PODCAST: Discipline and Habits are a LIFETIME commitment for SUCCESSFUL Law Enforcement Officers | MRC95
Discipline and Habits are a LIFETIME commitment for SUCCESSFUL Law Enforcement Officers | MRC95
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Show Notes from This Episode
The On The Blue Line Podcast and Community has the mission of Empowering Cops in their personal lives and educating the public on the realities of law enforcement. This law enforcement podcast is focused on providing concepts, ideas, and actionable steps that can make a difference in your life. The morning roll call is a weekly monologue show with Wayne Mulder. The Interview Room podcast is an interview style format hosted by Wayne Mulder.
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In this episode:
- What is Habituated Discipline from The Passion of Command The Moral Imperative of Leadership by Colonel B.P. McCoy.
- I discuss Art of Manliness’s article, Do you take this marriage?
- I encourage you to consider three things when considering goals for this year:
1. Is this something you even want to do?
2. Are you able to fully commit, forever?
3. IF they are what you want and you can commit, Are they clearly stated and publicly acknowledged?
Happy New Year!
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TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE. Please note this is a new service we are offering and there will be spelling, grammar and accuracy issues. This transcription is offered as a convenience to our listeners, but at this time it is not guaranteed to be accurate.
00:00:04:18 - 00:00:07:08
Wayne Mulder
Welcome
00:00:09:22 - 00:00:28:19
Wayne Mulder
So welcome, my friend, to the On the Blue Line podcast. I'm your host, Wayne Mulder, and this is a law enforcement podcast where we discuss topics that will empower you on and off the job. Maybe you're tired, frustrated, feeling overworked, struggling to balance work and home life demands, or simply you need some encouragement. Well, then you've come to the right place.
00:00:29:03 - 00:01:00:20
Wayne Mulder
This is the 95th morning roll call in the 149th episode of the podcast. And thank you so much for all of you who've joined along in this journey today on the podcast. Have you said I do too. This year's goals, if this is your first time listening, welcome. We have two weekly podcast, the one you're listening to right now, which is Morning Rock, comes out of Monday's weekly monologue show where you and I sit down, discuss news, recent events, maybe law enforcement trends and a variety of other topics.
00:01:00:20 - 00:01:32:04
Wayne Mulder
That's going to help give you something to consider as you begin your week. And the other show is called The Interview Room, and it comes out every Thursday. And then there I sit down with guests from all walks of life that can offer something beneficial in our personal lives. Last week we had the second of our two part holiday year end special, where there were ten things that you can consider that were little nuggets of information from the podcast back in 2019 and 2020, 2020.
00:01:32:11 - 00:01:52:18
Wayne Mulder
So if you have not listened to the last two shows, the one that came out the week of Christmas and the one the week of New Year's, I encourage you to go back and do that. They released on Thursday of both weeks and then this coming Thursday we'll be back to our normal interview show. And I sit down with David Hollenbech, the host of From Embers to Excellence Podcast.
00:01:52:18 - 00:02:18:21
Wayne Mulder
It's a great podcast. Dave's a great guy, has a fascinating story, and I think you're going to really enjoy that in that podcast. But that conversation in general, just know that you can locate the podcast on pretty much whatever streaming service you're listening to, but it's also available on YouTube and Rumble and video and you can always go to OnTheBlueLine.com for more information.
00:02:18:21 - 00:02:39:12
Wayne Mulder
So let's get to today's show. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and you and your family are having a great start to the new year. Hope you got to do something exciting and something memorable and took some time away from the job because I know that this can be a very hectic time at work and a lot of the calls and stuff that you can be responding to can be absolutely crazy.
00:02:39:12 - 00:03:08:13
Wayne Mulder
We've all been there and we've all seen that firsthand. So the normal, normal episodes will be back the end of January, as I've been talking about for a few weeks. So if you're new to this program, just know that this is a little bit different format, a little bit faster format, do partially due to the fact that not only do I talk about law enforcement topics and I have this show for law enforcement officers, but that is what I do as well, and that is my primary job right now.
