Let's Think About It Podcast

Episode 78: Discipline Isn’t the Problem, Your Cycle Is

• Morice Mabry • Season 3 • Episode 78

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Episode Summary

Accountability and discipline don’t break down because people lack motivation. They break down because most people never address the cycle they’re operating in.

In this episode, Coach Mo and Coach A-Mo break down how accountability actually works when willpower fades, discipline slips, and the punk-ass inner critic starts negotiating delays. Using real-world examples like health goals, habit change, language patterns, and environmental design, they show how the S.W.A.G.™ framework creates sustainable momentum instead of short-lived motivation.

This conversation goes beyond goal-setting and exposes why people stay stuck in cycles of guilt, burnout, and busyness, and how self-awareness, purpose-driven action, and grit create emotional stamina. If you’ve ever said “I’ll start next week,” this episode explains exactly what’s happening internally, and how to shut it down.

Key Takeaways 

  • Accountability isn’t punishment—it’s a reset. Progress dies when you shame yourself instead of recalibrating.
  • Your punk-ass inner critic shows up before action, not after. If you don’t plan for it, it will run the decision.
  • Aligned action beats motivation every time. Design your environment so action becomes automatic.
  • If the cycle feels heavy, you’re not failing, you’re repeating. Awareness is the entry point to change.
  • Grit isn’t force, it’s choosing to act despite resistance. Reps create emotional stamina.
SPEAKER_04:

Welcome to the Let's Pick up Podcast where high achievers start performing and start transforming. I'm coaching my five core energy leadership coach, founder of the inner winner, and creator of the swan playing mode. And when I'm here, train your mindset, challenge your limits, and turn touching into purpose. Subscribe now and join me on YouTube at Swan X Coaching. So let's get your reps in it. Welcome to another episode of the Let's Think About It podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo. And I'm here with my guest host, Algie Mosley, aka Coach A Mo.

SPEAKER_02:

What's up, bro? Hey, what's up, Coach Mo? It's Coach Amo. Hey, happy to be here with you in this year 2026. This year that we can't mix, but it's one that we enfantom great things moving forward. So I am excited to be here with you, Coach Mo. What's on the topic today?

SPEAKER_04:

Man, I want to continue a little bit of the momentum that we that was created in December. I talked about creating momentum for 2026, and now we're in 2026. So I want to get into the power of swag when accountability and discipline is in question. Because some of us have aspirations, goals that we would like to achieve for 2026. And in order to achieve those goals, you got to be disciplined. You gotta, there's some accountability that has to take place. And what is that measure in how you hold yourself accountable? How do you stay disciplined in certain aspirations that you have for yourself? And so that's where I want to start with you, man. How do you hold yourself accountable in discipline for any endeavor that you typically go after?

SPEAKER_02:

It's complex, but yet it's very simple, right? Accountability is something that I would say first coast mode, that when you come to that scenario where you feel like you're not holding yourself accountable, the first thing I do is I don't punish myself. I don't punish myself, I reset myself. Meaning I'm whatever it is, it's not a failure. I'm not here to go to a different level of energy. I'm here to inspire and try to move forward. Accountability to Mimo. I think I've mentioned this to you before. One of my employees came running up to me to understand the impact of accountability. And he said, Mr. Mosley, I get you. I get you. It's all in your name. And I was like, What? What are you talking about? He said, Your name, Algie. Accountability leads to greatness in everyone. And I think that's it, Mo. Understanding accountability is just a step forward toward greatness.

SPEAKER_04:

But how does how do you exhibit that though? You can have the acronyms and it you can it leads to greatness in theory, but how is it actually applied?

SPEAKER_02:

It's applied by moving forward, right? Understanding, say, for example, I'm on a diet, right? I've decided that 2026 is back to that old theme. I want to move and have a I'm gonna go on a diet, right? And all of that is great in thought process, right? But what are you gonna do, right? First thing I do is I look in my refrigerator and I analyze what do I have in my refrigerator that I need to remove that I really should not be eating while I'm on this diet. I put together a workout plan. I put my my my bag, my gym bag by the door, right? So I put little reminders of myself of these signs of how I need to move forward, and I use diet as an example.

