When discipline feels like an obligation or when it is obligation that invites you into discipline it’s worth asking yourself what you are trying to achieve.

If it’s getting rid of something, do you truly have to pay attention to this something? Is it worth your time? And if so, why? What’s the story?

If it’s to achieve something, what is it that makes this something worthwhile achieving? How is this path the most effective one?

Whenever there is obligation, there is resistance.

The presence of resistance means that either your emotions or values are telling you that something is amiss. When it’s obligation instead of duty, discipline has become a means to go against one’s emotions or values. There is little value in avoiding the signals our system shares with us.

By knowing how you are challenged it becomes possible to reframe your approach. It might still be hard and difficult, but resistance will shift once you know what it is for.

It sounds simple, but it’s easy to underestimate resistance to find out what resistance is about.