My wife has been working out for 30 years.
Gyms, running, cycle classes, you name it. Three decades of training.
But recently, two changes made discipline easier.
She joined the Fastlane WHOOP group, where other members could see her workouts. Then she signed up for a HYROX race, putting a deadline on the calendar that couldn’t be shunned with a “Gee, I’ll start Monday.”
Same woman. Same experience.
The difference? She “felt” as if people were watching (in reality, most weren’t), and a race was looming that would expose whether she had done the work. Suddenly, training carried more mental momentum. People might notice. And her race day was the ultimate form of accountability where she would go before the judge and jury.
Fast forward 4 months and she followed through, finishing her first solo HYROX competition. Two+ hours of hell, a hell I couldn’t complete at all, at any race time.
My wife’s secret to discipline
Observers and a deadline.
Someone could technically see whether she kept her word. The race also did as well.
I call this strategy Discipline by Design, where you introduce support, observers, and/or deadlines into your environment to compel discipline with less friction.
And I’ve experienced what happens when you strip that Discipline by Design…
Several years ago, I agreed to put a driving sensor in my car so my insurance company could monitor my driving habits.
Acceleration. Braking. Speed. Yep, I opted for a little driving snitch in exchange for slightly lower car insurance rates.
Result? For six years, I drove like an octogenarian deacon on the way to Sunday service.
No tickets or accidents. And my insurance cost went down.
Then I switched carriers, and the driving snitch was removed.
Guess what happened?
My old habits crept back. Suddenly I was speeding and launching from green lights, all actions that would have penalized me with an active sensor.
Same car. Same roads. Same driver. Different behavior.
The designed disciplined disappeared and with it, my compliance.
I still knew how to drive carefully. But the system that encouraged it was gone.
So, if you’re thinking, “Great, but I don’t have anyone observing my commitments and I don’t have any deadlines,” that’s about to change.
After I saw my wife’s transformation (and the return of my own speed-demon habits) I asked myself, “Why can’t I have Designed Discipline for every part of my life? Not just fitness or driving?”
So I built Inspirited, my personal accountability platform complete with observers and deadlines. You make a small commitment, give it a deadline, and have other people witness and support you.
And get this… as a new member you start with me as your default accountability partner while you find their own. Real MJ.
Think about your own life. How often does a promise to yourself become a hostage negotiation?
- You planned to write, but that $5 Kalshi bet feels better.
- You planned to exercise, but that new Netflix drop looks better.
- You planned to contact customers, but first you need to reorganize your desk.
When the promise lives entirely inside your head, you get to play defendant, attorney, and judge.
The verdict? A hung jury. Again.
Accountability brings people into the courtroom. Verdicts arrive by dates.
Sounds like a pressure cooker? Not really.
There’s research behind the value of making progress visible. A review of 138 studies involving nearly 20,000 people found that monitoring progress helped people achieve their objectives, habits, or aims. The benefits were greater when results were reported or made public, and when progress was recorded.
Choose one action you control and give it a deadline. At Inspirited, several people will check in and back you. Then record your progress.
- “I will write for 30 minutes on 5 of the next 7 days.”
- “I will contact 20 prospective customers by Friday.”
- “I will stay off social media for 6 of 7 days.”
Finish or don’t… there’s no shame in either.
I’ve broken commitments myself. Thanks caffeine! But reporting a miss gives you a chance to examine what happened and change your approach. My story? Placing this promise made me realize that I was consuming caffeine deep into the day… 5pm, 6pm, and later.
This accountability and reflective process is why I built Inspirited. You make small commitments lasting 3–14 days. You track progress and fire your feedback loop. People support you and see whether you followed through. Spark, our platform currency, gives you something to stake on your promise. And I’ve never had so much fun meeting my promises and seeing what everyone else is doing.
Bonus: The platform also includes decision-guidance tools to help you choose your next move and AI MJ, trained on every word I’ve written. My AI at Inspirited is disturbingly good, so much so that it outperforms my own advice. This is another newsletter and another story for another time.
Design your discipline and choosing hard is cheesecake. The full accountability suite is free to try with no credit card.
As I’ve written in Choose Hard, Live Easy:
Discipline is doing the stuff you don’t want to do to become the person you want to be.
Get out of your comfort zone and give that person some Designer Discipline!
Your first accountability partner is already waiting.
Me!
MJ DeMarco
Try Inspirited.com and make your first promise!
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