SPEAKER_04:

I like that. I like that, but this is let's think about it. So I like let's go a little deeper. Let's go a little deeper. Because so here's and I love the example about the diet, because let's face it, a lot of people set diet as a goal for their New Year's resolution, whatever. So when you just mention what's in my refrigerator and what do I need to take out, right? I think part of the plan is the swag framework. And here's what I mean by that. First, swag is self-awareness, white power, aligned action, and grit. Here's why I bring that up. I gotta take this stuff out of my refrigerator. Guess who's gonna show up? That punk ass enter critic. Always do. He's gonna show up and he's gonna be like, damn, do you really want to get rid of that barbecue chicken? Do you really want to get rid of that good ass? I don't know, certain treats that you keep in the refrigerator, all of those things that you gotta get rid of. That's right. That punk ass inner critic is gonna be writing shotgun saying, Do we really want to get rid of this right now? Can we just hold off? Can we just let's start next week? That's the piece. That's the piece that this rel derail us before we actually even get started. And why I bring this up, because that's the self-awareness piece, the self-awareness, Coach Amo, because you have all the intentions to start this diet. You got your list, your plan, your alarms, but we don't have a plan to deal with the punk ass inner critic. Because on the surface, the plan is perfect. Even a lot of these programs give you a plan. They give you a plan. But why does why do people still quit and don't persevere through the plan? The punk ass inner critic. What's the plan to attack his ass, her ass, its ass? And that's where I want to go with this, right? Because when we talk about accountability, right? Accountability and discipline toward the diet, and I love this example that you brought up, you have to have this the awareness to say to yourself, okay, I know I'm gonna I need to take this food out. So the excuses are gonna come not to take it out. What's my plan to attack that when the excuses come up? That's correct. See, that's the self-awareness piece. That's deep, mow. Right? That's deep. That's deep. And then but let me keep going. Let me keep going. Why does this matter? Right? Why does this matter? Because the excuses is coming. Why does it matter to remember the excuses is coming? That's why power, buddy. That's why power. Staying connected to the purpose of why you're even attacking the goal. The goal. Right? So when the excuse comes, man, let's pause. Let's wait till next week to do this. Maybe, just maybe you can lean in to think about your purpose and why you even set the goal. What becomes the process for yourself in attacking the mindset when it wants to create excuses? What is that process? And define it. That's your aligned action. That's your aligned action. You know that January 20th, I'm gonna start my diet. I've already made the date. We know that on January 19th, an excuse is gonna come to postpone this.

SPEAKER_02:

Are you suggesting that's that punk ass critic showing up the day before?

SPEAKER_04:

Man, yeah, yeah, he's gonna show up on January 19th to propose a new alternative plan. How about that?

unknown:

Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

How about that? So if that punk ass critic shows up, Coach Mo, right? I mean, I I hear what you're saying, right? And I have the greatest knowledge, as James Allen once said, a man pure in thought no longer desires impure foods. And now I have this great wisdom. What is it that you're saying is my understanding my purpose and my why? I have this knowledge in my mind. What's my next step?

SPEAKER_04:

Your next step is you gotta stay in the swag framework, the cycle of what I'm just talking about, because it keeps the awareness and the purpose in the forefront of our minds. It keeps, and what you're doing actually, is you're creating reps for the subconscious mind. Because the goal, Algie, is to get this all on autopilot. You gotta, you gotta create the habit of understanding why this is important to me. Creating a habit of knowing when your inner critic, that punk ass inner critic, shows up. And when you can have that on autopilot in different aspects of your life, that's what generates success, in my opinion. So I think of it like when you first learn how to drive a car, you know, everything was okay, hands on the steering wheel, make sure you look at your left side, right side before you you make a shift. Everything was very not fluent, so to speak, because you were just really trying to put it all together at front at first, right? But over time, as you become more of an experienced driver, your subconscious mind does the driving for you. Because think about it, there's times when you're driving and you your mind is somewhere else, and then you arrive at home and you're like, man, I don't even remember how I got here. You remember how you got here, but you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Your mind, you're on autopilot, your subconscious mind knows when to stop and knows when to switch lanes, and you don't even think about it, you just do it.

SPEAKER_02:

When I hear you saying that, Coach Mo. I see these vehicles when I was down in San Francisco. I think they call Waymo or something, Waymo or something like that, and then no, there's no driver, and they're just driving all the way throughout San Francisco. Is that what you mean by autopilot? No, man. Oh, okay, okay. All right, okay, all right. I'm just saying because I'm thinking in my mind, like when my willpower is weak and my environment is strong, right? It's like I'm fixing my environment, right? For example, we talked earlier. I'm putting my I'm putting my gym clothes by the door, deleting any apps, wasting time. I'm removing that sweet potato pie. I'm scheduling workout appointments, I'm putting reminders on the calendar, I'm setting morning routines so that way my design beats my decision making, meaning that I've created an environment that I automatically respond. I gym close at the door, I'm grabbing the gym bag. That's aligned action. So, what you're saying? That's aligned action. That's aligned action, bro. So my actions are aligned with my self-awareness.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely. Because it's important. So it becomes connected, right? The why power is what's driving the aligned action in that moment, and the consciousness to do it is the self-awareness. And then when something gets in your way and creates this feeling that you should stop, you should postpone it, the grit is to just do it anyway. And when you can just have consciousness around that process for yourself, that short little process, and make it become repetitive to create the habit. And that becomes part of your being, and it just makes it easier. Yeah, you will get off track once in a while. That's normal. We're all a human, no one's perfect, but you have an aligned action. That's what you describe to me. That's how I see it. And when you have consciousness around that, on that specific aligned action, you probably are in the swag cycle. So you have swag. And when you have swag, right? You have swag, you feel uncomfortable, confident about your process because you keep doing it because it's working for you. When you're out of swag and you're doing shit that you don't like, right, you're in a you're in someone else's cycle. You're in a cycle that maybe doesn't promote your best being that you want it to be. And you continue to repeat those type of behaviors. And that's fine because a lot of times when we're in those cycles, we don't know that we're in those cycles. We don't know what we don't know at times.

