Discipline, a Common Struggle: Mark Warkentin (Olympian) Talks About Discipline and I Procrastinate

I'm supposed to be working on freelance stuff right now. I just ate, I already put in eight hours, and I really don't feel like it. Those of you who know me will find it shocking, but I'm putting off any application of self-discipline. I'm playing and proctrastinating. That is how I came across mention of a blog by Mark Warkentin, olympic Open-water Swimming contender. Warkentin writes this in one of his posts:

On the trip to Singapore I did a bit of reading. I’m currently reading two books (there’s a point to why I’m sharing this information with everyone). The first is “Disciplines of a Godly Man” by R. Kent Hughes. As one could imagine, the concept of the book is to use biblical teaching for modern application, and even if you’re not a Christian, it’s a good read. (I’m not preaching – there’s a reason I’m reading the book). The second book is “The CEO of the Sofa” by P.J. O’Rourke. The author pontificates on pop culture and politics from the comfort of his living room couch all while sipping a martini. The perspectives are essentially polar opposites.

He goes on to talk about the struggle he faces as an olympic athlete; the struggle of discipline.

The problem is that we all live a fairly disciplined life at home, in fact our discipline at home is one of the main reasons we made it to the Olympics in the first place. Those that can avoid the beer and the pastries typically find more success than those that cannot. Swimming is about discipline and routines and patterns, and we’ve just put a bunch of athletes in a beautiful tropical location where our discipline is going to be tested. (There’s a “no alcohol” protocol, but there isn’t a “no 10 pastries” protocol.)

AND

I became self-aware of the situation while I nearly sank to the bottom of the pool this morning. I have to discipline myself in two ways. First, I need to keep the diet under control. Some people think that swimmers can eat whatever we want in any quantity, but the reality is that we have all become very efficient at swimming and an 8,000 meter workout doesn’t burn as many calories as you might think. Second, because I swim the 10K at the end of the Olympics, I have to train hard for the entire time here in Singapore. While the other swimmers do 3,000 meter warm-up practices and 15 meter sprints for main sets, I have to continue 8,000 to 9,000 meter workouts with a pretty high intensity. I’m going to be doing a lot of swimming on my own while the other swimmers arrive after me and leave before me.

The discipline required to fulfill both of these objectives is not unattainable, but often times we set out to discipline ourselves under the assumption that something is easy and quickly find out that it’s more than we bargained for. I’ve been pretty disciplined in my life and I’m self-aware enough to recognize when I’m being tempted, so it’s a winnable contest, but that’s not to say I can snap my fingers and have complete self-control. The pastries look good, and doing 8x800 on 9 minutes is not really all that enjoyable.

He throws out a good challenge to us all. Whereas he writes that "I've been pretty disciplined in my life," I'd have to say the opposite of myself. This next season I've committed to make some changes in my personal life. Excercising discipline will be necessary if I'm to achieve ANY success. Success in consistent excercise, success in maintaining relationship with Christ, success in work, success in writing. Currently, I'm hardly going at my life with a broadax. Going at my life with a handful of Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Raisins more like.

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one recieves the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Everyone who competes in the games excercises self control in all things. They then do it to recieve a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."-1 Corinthians 9:24-27