00:03:08:13 - 00:03:39:02
Wayne Mulder
So when different things come up and I have to focus on those things, which is the case right now for an exam that I'm studying for, well, that becomes the priority. So because of that, this does fall a little bit behind. But we do have some things in the works that hopefully will change some of that and some things we've got going on that's hopefully going to take some of the workload off of me, which is going to allow me to balance this a little bit better and get you more information and more topics faster, which is the goal, right?
00:03:39:02 - 00:03:58:04
Wayne Mulder
My goal is to build this thing out where eventually I'd love to actually have it grow to a daily show and change the format a little bit to something that I think you're really going to enjoy. So today I want to talk about, you know, this is the first podcast of 2023, so I thought it was fitting, as I do from time to time.
00:03:58:04 - 00:04:17:01
Wayne Mulder
I talk about different subjects, about goals and habits and and why do I do that? Well, I do that because that is what I have to do. This is that time of year that I'm reflecting, that I'm looking back at the previous year, the previous even decade, because I like to keep it, you know, within the context of a ten year period.
00:04:17:10 - 00:04:35:12
Wayne Mulder
But then I'm also looking ahead, what's next? What am I going to do? And we've talked about a lot of different things when it comes to habits and goals and so forth. You know, we've talked about it in previous years, this whole idea of resolutions, right, where people are like, Well, I'm going to resolve to do such and such.
00:04:35:12 - 00:05:04:17
Wayne Mulder
And then that is why the gyms are always crowded on day one of January, provided they're open maybe day two, and then by the end of the month, they're empty. It's because they resolved to do something they didn't stick to. The same can often be true, and we just set goals, right? So there's a book that we actually have to read as part of an exam that I'm studying for, and I've talked about this book before, but it's called The Passion of Command The Moral Imperative of Leadership by Colonel B.P. McCoy.
00:05:05:00 - 00:05:25:05
Wayne Mulder
If you were in the law enforcement profession, if you were a leader, if you're a leader of people really in any profession, I highly encourage you to look up this book and read it. It's short. Not a lot. You know, as far as reading, you can read it in 2 hours. Maybe it may be faster, but the true sin here are going to help you when it comes to leading people.
00:05:25:19 - 00:05:48:15
Wayne Mulder
But something I want to draw attention to is when he's talking about this idea of discipline. Right. So I'm just going to read a little bit from this here. But when the first Marine Division began preparations for deployment to Kuwait in what would have later been known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, our commanding general, Major General Jim Mattis, gathered his battalion commanders and described his vision of success.
00:05:49:03 - 00:06:10:09
Wayne Mulder
Part of that vision was being brilliant at the basics, which, if you've been in law enforcement, you've been in the military, you've heard that term before. And it's very true, right? Like those are the things that we practice and we got to be brilliant at the basics. We got to be good at those things. He went on to emphasize the inherent difficulties, but that mastery of the basics was all it would take to whip anybody.
00:06:10:19 - 00:06:39:15
Wayne Mulder
As I contemplated the basics, I began to write them down in a bullet format. I realized that at the root of being brilliant at the basics was habituated discipline. Discipline is not necessarily instant obedience to orders, nor is it punishment to correct deficiencies. Rather, discipline is reinforced habit designed to produce a specific character, a pattern of behavior that is strong enough to override creature comforts, personal wants and lapses and fortitude.
00:06:40:01 - 00:07:04:04
Wayne Mulder
In short, the habituated discipline we saw was a form of amicable discipline and self-control, a code of behavior generated from within. So what does he mean by that? Well, habituated discipline means there's a habit formed, right? It becomes this is what I'm going to do. So it's not just this abstract goal. It's rather these are the building blocks.
00:07:04:18 - 00:07:23:07
Wayne Mulder
And of course, here they're talking about winning wars, but these are the building blocks that it requires for me to be good at my job. These are the things that I need to do. Here's my goal. This is what I want to do. I want to win conflicts, right? We want to do it as safely as possible. We want to, you know, whatever it is in your environment.
00:07:23:16 - 00:07:54:10
Wayne Mulder
Well, in order to do that, there are certain basic things we have to do in order to be good at those things. They have to become habits, Right? So the discipline of doing that habit over and over again becomes habituated discipline. So I thought that was such a good reminder of the difference between just setting out big plans, big goals, big dreams, big visions for 2023 without concentrating on the little habits to get there.
