My Disciplined Mind

My Disciplined Mind

My Disciplined Mind Podcast is about unlocking your full potential through fitness, health, and mindset mastery. This isn’t just about lifting weights—it’s about lifting yourself to a higher standard. I break down discipline, resilience, and intentional action, helping people build stronger bodies, sharper minds, and a life of purpose. Every episode dives into training with intent, eating for performance, and developing the mindset to push past excuses. It’s about being better for ourselves—and for those who count on us.

  1. 3d ago

    Shame Doesn't Pay The Bills

    How many things have you talked yourself out of because you were worried about what someone else might think? Starting the business. Walking into the gym. Asking the question. Putting your work into the world. Being willing to look like a beginner before you’ve earned the experience to look like an expert. In this episode, I unpack a phrase that has taken on a much bigger meaning for me: Shame doesn’t pay the bills. We’ll talk about why being seen trying can feel so uncomfortable, how to separate useful criticism from irrelevant judgment, the psychology behind why we often overestimate how much attention other people are paying to us, and why accountability doesn’t require tearing yourself apart. I also share some of my own experience with coaching, writing, and speaking—and what started to change when I stopped requiring myself to feel ready before putting my work into the world. The goal isn’t to stop caring what anyone thinks. It’s to become more intentional about which opinions deserve weight—and which ones get to influence the life you build. Because shame may have an opinion about what you’re trying to do. That doesn’t mean it gets the deciding vote. If this episode gave you something to think about, follow My Disciplined Mind on Spotify and share it with someone who might need to hear it. And if you want more of my writing on fitness, behavior change, discipline, and building a life with greater intention, you can join the My Disciplined Mind newsletter at mydisciplinedmind.com. — Adam RichardsonFounder, My Disciplined Mind

  2. Sep 14

    The Hidden Price of Staying Comfortable

    Comfort rarely feels expensive in the moment. Avoid the difficult conversation and you get relief today. Skip the workout and you get your evening back. Ignore the feedback and you don’t have to question yourself. Stay somewhere familiar and at least you know what tomorrow looks like. The reward is immediate. The cost usually isn’t. In this episode, I explore the hidden price we can pay for choosing comfort—not just in our fitness, but in our careers, relationships, leadership, businesses, and the pursuit of our own potential. I share one of the biggest examples from my own life: spending 18 years in a career that gave me security, a steady paycheck, great benefits, and stability, while eventually realizing there was another side to that trade. Leaving didn’t eliminate discomfort. It simply meant choosing a different kind of it. We’ll also talk about why discomfort doesn’t necessarily disappear as you grow. The weight doesn’t get lighter. You become more capable of carrying it. And that applies far beyond the gym. Sometimes growth requires having the conversation you’ve been avoiding, hearing feedback you don’t necessarily want to hear, confronting a problem before it becomes a crisis, or simply asking yourself whether the comfort you’ve built is still serving you. Because ultimately, we’re always trading something. Growth has a price. So does staying the same. The question is: Which bill are you willing to pay?

  3. Aug 24

    "I Don't Need A Coach"

    Maybe you don’t. But if you’ve been stuck in the same place for months, or even years, while insisting you need to figure everything out on your own, it might be worth asking a different question: Would another perspective help you get where you’re trying to go? In this episode of My Disciplined Mind, I explore what coaching, and specifically behavior-change coaching, is actually supposed to provide. It isn’t about having someone above you telling you what to do. It isn’t about giving up control of your decisions. And it certainly isn’t an admission that you aren’t capable. Sometimes you simply can’t see the problem clearly when you’re standing inside of it. I talk about why I continue to use coaches myself despite more than a decade of training and coaching experience, how an outside perspective can expose blind spots we don’t recognize on our own, and why knowledge doesn’t necessarily make any of us unbiased observers of our own behavior. We also get into what I believe good coaching should actually look like. It means asking why instead of simply prescribing another solution. Why didn’t you follow through? Why did your training fall off? Why can't you stay consistent with your nutrition? What happened when life disrupted the plan? Instead of treating those moments as failures, we can treat them as information. We can investigate the behavior, find the root cause, and build a better system around what we learn. That’s also why I believe so strongly in accountability without shame. Accountability shouldn't feel like punishment. A coach's job isn't to make you feel worse about the decision you made yesterday. It's to help you understand why you made it and what you can do differently tomorrow. Most importantly, good coaching shouldn’t create dependence. A good coach shouldn't just give you better answers. They should teach you how to ask better questions. The goal is for you to develop greater awareness, understand the how and why behind your decisions, and eventually become more capable of navigating these problems yourself. And no, I don't believe everyone needs a coach. But there's a meaningful difference between not needing help because what you're doing is working and refusing help while repeatedly admitting that what you're doing isn't. Sometimes you're the person holding the map. Sometimes you're the person who needs it. Neither one makes you more or less capable than the other. This episode is about coaching, behavior change, vulnerability, self-awareness, and why asking for help doesn't diminish your agency. Done well, it helps you develop it.

