There is a saying brought to popularity by Jocko Willink, the hard-faced army commander of Extreme Ownership and Iraq War fame that says;

“Discipline equals freedom.”

I personally like this mantra as it fits my bias well.

And yet, in true Jocko style, it is extreme. Not in its concept, but in that, it is likely a radical change for most people who live their lives endlessly pressured and pulled around by kids, work, friends, and family from where they are now, to extreme discipline.

“Discipline” fits the mindset of a Navy Seal. They are built in that. If you arent disciplined, you are out.

I think then that there is a more user-friendly, approachable, and actionable version of this mantra that can work for you.

“Habits create freedom”.

This likely isn’t revolutionary either. But it definitely isn't as extreme a swing from where you are now, to being ready to enlist, if you know what I mean.

Habits or routines are often thought of as boring. Routine is synonymous (at least in my mind it was when I was a nipper) as a word used to describe people who needed something to do.

Something to pass the time. Old folks in an old folk's home. Read the paper, play scrabble, nap, etc., and in training and in nutrition, it's often thought of as a starter place. Something for beginners almost. People think of routine in fitness as something that gets them going before they make it up to the rarified heights of athletic prowess rivaled only by the elite. - “Once I get there, I won’t need a routine. Routine is just my stepping stone to the big leagues”.

Same with nutrition -  “I’ll eat these boring meals because once I get to my goals, then I will be able to eat whatever I want, I just need to get there.”

Well, no. We don't.

Routine and habits are key to everyone's success. Especially the big-timers. Automating the most important things in our health and fitness is the answer for most people. Having a set sleep and wake time, a reliable breakfast, a structured training program, a well-organized calendar for daily/frequent responsibilities, a nutritious lunch option, a boundaried workday, and a nightly wind-down regimen. All of these habits and routines actually provide more freedom. They aren't boring, they are important. If you can structure these things you can become efficient at them so that they take less time and cost you less energy. James Clear talks a little about this here.

If you have to decide what to wear, eat, say, think, and where to go every day, chances are you’ll end up exhausted by about 11:14 am. Anything after that is up to chance. Our mental bandwidth is zapped and our decision fatigue is high. But we have 10+ more hours of our day left and 1000+ more decisions to make.

The one thing I hear from nutrition coaching clients more than most other things is how they “don’t have the energy to cook when they get home from work”. When we dig a little deeper, it appears to be because their day is a carnival ride of last-minute decisions and stretched timelines so that by the time they get home, they are wrecked. So out comes door-dashed and whatever is on sale that night. Sound familiar?

Habits create freedom.

Automating key daily behaviors frees up that zapped bandwidth to be able to make more efficient decisions. If you arent having to decide what to do at the gym that day or to eat for lunch that afternoon, you can be better prepared for the board meeting because you’ve just got more time. Not to mention, you can just focus on doing 1 thing at a time and doing that thing really well (data routinely supports multitasking not being a forte of the human brain, no matter how good we claim to be at it).

If you find yourself strapped for time and wishing you could just “nail down this one thing and then you’d have time”, then look at what you can automate. What can you make routine?

If that means eating a similar or the same lunch each day, then try it. If that means putting everything you need to do on your calendar, then do it (and stick to it). If that means hiring a coach to write you a program for what to do at the gym so you can just focus on effort, then do it (cough cough…Hi, Jay, have we met before?).

You don’t have to be a commander in the army to get routine to work for you.

Nor does it make you boring.

It makes you freely efficient.