00:07:54:19 - 00:08:14:18
Wayne Mulder
If your goal is I want to lose £60, if your goal is, I want to be able to bench press £300, £400, whatever it is. If those are your goals, then you've got to reverse engineer it, break it down. But then the habits have to be put in place to get you there. Maybe your spiritual goals. Maybe your goal is I want to spend more time in prayer.
00:08:14:18 - 00:08:37:22
Wayne Mulder
Maybe you want to spend more time Bible reading whatever your religion is, whatever those goals are, we have to have the discipline of daily doing, hourly doing those habits. So then I came across, if you're not familiar with Art of an Art of Manliness in Brett McKay's work, I highly encourage you to check it out. He's also got a podcast really, really good stuff.
00:08:37:22 - 00:09:04:17
Wayne Mulder
And I tell you, Brett is a super smart guy, but he sends out something called Sunday Fire Sides, which comes out every Sunday. They're small, they're digestible, they'll be a link in the show notes and you can take a look at them for yourself and see if this is something that would be beneficial for you. But it just happened while I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about today, I came across his and he's talks about we tend to think of our goals as destinations, things to strive towards and then check off the list.
00:09:05:06 - 00:09:29:11
Wayne Mulder
Some goals are structured by this dynamic, but habits are not. The need to keep up with a habit isn't over in 28 days or six months or even a decade. It's never over. And I thought that was kind of profound in and of itself, right? It's true, because we often think of, Well, my goal is to lose £60, £50, whatever it is, but that isn't the long term goal.
00:09:29:18 - 00:09:54:04
Wayne Mulder
That is actually the short term goal. The long term goal is to maintain that ideal weight that I use that as an illustration because it's something we all can easily go with. But maybe again, maybe it's something in the spiritual environment, maybe it's in the relationship environment. Well, my goal is to spend more time with my wife. Okay, well, once you have quantified that and once you have set up what that looks like, that's not a goal that ever ends.
00:09:55:07 - 00:10:19:14
Wayne Mulder
And that is the problem We get ourselves into. And it goes on to say habits get easier to sustain, the more ingrained they become, yet their maintenance phase never expires. We are ever swimming against the current of entropy. As soon as we start making the effort to move forward, we immediately begin drifting back. And we all know these times in our lives when that is very much been our situation, right?
00:10:19:14 - 00:10:36:20
Wayne Mulder
We have. We set out, we have this goal, we have this plan for 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, 120 days. We are on top of it. And then at some point we start to lose. And if we stop doing whatever the actions are that took us to get there, then we start sliding back. Why do I know this?
00:10:37:07 - 00:10:54:09
Wayne Mulder
Because I'm the poster child for it. That's why I know it. Because I have these same struggles and I know if I have these struggles, you have these struggles because we're human. So he goes on, and I thought this was a really fascinating way to look at this. To remain where you end up, you have to keep doing exactly what it took to get you there.
00:10:54:09 - 00:11:17:13
Wayne Mulder
Right. That's not earth shattering. We all know that have information is thus less like taking a one time project and more like committing to a lifelong marriage and an arranged one at that. Choosing a new habit therefore requires more self-reflection than is typically lent. Do you really want to become the kind of person who does X, Y, or Z?
00:11:17:14 - 00:11:36:01
Wayne Mulder
Or is it something simply you feel like you should do? Do you think you're a good match with this particular habit? Do you believe that this habit, you're going to love it and it's something that you're going to cultivate, like it's something that you want to do because if not, you're probably not going to hold on to it, not for the long term.
00:11:36:07 - 00:11:55:14
Wayne Mulder
I really found that that thinking kind of helps me rethink a lot of the things that I do when I set out to I want to do this plan, that plan or another plan. So I had three ideas that I just wanted to give you real quick when it comes to starting a habit. So like he talks about is this something you even want to do?
00:11:55:22 - 00:12:15:10
Wayne Mulder
I know for me I sit down and I get ready for the new year and I've talked about it before and I journal and I'm like, Hey, I want to do this and I want to do this and I want to do this and I want to do this. Once I decide that I have to be willing to put in the work for the long term, it's not like I'm just deciding do something for a month and a half or two months.