  4. Aug 19

    Don't Be Upset With the Results You Didn't Get With the Work You Didn't Do

    It’s a hard sentence to hear. But it isn’t meant to shame you. It’s meant to make you stop and ask a better question: Does the work I’m doing actually match the results I’m expecting? In this episode of My Disciplined Mind, I talk about the gap that can exist between how hard we think we’re working and what we’re actually doing. Sometimes the problem is effort. Sometimes we’re working incredibly hard, but we’re working on the wrong things. And sometimes we’re doing exactly what we should be doing, but we simply haven’t given the process enough time to work. Those are three very different problems, and they require three very different solutions. I also share how I’ve had to confront this in my own life. When I first started building My Disciplined Mind, I wanted the results of a full-time business while, if I was being objective, still treating it like a part-time pursuit. Once I became more honest about the inputs, it became much easier to understand the outputs. That same principle applies to training, nutrition, business, relationships, and almost anything else we’re trying to change. So if you’re frustrated with your progress, start with three questions: Did I actually do the work? Did I do the right work? Did I give the work enough time? The goal isn’t to beat yourself up when you don’t like the answers. The goal is awareness. Because your results are information. Maybe you need to work harder. Maybe you need to work differently. Or maybe you need to stop changing course and give good work enough time to compound. The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. But you also can’t expect fruit from seeds you never planted. This episode is about accountability without shame, patience without complacency, and learning to honestly evaluate the relationship between the work you’re doing and the life you’re trying to build.

  5. Aug 6

    Stop Treating Symptoms. Start Solving Root Causes.

    Why do so many people struggle to create lasting change? Most people think they have a discipline problem. They don't. More often than not, they're treating symptoms instead of solving the root cause. In this episode of My Disciplined Mind, I explore one of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to change their lives: focusing on the visible behavior instead of the system that's producing it. Whether your goal is to build muscle, lose weight, become more productive, or simply become the person you know you're capable of being, lasting change begins by asking better questions. We'll discuss why discipline isn't the starting point, but rather the byproduct of structure, awareness, and intentional systems. I'll also introduce the idea of your internal "operating system" and explain why trying to build new habits without updating the way you think is like trying to run modern software on outdated hardware. In this episode, we'll cover: Why motivation and willpower are often symptoms, not solutions.How to identify the real obstacles preventing progress.The difference between treating behavior and understanding it.Why discipline is an outcome of better systems, not something you're born with.How your environment, routines, stress, and identity quietly influence your decisions.The importance of upgrading your internal operating system to create lasting change.If you've ever felt like you're working hard but staying stuck, this episode will challenge you to stop asking, "How can I be more disciplined?" and start asking, "What system is creating my current results?" Because the quality of your life is rarely determined by a single decision. It's determined by the operating system behind thousands of them. If this episode resonates with you, I'd encourage you to take my Free Disciplined Mind Assessment. It's designed to help you uncover the blind spots that may be holding you back across the three pillars of lasting behavior change: Training, Nutrition & Health, and Mental Fortitude. You can also find more articles, coaching resources, and the assessment at mydisciplinedmind.com, and follow the journey on Instagram @mydisciplinedmind. Remember: You can't solve a problem you're unwilling to define accurately. Stop treating symptoms. Start solving root causes.

  6. Aug 5

    What Effective Leadership Looks Like

    What does effective leadership actually look like? Is it authority? Confidence? Charisma? The ability to make difficult decisions? Or does it begin somewhere much deeper? In this episode of My Disciplined Mind, I explore why leadership is far less about managing others and far more about mastering yourself. Before you can create stability for a team, a family, or an organization, you must first create stability within yourself. We'll discuss why self-leadership is the foundation of effective leadership, how discipline shapes the way we communicate under pressure, and why trust, consistency, and humility often have a greater impact than authority alone. In this episode, we'll cover: Why leadership begins with self-leadership.The difference between responding and reacting.How long-term thinking creates stronger cultures.Why systems and standards outperform motivation.The role vulnerability plays in building trust.Why authenticity creates commitment while performance creates compliance.How to hold people accountable without leading through fear.The hidden cost of micromanagement and why great leaders develop capability instead of dependence.Why the best leaders never stop being students.Whether you're leading a business, a team, your family, or simply trying to become a better version of yourself, the principles remain the same. Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating an environment where people feel safe enough to grow, challenged enough to improve, and supported enough to succeed. True leadership is rarely loud. It's steady. It's intentional. It's consistent. And like every worthwhile investment, its impact compounds over time. If this episode challenged your perspective, I'd encourage you to share it with someone who's striving to become a better leader. You can also find more articles, coaching resources, and the free Disciplined Life Assessment at mydisciplinedmind.com, or follow along on Instagram @mydisciplinedmind. Remember... Leadership isn't about controlling people. It's about developing them. And that work always begins within.

About

My Disciplined Mind Podcast is about unlocking your full potential through fitness, health, and mindset mastery. This isn’t just about lifting weights—it’s about lifting yourself to a higher standard. I break down discipline, resilience, and intentional action, helping people build stronger bodies, sharper minds, and a life of purpose. Every episode dives into training with intent, eating for performance, and developing the mindset to push past excuses. It’s about being better for ourselves—and for those who count on us.