2554: Your Guide to Personal Freedom: Spartan Style by Roger Lawson on Self Discipline & Resiliency

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[00:01:47] Your Guide to Personal Freedom, Spartan Style by Roger Lawson of rojlawfitness.com. And I'm Dr.

[00:01:54] Neil Malik, your host and narrator. Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back

[00:01:59] to Optimal Health Daily where I simply read to you from the best health and fitness blogs

[00:02:04] for free. And on Fridays, I answer your questions. You can send one in at oldpodcast.com

[00:02:12] slash ask or just send an email to health at oldpodcast.com. Now today's Wednesday and like I

[00:02:21] do every Wednesday, I like to share a little bit of inspiration with you. So with that, here we go.

[00:02:28] Yesterday, I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise so I am changing

[00:02:36] myself. Rumi. Alright and with that, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

[00:02:48] Your guide to personal freedom, Spartan Style by Roger Lawson of rojlawfitness.com.

[00:02:55] Are you living a life worth remembering? Put another way, which do you remember more,

[00:03:01] what you had for lunch two years ago or the inspiring speech you heard 10 years ago?

[00:03:07] The lunch was so mundane that it could have happened last week and you would remember just as

[00:03:12] much, meaning nothing. But the speech, oh the speech, it moved you. It challenged you to think

[00:03:19] about things in a different way. It forced you out of your comfort zone and into action.

[00:03:25] But most importantly, it changed you and from that moment on, you would never be the same again.

[00:03:31] Well, that moment came to me during the film 300. As much of a fan as I am for an unabashed man movie,

[00:03:39] this one connected to me on such an emotional level that it's difficult to put into words.

[00:03:45] Thankfully, I managed to power through that difficulty and distill a few lessons that

[00:03:49] will help take you from where you are to where you want to be.

[00:03:53] 1. Find Your Why

[00:03:56] In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sent a messenger to Sparta asking the king for

[00:04:03] earth and water as a token of their submission. If the Spartans accepted, they would become

[00:04:09] part of the empire, receiving the spoils that came along with such a distinction.

[00:04:13] If they denied, they would incur the wrath of the Persian army,

[00:04:17] their men would be killed, and the women and children forced into slavery.

[00:04:21] So, what did the good Spartan king do? He kicked that sucka down a well. Request, denied.

[00:04:28] And with that act, the gauntlet had been thrown down. The eve of war was now upon them.

[00:04:35] But why fight, especially when the numbers are far more in favor of the enemy?

[00:04:39] They fought because they had a reason to. They weren't fighting to protect some

[00:04:43] abstract notions such as honor, but something more tangible. The lives of their loved ones,

[00:04:50] and their very way of life. Why am I here? This examination leads to a lot more questions than

[00:04:57] actual answers, and not just any questions, but black hole time stealing ones that lead you down

[00:05:03] an infinite rabbit hole and serve only as a distraction from the life you are living.

[00:05:08] Why am I doing this? Why do I want to do this?

[00:05:12] These are the questions that you need to ask yourself. These are the questions

[00:05:16] that need to be answered because they lead to action, not just more reflection.

[00:05:21] If you don't have a strong enough why, then nothing else matters.

[00:05:25] Without a rock solid reason why you're doing something, the how you're going to do it

[00:05:30] will either never manifest itself or even worse when it does, it will be so shaky and vague

[00:05:36] that you buckle and your resolve falls apart at the first sign of external pressure.

[00:05:42] 2. Cross the point of no return

[00:05:45] By sending the Persian messenger for an eternal swim, the Spartans sent a message so bold that

[00:05:51] they had no choice but to move forward. They couldn't just go, oops, my bad, and hope that all

[00:05:57] would be forgiven. Nope, they had crossed the much dreaded point of no return, the point in

[00:06:02] which turning back is either impossible or are much more difficult than continuing along the

[00:06:08] chosen path. But this isn't Sparta, this is your life. By crossing that boundary, you've

[00:06:14] essentially gone all in and put some serious skin in the game. Are you so deep in debt that

[00:06:20] it's gobbling up all your money, time, and preventing you from achieving your dreams?

