The Highly Effective Man
Welcome to "The Highly Effective Man", where we focus on helping busy men unlock their full potential through mindset, fitness, and nutrition. Hosted by a 13-year Navy SEAL veteran, former college football player, firefighter, life and fitness coach, and competitive jiu-jitsu athlete, this podcast delivers no-nonsense strategies for men looking to excel in all areas of life.
Whether you’re balancing work, family, or just looking to break through your fitness plateaus, each episode provides practical, actionable advice to build self-discipline, master your health, and achieve success. From personalized workout plans to overcoming mental barriers, we dive deep into what it takes to become the best version of yourself—mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Get ready to tap into the mindset of high performers and take your health journey to the next level. Stay strong, stay focused, and become the highly effective man you were meant to be.
The Highly Effective Man
10 Truths About Self-Discipline That Motivation Will Never Teach You
Motivation fades. Discipline lasts.
In this episode, JP Bolwahnn — 13-year Navy SEAL veteran, athlete, firefighter, and coach — reveals 10 truths about self-discipline that motivation will never teach you.
You’ll discover how to:
- Build systems that run even when motivation disappears
- Use identity and environment design to stay consistent
- Turn micro-commitments into unstoppable momentum
- Bounce back faster when you slip — and why that matters more than perfection
- Unlock the absolute freedom that only discipline can give
💡 Inside The Highly Effective Man Inner Circle, we go even deeper. Each month covers a new theme: this month, we’re training in Tactical Decision-Making and Leadership, and a couple of months ago, we focused on Time Domination — helping men free up hours each week. You’ll get weekly live coaching, monthly missions, and accountability with other driven men. Special pricing is live now for the first 50 members — with no long-term commitment.
https://www.skool.com/heman-inner-circle
🔥 Want results even faster? Apply for the 12-Week Rebuild the Man Program — guaranteed transformation. https://form.typeform.com/to/lzVQb1G6
👉 Subscribe to the show, drop a comment with which lesson hit you hardest, and share this with a brother who needs to hear it.
Welcome to the Highly Effective man podcast hosted by former Navy SEAL turned life and fitness coach. I'm your host, jp Bolwan. This podcast is your resource for unlocking the healthiest, most productive and highly effective man within you. Let's go. Productive and highly effective man within you, let's go.
Speaker 1:Most men think they need motivation to change their lives, but the truth is is that motivation is unreliable. It shows up when it feels like it. Okay, and self-discipline is what separates men. It Okay and self-discipline is what separates men who talk about goals for men who actually achieve them. Now, I've lived this firsthand as a Navy SEAL, as an athlete, as a firefighter and now as a coach. And today I'm going to break down 10 things you should know about self-discipline that motivation will never teach you, okay, so make sure you guys grab a pen and some paper and you write these down, all right now.
Speaker 1:Number one motivation is fleeting and systems are forever. Okay, motivation will fade. Systems will keep you going on the days that you don't feel like it. You know, for me it's just my workout structure. It's a non-negotiable, no debate. Okay, I'm doing something every single day, whether I feel like it or I don't. Okay, I'm going to do something.
Speaker 1:Number two identity drives discipline. When you identify as a man who doesn't quit, your actions are just naturally going to follow. Ok, for me, when I earned that trident, I became part of a brotherhood, right, and this brotherhood is of men that give everything they got and they don't quit. You know, it wasn't just about the trident, ok, it's about becoming a man who lives by that standard every day. You know, we have this saying where it's. You know, at the teams it's like earn your trident every day, because just because you got it, that doesn't mean it just stays there. You have to earn it every day, okay, and that means living by like a man that's going to do the things that he says he's going to do, living like a man that's going to do the things that he says he's going to do.
Speaker 1:Number three discipline loves simplicity. Okay, discipline does not thrive in chaos. All right. The simpler you make decisions, the stronger your discipline is going to be. Okay, that's why I keep my diet and my workout simple, ok, as effective as possible, as simple as possible. So I don't have to. There's no overthinking, there's just execution. If I don't know what I'm going to do, I've got a default workout. That that's. It's my default, right, if I have to think about what I want to do, it's just my default, so that I'm not wasting time. It takes 36 minutes to complete from start to end and I'm in and out.
Speaker 1:Number four Environment always wins over willpower. You can't outwill a toxic environment. I've had to cut out distractions, change the people I was around and set my space up to win. Discipline is easier when the environment supports it. I grew up in Albuquerque. I love Albuquerque. It showed me some valuable lessons when I was a kid, but had I not left there, shoot, I'd probably be locked up or dead, who knows. Okay, but discipline is easier when you're around an environment that supports it, meaning the people getting rid of the junk food in your house, getting around people that are pursuing the same passions that maybe you are right. If your environment is not supporting it, then make some changes and get into the environment that does.