00:12:15:20 - 00:12:37:17
Wayne Mulder
But historically that's what I've done. And because of that and it inevitably fails. So I find myself at the next period of time, maybe it's around my birthday or around the year end. I'm talked about before, but I'm typically, you know, around certain days on the calendar. I use those as reflection times. Well, in that moment I'm like, Oh, I'm not even doing that anymore.
00:12:37:17 - 00:12:57:12
Wayne Mulder
Or I've completely reversed or I've went backwards or whatever the case may be. So some questions we have to ask ourselves is, is this something you even want to do or are you feeling pressured by some external force? Is there someone else that wants you to do this or is there like a guilt or a shame or something internal to yourself where you're like, Oh, I don't really want to do this.
00:12:57:12 - 00:13:18:21
Wayne Mulder
I just feel I have to, you know, maybe it's writing a book or losing weight or picking up a hobby or a side hustle or something like that, and you don't really want to do it. Well, that's where you got to start, because once you've made that commitment to do it, you've actually with this situation of like writing a book, okay, that could have a definitive ending point.
00:13:19:04 - 00:13:40:19
Wayne Mulder
But if your goal is to be a writer that doesn't have a definitive ending point, you have thus given yourself a lifetime of whatever it is in order to get to that point, you're going to do that now forever, because the minute you stop that habit, you're no longer going to be reaching the goals, the plans, the dreams that you had.
00:13:40:19 - 00:13:57:04
Wayne Mulder
The second question I think we have to ask ourselves are, are you able to fully commit forever? Right. So I find this battle often for myself, because there's many things I want to do need to do. They're on the list in many of the arenas I just mentioned, right? From relationships to the spiritual side to the physical side.
00:13:57:04 - 00:14:14:10
Wayne Mulder
So you have all these different goals, but there's only one of you and only 168 hours in a week to do it. So by the time you do the math, you have to get realistic that, you know what, I can't do all these things now. So maybe in this season of life, this is what I'm going to do.
00:14:15:00 - 00:14:38:18
Wayne Mulder
So that is where I think we oftentimes need to step back and decide that. First of all, is this something I want to do? And then second of all, if it is, is it something that I'm willing to commit to literally forever in the same way that you would a marriage? And then if it is what you want and you can commit, then is it clearly stated in publicly acknowledged you wouldn't go into a marriage and not tell anybody?
00:14:38:18 - 00:15:00:00
Wayne Mulder
Well, some people would, but we won't talk about those people in general. Most people would not go into a marriage and not tell anybody they want to publicly acknowledge it. They want to they're proud of it. They want they're in love and they want the whole world to know. But there's also a certain level of accountability there. And I'm not going to get into the, you know, dissolution of marriage and all that.
00:15:00:00 - 00:15:20:15
Wayne Mulder
But there is a certain level of accountability by saying, you know what, this is? This is the person that I'm choosing to spend the rest of my life with. Well, I'm the same way. If there's a habit that we need to bring into our lives and it needs to be habitual is discipline, and we're going to do this forever because this is that important to me.
00:15:20:15 - 00:15:40:06
Wayne Mulder
My physical health is this important to me that I'm committing to do this forever. So I start to build through discipline that daily habit that gets me to it. And there's no point in time where I'm not going to do it. Then I need to be willing to also publicly acknowledge it because I'm not that person I used to be.
00:15:40:06 - 00:16:02:23
Wayne Mulder
I'm now the person that has decided this is what I want. I want to do it forever, and I want the world to know that I am going to do this forever. So I know for me, I found that to be encouraging. And a good way to look at the New Year is 2023 opens up. So I hope that it was a benefit to you and I really appreciate you listening to this podcast week after week.
00:16:03:05 - 00:16:22:22
Wayne Mulder
And if there's anything else that you want to know about what we have going on, be sure to check out on the blue line.com. That does it for this week's Morning Roll Call. I'll see you next Thursday in the interview room. But in the meantime, I'm going to see you out there on the blue line.