I knew I wouldn't make it following a traditional path so I started a business and figured out how to make money. Being broke and not having rent money kept me focused. Then I went back to being undisciplined. Girls, parties, travel, booze, food, and video games. When money ran out I became hyper focused on making money again until I could eat caviar by the spoonful. I found a profitable niche and then I didn't have to work more than 10 hours a week. I did this for about a decade until my mid-30's and I still never developed any discipline. I let the business die out of boredom; by the age of 36 I was flat broke again.
I found a co-founder and a customer who paid a big deposit upfront and we set up a new company to build the product. We hired people and I realised I had to change. I suffered for years having to wake up early enough to start work before 9. Things went okay but not great. I tried to adapt to the normal world but it was painful. I hated having to turn up everyday but I turned up anyway. I would feel guilty for turning up late. This was an unhappy period of my life.
But by the age of about 40 I finally learned how to do shit that I wasn't in the mood to do. This is a really valuable skill and what keeps me going in between periods of inspiration. I did this by learning to feel satisfaction for completing boring tasks reasonably well.
Being able to hire people to do tedius stuff for you is also helpful.
Now I'm in my mid-40's and I've found what I think is a healthy middle ground. The company is still going and it's grown to 20 people. I stopped feeling guilty about being late or about any of my other flaws. I just accept myself and do my best and that's okay for me. I feel like I'm on a good and healthy trajectory and while I'm not rich I am very happy and content. I love my life.
>I have zero discipline. How do I get more disciplined? >How do I learn to work hard, with regularity, with no immediate returns for a long period of time?
I don't think there is a silver bullet here you have to try to find what works for you. I'll list some ideas that I think helped me but keep in mind that I never solved my problems I instead found a way to work around them.
- Having a good work ethic will make you a great employee. fuck that. Instead learn to relentlessly chase your goals and to fight through periods where you have no motivation.
- Work on things that naturally motivate you and make you feel good.
- It's a lot easier to learn to work hard if the returns are in clear sight. For long term motivation it's just a matter of extending your vision further out into the future.
- Making money is addicting. Let yourself get focused on chasing your next score.
- Try to create a positive feedback loop for yourself where more effort directly translates to more money.
- Putting effort into doing something every day will lead to you getting better at that thing. Once you experience that for yourself you may find it easier to motivate yourself for long term goals.
- Stop feeling guilty. Don't get trapped in a guilt/escapism loop. Forgive yourself to break out of it.
- Fear of losing your apartment when you're two months behind on rent can be pretty powerful motivation, but it only works for a little while before you become numb to it.
- There are lots of situations where the lazy solutions are the best solutions.
- Pay people to be disciplined and work hard for you.
- Instead of adapting to your environment, learn to make your environment adapt to you.