 In this video I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom, the keys to self-discipline also known as self-mastery. And the tool we're going to use to get us there is mindfulness. But before we get into all that, what is self-discipline first of all? Let's define it a little bit. Self-discipline is the capacity to do what you know you have to do, which is in your best interest despite how you feel about it in the moment. So self-discipline is sticking to your diet. Self-discipline is going to school when you don't want to go to school. Self-discipline is exercising when you don't want to exercise. It's doing things that are going to improve you regardless about what you feel in the moment. You have to understand that your brain is not on your side. Your brain wants what's easy for it. As long as you're able to survive, as long as you're able to survive and reproduce your brain is cool. It does not give a shit about your goals, your lofty goals at all. So this is where your self-discipline comes in. You've got a brain that's not on your side but you've got these high level goals of a human being. So how are you going to achieve them? Well that's where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness is the ability to become aware of your own thoughts, your own emotions and life in general, just becoming more aware. Now you might be thinking that's easy. I'm aware. I know about my thoughts. I know about life. I'm living life. How can you not be aware? Wrong. When you walk somewhere, let's say you're walking to your car, oftentimes more often than not, you're going to be thinking about next week about the family dinner you got going on. You're going to be thinking about a few years back about the time Tommy called you that mean name in preschool. You're going to be thinking about the new boat you want to buy. You're going to be thinking about all kinds of things you're going to miss out on life entirely. You're going to miss out on the sensations of the grass underneath your feet. You're going to miss out on the birds flying above. You're going to miss out on a lot of sensations because you're stuck in your mind. This is not being aware. This is not being mindful. This brings back the awareness. So how does this relate to self-discipline or self-master anyway? Sure, paying attention is great, but what does that have to do with achieving your goals of going against the evolutionary burden? Well, here's the thing. To go against the evolutionary mismatch, you need to be aware of your own thoughts and your own emotions. Becoming aware of life in general also helps you become aware of your own thoughts, your own emotions. So mindfulness lets you analyze the internal world as well as the external world. Let's say you're angry. Let's say for some reason something's angered you. There's a few things that happen. Perhaps your scalp starts heating up. Perhaps your hands start sweating. Maybe your elbows start twitching. The average person, once they start feeling these sensations, they react. They fulfill the habit loop that's been ingrained in them. They feel the sensations of anger. If they get angry, they snap. They do something perhaps that they didn't want to do or they wouldn't have done if they were in a different mindset. The mindful person has got a buffer. They've got a gap. They've got the opportunity to decide their reaction. They're able to pick up on these sensations. They're able to dive deep into them, to feel them fully, to embrace these sensations of life. And the funny thing about diving deep into these sensations, paying attention to them, is that you gain a sense of power over them. So the mindful person dives deep into these sensations and they realize that they don't have to react. They realize that they are not one with these sensations, that they're just observing, that these things are rising up beside them. These things are not them. They're just rising up beside them, so they don't have to react. They say that to escape the trap, you have to analyze it. And that's what you're doing with your emotions. You have to analyze your emotions. You have to analyze how your brain works to be able to gain that self-mastery we were talking about. Let's say you were trapped by some mechanism, rope tied around your foot. You're not just going to try to escape. You're going to look at it, see what's wrong, and then work from there. Analyze the trap and escape. There's the same thing with your life. And that's how mindfulness is going to help you. Mindfulness is a way and means to be able to analyze these traps. Bringing more attention to your life is going to help you with the self-mastery, because you're going to be able to see things that you normally wouldn't see, things that would normally become habitual that you would take for granted. You're going to be able to pay attention to them and then decide. So how can you exercise your mindfulness? Well, the best way is mindfulness meditation, but you don't have to do this. Any time you're just aware of what's happening, you being mindful. Any time you are aware of your anxiety, you're being mindful. Any time you're aware of your weird thoughts, you're being mindful. Any time you're aware of the strange sensations, you being mindful. Any time you're aware of the grasp underneath your feet, you're being mindful. Awareness is mindful. The more times you can do this throughout the day, the easier it will be for you. So build up this skill set because it is the keys to the kingdom.