Discipline is a synonym for time management. Ironically, most people take advantage of technologies that save them time but instead of using that extra time productively, they instead fill it with other tasks or useless time consuming “entertainment.” Of course, there are plenty of technologies out there that are simply time consumption devices and I fall victim to them all the time. I’ve binge watched shows and I play video games too often. I’ll hop on a social media site for a few minutes when I find myself bored. These time consumption devices are traps. They steal time that we trick ourselves into believing is saved from other task or is time we set aside to relax and these traps are our way of relaxing. This can of course be true, but what can we be doing that might be more productive? I know, “productive” is synonymous with work and nobody likes work. But we all have dreams. Things we want to accomplish. Yet we can always make an excuse to not put in the work to eventually achieve that dream. I have fallen into a terrible routine lately of doing just that. I have not been reading (which has been awful) even though I’ve been wanting to read. It’s like going to the fridge to get something to eat and the fridge is full of food but nothing sounds good so you just give up on choosing and decide not to eat anything. I want to read but no book has grabbed my attention and made me want to read. It sucks because when I read, my drive to write increases. Reading is like priming the engine for my imagination and gets my mind right to create. I love reading, and I hate when I have the urge to write but lack an idea or motivation. Writing only when you have ideas and motivation will delay work to a point where it might not get finished. To be a writer, one must write. Therefore, discipline is needed. If you don’t take the time to work for the dream, the dream will remain a dream. Or, as my favorite saying goes, if you don’t change something, then nothing will change. For me, it’s time to change something. To get back on track with working on the book and writing other stories. Discipline is making the time and by making the time you eliminate the need for motivation or make it something you can self-produce instead of waiting for it to magically appear out of the ether. With seemingly a million things to get done, it’s time for me to herd some cats and get the ducks in a row and whatever other animal idioms you want to add. It’s time to get serious and stop horsing around.

Please send me reading recommendations. If you want to know what I like first, the last few books that I really got into have been The Name of the Wind and Ready Player One. When I say got into, I mean was so lost in the story that everything outside of the book seemed irrelevant until I finished (aka never wanted to put it down). I’ll take any and all recommendations regardless if it’s a short story or poem or book series.

Side note on motivation: I find that music can help me focus and get motivated. I’ve also been watching motivational speeches by people I look up to which inspires as well as motivates.