Day 348: On Using Your Strengt h

Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the using of strength.

—Henry Ward Beecher 348

I’ve never understood the point of going to the gym, lifting weights and then heading back home, sitting on your butt for the rest of the week and avoiding any kind of physical movement — never actually using your strength for anything besides lifting weights. Doesn’t one find the purpose for getting strong by actually using it for something besides training?

Throughout the book, I’ve listed numerous exercises you can use to boost your willpower and become a more self-disciplined person. Those exercises aren’t there for entertainment purposes; I’m sharing them with you so you can actually perform them and then apply the lessons and improvements that you gained through them to your goals.

There’s little point in practicing self-control for the sake of practicing self-control. Of course, nothing prevents you from taking cold showers just because you’d like to test yourself or controlling your thoughts just because you’d like to get better at controlling your thoughts. However, remember that ultimately the intention of those exercises is to build strength, which you then use to make your life better.