[00:06:25] Then find your why, create a strategy to pay it off, and start plugging away,

[00:06:30] and keep plugging away. Eventually, you will have gone so far that the pain of

[00:06:35] continuing forward will pale in comparison to that of returning to your former state of life

[00:06:41] and the state of mind that got you there. As frightening as it may be at times,

[00:06:46] this is where you want to place yourself. This is where true growth and progress begins.

[00:06:51] Yet this is also the resting place of dreams, where those who choose not to continue forward

[00:06:57] abandon their aspirations and turn the other way. But this won't be you, this can't be you.

[00:07:04] The stakes are too high for you not to continue forward. If not now, then when? If not you,

[00:07:12] then who? And three, defy convention. With just 300 men against an army of thousands,

[00:07:19] it would have been suicidal for the Spartans to attack head-on. This is exactly what the

[00:07:24] Persians were expecting because at least that way, they could easily crush this small annoyance

[00:07:29] and continue along the warpath. But the Spartans chose to ignore standard war tactics

[00:07:34] and use the landscape to their advantage by forcing the Persians into a narrow pass,

[00:07:39] where their large numbers meant nothing. By defying this convention,

[00:07:43] the Spartans forced the enemy to play into the game that they created.

[00:07:48] What about us though? Take a look around and you'll quickly realize that

[00:07:52] everyone more or less is doing the same thing because it is safe. Because that is how it

[00:07:58] has always been done, because it is what others expect, because of rules. These rules, whether

[00:08:05] they are written or implied, are dangerous. They confine your thoughts and they limit your

[00:08:09] actions to whatever fits within the constraints of these rules, even if the situation demands

[00:08:15] that they be tossed aside for fresh ideas. But what if there was another way? What if,

[00:08:21] instead of simply following the crowd, following what is practical and logical,

[00:08:26] you listen to that inner voice of yours, the one that still wants to test the boundaries of life

[00:08:31] and explore what is possible. You might fail but you also might discover that the only limits

[00:08:37] imposed in life are the ones you set for yourself and through that realization began

[00:08:42] to shatter those preconceived notions. And failure? It pales in comparison to the infinite

[00:08:48] possibilities that await those who are brave enough to treat reality as their plaything

[00:08:53] and create their own blueprint. His helmet was stifling, it narrowed his vision and he must

[00:08:59] see far. His shield was heavy, it threw him off balance and his target is far away.

[00:09:06] With the hurling of his spear, King Leonidas proved that even a god king could bleed

[00:09:11] and solidified his place in the books of history as a testament to when free men

[00:09:15] rebelled against tyranny. What are you doing to ensure that your legacy lives on?

[00:09:25] You just listened to the post titled, Your Guide to Personal Freedom, Spartan Style,

[00:09:30] by Roger Lawson of rojlawfitness.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:10:43] to hire you need indeed. Dr. Neal here for my commentary. If you've listened to this podcast

[00:10:50] for even a little while, you know that I'm a big believer in finding the why in whatever we're

[00:10:55] doing when we ask ourselves questions like why do I bother going to work every day?

[00:11:01] The immediate answer will likely be well to make money obviously but take that a step further

[00:11:08] and ask why is making money important to me? Again the response to this question may be

[00:11:14] fairly obvious so I can pay my bills geez stop asking me such obvious questions.

[00:11:20] Well let's take this a step further why is paying our bills important? Then why is being able

[00:11:27] to live in your home with electricity and heat and having a car that has fuel in it

[00:11:32] important? If we keep digging we will find a bunch of reasons why we do the things we do

[00:11:39] and going through this process can serve as a great motivator when we have those days where it's

[00:11:44] a struggle to get out of bed and head to work or to the gym or to plan our meals.

[00:11:50] Yes this technique works great for healthy habits too reminding ourselves of why this is

[00:11:55] important often gets us moving so ask yourself why but then ask it again and again and again

[00:12:05] remind yourself of why doing this behavior is important to you try it out you'll see what I mean

[00:12:12] all right that's it for today I hope you have a great Wednesday thank you so much for listening

[00:12:17] and I'll be back here tomorrow as usual so I'll see you there where your optimal life awaits