Speaker 1:Number five emotions follows action, not the other way around. Okay, you can't stop waiting to feel ready. Okay, that day may never come. It's about action first, feelings later. Okay, there's days where I don't feel like working out or I don't feel like training, but I know that once I start, once I get in the gym, everything's going to shift. Right, I say, okay, just five minutes, get in the gym, start warming up, do something, and then, all of a sudden, that little resistance that I had to working out goes away. All right, it's all it takes. Number six micro commitments. All it takes Number six micro commitments build macro discipline. And discipline is just keeping small promises to yourself, okay, and you stack them enough and you start to become unstoppable. Okay, start with just two non-negotiables a day and build from there. Right, whether it's just like, okay, today I'm not going to hit the snooze button, right, or for this week I'm not hitting the snooze button and just get up. Right, maybe it's every night. I'm going to have some type of power down ritual, whatever it is, so that I'm set up for the next day and then start building it. You got two right there. Boom, now you're moving.
Speaker 1:Number seven accountability is a discipline multiplier. Okay, men will quit on themselves before they quit on a team, right? The SEAL teams have taught me that. Being a CrossFit coach has taught me that. Coaching groups that I run now online prove it. Watching groups that I run now online prove it. When you surround yourself with men who won't let you off the hook and hold you accountable, it's huge. Or, if you don't, there's something about not wanting to let other people down. Okay, that accountability helps you be more disciplined. So get around people that are going to hold you accountable.
Speaker 1:Number eight discipline is a skill and it's not a personality trait. You're not just born disciplined. Okay, it's a skill, just like jujitsu or just like weightlifting. You know, it's not something you just naturally do. Okay, and I wasn't naturally disciplined. I built it rep by rep, fucking it up over and over. But being around people that are more disciplined than me and learning from them, that is what's helped me be more disciplined. More discipline, all right.
Speaker 1:Number nine resilience beats perfection. Okay, because discipline isn't about never slipping Right and it's not about never messing up. It's about how fast you get back up. Okay, because every man's going to fall off, right, but the best men, they bounce back fast. Okay, we all going to have days that just take it out of us, right, but the best men, they bounce, they bounce back fast. Ok, we all are going to have days to just take it out of us, right, but that's fine, we know that. Right, we say, ok, you got me today, but not tomorrow, right. And then you get back on it.
Speaker 1:And then number 10, discipline actually creates freedom. Okay, discipline does not restrict you. Okay, it actually frees you up to be able to do more, right. It frees up your time, frees up your health, frees up your energy, your leadership, your finances. Okay, the most disciplined men I know they live the freest lives, right, we all got that friend that maybe was very disciplined with their money, and now they've got all the money in the world to do whatever it is that they need to do, right? Guys that are healthy and disciplined about their health right, if they eat ice cream, they're not automatically going to get fat or sick the next day, right? So discipline is that bank account right. The more disciplined you are, the freer you're going to be to be able to do the things that you want to do later on. So that's 10 reasons right there, how discipline is better than motivation. So here's my challenge for you which of these 10 truths hit home the hardest for you right now? And, if you want, drop it in the comments or DM me that's cool too and if you're ready to go beyond listening and actually live this out.
Speaker 1:I've built a brotherhood of men that are just like you. It's called the Highly Effective man Inner Circle and right now I'm running special pricing for the first 50 men who join. It's a monthly membership with no long-term commitment and, you know, each week I'm giving weekly live calls for the whole year. Right, each month we cover a different theme. So, for example, this month we're focused on tactical decision-making and leadership. All right, it's about how to think fast and move first when the pressure's on. A couple months ago we did time domination right, and a lot of men in the inner circle. They freed up hours every week just by applying the tools that we talked about in that month. That month's theme okay, and that's the kind of practical high performance edge we build month after month.
Speaker 1:So if you're the kind of man who wants even more exclusive hands-on experience where I work with you directly and guarantee transformation, that's gonna be my 12-week Rebuild the man Fast Track program and that's where men come when they're serious about rapid results. So, either way, you got options right. You could do the inner circle, where we meet every week and each month has a new theme and each week there's coaching by me. Or you could do the rebuild the man, which is a little bit more exclusive, smaller group, and it's about fast tracking results. Okay, either way, don't just consume this information. Step into an environment where discipline becomes who you are, okay. Okay, because at the end of the day, discipline is going to create the freedom, and that freedom is waiting for you.
Speaker 1:Let's go. Thank you for listening to the highly effective man podcast. If you enjoyed or learned something on this episode, do me a favor and share this with somebody who you think needs to hear it. And one last thing if you want to work with me as your coach to help you get fit, be more productive and, in general, just be the most effective version of yourself, head over to my site, higherlevelcoachingco Once again, that's higherlevelcoachingco and schedule a call with me there. Thank you again, let's go.