've never been the person to make too much of a big fuss about perimenopause or menopause because I think there's a part of me that figures if I downplay it, it's just going to settle and I'll just go through this very smoothly and get out of it when the time is right. But clearly, perimenopause and menopause have a different kind of agenda.
So yes, I am going to go to the doctor. I cannot do it on my own. Another thing that has changed is that I no longer have my original trainer.
He's no longer in the business. And I think there was a part of me that was still looking for his replacement, you know, like, oh my gosh, like nobody could train me like he could, etc. Okay, that's fine.
But you know, there's that settling in myself that, hey, he can't be the only one. Perhaps I just need to find somebody that works for me. So let's see how that goes.
Now, the next point I am very excited about, can you tell? This point is called use automatic restraints. So thus far, and if you're on Duolingo, please go look for me, Lisa Dublin, and then we can be friends on Duolingo, okay? Thus far, I am on a 40 something day streak in Duolingo. So I, you know, I've skipped some days in the past.
But recently, 40 something days ago, I noticed this new feature in Duolingo. Is it new? I'm not even sure that blocks all your other apps until you do a Duolingo lesson, you guys. So I usually play a movie series in the background while I do my work.
You know, if it's not really deep, dark work, like I would play a movie in the background. So would you believe that now, because those apps like Netflix, maybe CBC Gem, etc. These apps are blocked until I do my Duolingo lesson.
Guess what has happened? As soon as I wake up, you know, do my ablutions, get downstairs, whatever. I do my Duolingo exercise very early in order to allow me the privilege of actually doing the things I love. So what would that look like in my health journey or in your journey? What can you automate so that you do the necessary before you do the desirable? So for example, if you're going to watch TV, put the block on your TV until after you have worked out.
That way you will work out because you want to get the reward. And this has been one of the most effective ways of me building back the habit of building the Duolingo habit and now building the habit of getting back into exercise and eating right. Doing the thing that is hard to do to get to the reward, which is the thing that you want to do.
So here's another realization that has come in all of this. I wish I was that person who didn't naturally love food, you know. So I had some of my friends and other people, you know, in general, speaking about how when they are stressed, OK, they don't eat.
Oh, my goodness. Somebody has to remind them to eat or they'll say stuff like they stay up, they're sleepless, they can't sleep. And, you know, I don't have any of those natural restraints.
Me, when I'm stressed, I sleep a lot and I eat a lot. And that's my story, you guys. And I think like if I had accepted this so many years ago, it might have helped me not to become bulimic because it was literally a fight against the binge, right? A fight against the the repercussions of binging on food.
And that trajectory with bulimia lasted way into my thirties. So here's the thing. I love food, but I need to be able to control this love of food by loving my health and my well-being more.
Honestly, when I was like planning this podcast, you know, as you write, sometimes you alight on discovery, on self-discovery. I had never admitted this thing to myself. So this is a truth that I had not admitted to anyone like this before today.
My lack of discipline, though multifaceted, is costing me and I have to figure out a way to get back to where things were easier. So here are also a couple of quotes that have governed my life and that I'm taking very seriously right now. The first one is this, discipline equals freedom.
This is a quote from Jocko Willink. So this guy, he wrote a book called Discipline Equals Freedom. He's an ex-Navy SEAL who teaches on discipline.
And if you want to buy the book, the link is also in the show notes. So the more disciplined we are in our private lives, the more disciplined we will be in our professional or public facing lives. Yes.
Here's another quote from this same Jocko Willink. He says, if you want to be successful, discipline is non-negotiable. And here's another quote.
This one is from an anonymous source. I just pulled it off the internet because I thought it made so much sense. And it's this, discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.
So I guess the question is, dear listener, what do you want most? Hanker after it, desire it, spend time savoring it, and it will be easier to choose to do the things that will take you to that reality. So yes, discipline first begins with desire, but there has to be something more that you need to do. You guys remember this book, Atomic Habits by James Clare? He says this, and I think I've said it in the podcast in some of the episodes.
He says this, we do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems. Why am I on a 40 day something streak with Duolingo? Because I put a system in place to ensure that I followed up my desire to get better at French and Italian with habits that work.
So I have to go back and do the same thing with my diet. What about you? Desire is not enough to do anything. It's very important.
You've got to have red hot desire for life, but let that desire compel you to employ extreme, yes, extreme measures to ensure that you do the actions that will lead to the fulfillment of those desires. That's it. You have to be extreme in the tactics in the battle to win.
Everything takes more time and effort than you think. Yes, it's supposed to be that hard to accomplish that goal. If you accept that reality, that yes, it is supposed to be this hard to get what I want, then you will open yourself up without hesitation to go the distance.
This is what it takes. Anyway, I hope this episode on discipline makes sense to you. If I came across as a little forceful, it's because this is exactly how I speak to myself and how I get my own results.
So what I'd love for you to do is not rush out right now just to do something new because you feel the energy of the podcast. Sit with this episode for a while, listen a couple of times and apply to yourself. What is it costing you to remain without discipline in that area of your life? Is this a price you are willing to continue to pay? If you no longer want to keep paying that price of a lack of discipline, and you know, that price manifests itself in many ways.
For example, it might be a lack of cash flow because of poor money management. It might be being overweight because there's no discipline in exercise and diet. It might be relationships that get blown up to smithereens because there's a lack of control.
It could also be something like losing friends because you can't control your tongue. Yes, these are all areas where we have a lack of control. And if you are fed up of paying this price that comes with a lack of discipline, sit down, figure out how much it is costing you and figure out too how you can stop paying that price.
Desire followed with discipline and support will give you a different result. So I love you. I know you can do it.
I know you can do better. The same way that I'm loving myself into better. I wish the same for you.
Thanks for listening. I am Lisa Dublin. Before we sign off, I want to invite you to take the next step with me.
If you know you have something to say, but you need help saying it with more clarity, confidence and power. Start with my free speak with confidence starter course. It is a short but effective course that teaches you the foundations of how to speak with more confidence and authenticity.
So go to LisaMDublin.com slash SWC startup. And if you are ready for deeper support, then I want to invite you to join speak with confidence either virtually or in person. This is my signature program designed to help you to become a stronger, more effective speaker in both the professional and entrepreneurial space.
And for those of you who are great speakers but are stuck in other ways in your mindset, your direction for your life, your habits or your momentum, I want to invite you to sign up for my life coaching program, how to get unstuck. Coaching changed my life and that is why I became a certified life coach to help you move forward with clarity, confidence and intention. So whether you need help to speak with confidence or to live and lead with confidence, there is a next step for you in my world.
All the links are in the show notes and I would love to work with you. I'll see you in the next episode.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
