Becoming My Best

I am a lot of things, but I am not perfect. But I am always learning, always trying to do better and be better. That’s not always easy because, while I know I’m far from perfect, I chase perfectionism. That means that I set high standards and am hard on myself when I fall short. But in everything that I do, it’s about becoming my best self.

Self-Discipline

I’m counting down the days for the year (it’s a bit more than that, actually) that I’m stepping back from social media. It’s Day 371 (counting down, remember) on this journey. The goal isn’t just about cutting out the noise. It’s also about developing the discipline—the self-mastery, if you will—to keep the main thing the main thing.

That means getting in a gym workout or a run every day, despite how I feel or what the weather is like. It means putting in time on my writing projects every day, even if it’s no more than 25 or 30 minutes—instead of streaming a movie or surfing the internet. Nothing happens overnight, but the small steps, the tiny actions, that we take every day helps us get to where we’re looking to go. And more than that, it helps us finish something.

In the end, it’s not about what we do, it’s about how we do it and, by extension, who we are.” – Ryan Holiday

Yes, it’s the small actions, when I’m working on becoming my best, that make the difference.

Becoming My Best

I was listening to Mel Robbins the other day, and she talked about the 24-hour rule. And it’s pretty simple. Focus on the next 24 hours. Not what’s going to happen next week or next year. What you do now will help you get to where you want to be. Looking too far ahead can make us despair, and demotivate us. So, just for today, we develop the self-discipline to make the main thing the main thing.

It’s as Ryan Holiday writes in his book, Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control: “Self-discipline [..] It is about becoming the best, the best that you are capable of becoming.”¹

Be your best.

1. Holiday, R. (2022). Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control, New York, Portfolio/Penguin, p. 183. [↩]