SPEAKER_02:

Because you're in the cycle.

SPEAKER_04:

Because you're in the cycle. So, what I'm trying to do is put awareness around swag. Because when you're in a space, let's just let's stick with the diet thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

You're not happy with your weight, you're not happy with your physique, whatever that looks like. You decided that you wanted to go on a diet, and you feel that's the best course to give you the confidence and get you to the weight that you desire. Okay. But prior to making that decision to go down this path of creating this new diet, you were in a cycle. You were in a cycle of a certain eating habit, not exercising, whatever that looks like. You're in that cycle, and you're trying to shift to create a better you, lifely. That's right. Okay. So as you make that decision to shift into creating a better you, you're trying to go into a different cycle. You're trying to create a different habit. And what typically happens with all of us when we're trying to create a different type of habit, resistance occurs. The punk ass critic shows up. The punk ass inner critic is part of the resistance. And that's just real talk because it's this urge of not feeling like doing it. And then the inner critic validates it with the voice in your head in a different format to make you think we need to postpone it, or to make you feel busy in certain moments that you don't have time to do it, to plan it, to think about it. So it distracts you in that way. And then how you know you're out of the cycle or in a cycle that isn't conducive to yourself and your growth, you don't feel good. You continue to beat yourself up, you continue to feel disappointed, you continue to complain, you continue to be embarrassed, you continue to carry guilt. But then when you say, you know what, okay, you know what? I'm tired of feeling this way. I'm gonna, I'm gonna move forward. And then you start to move forward, it repeats itself. The inner critic shows up again, it creates this busyness that you don't have time to do it right now, and then you postpone it. And then you get tired of postponing it, and you say to yourself, I'm gonna, you know what? Fuck that, I'm gonna do this anyway. And then that's the cycle that you're in. But the key of that cycle that you're in, it doesn't feel good. You're beating yourself up, you're disappointed, you're carrying guilt. That's when you know you don't have swag. And so what I'm talking about here is just like you said, man, you got your bag lined up by that by the door, all of this stuff, right? That aligned action makes you feel good, makes you feel purpose, feel the purpose of why you're doing something, and then repeats itself. And as that purpose, as you Continue to repeat those lined actions and the purpose. Guess what? You start to have awareness when you're off of that purpose. Whoa. You do. And then guess what happens when you have awareness that you're off?

SPEAKER_02:

You can just get back on.

SPEAKER_04:

You can just get back on, bro.

SPEAKER_02:

You can just get back to the back of the back. But is it the key is to having that awareness?

SPEAKER_04:

That's the key. That's that can be the entry point. That's the basic entry point. That's the basic entry point. Because we all know how we feel about certain dynamics in ourselves. Right? That's self-awareness. That's right. The feelings behind it. Are they good feelings or bad feelings? If they're bad feelings, if you're carrying disappointment, stress, sadness, worry, guilt, embarrassment. You know what that feels like. We all do. That's right. What's the habit to overcome that? See, that's the self-awareness piece. What is the habit to overcome certain guilt that you carry? Beyond talking about accountability and discipline. Like just a real question. What is your process when you feel guilt and disappointment? What is that? I know it varies on circumstances. I get that. But what's your internal process? Not specifically asking you right now, Coach Amo, but I'm just putting it out there because this is let's think about it. What is your internal process when you experience those disappointing emotions? How do you show up to move forward internally? Internally, because the punk ass inner critic is gonna tell you you need to be busy, just be busy to distract yourself from thinking about it. Is that really an effective strategy though? No, because that's what the inner critic wants you to do, because the busyness is gonna fade, right? And you're gonna start to feel the burnout, and the core root of the guilt still hasn't been addressed. That's correct. So that's another cycle, so that starts to repeat itself, so it's all of these different narratives of cycles that we're all are consciously in, bro. And all I'm saying, swag.

SPEAKER_01:

Swag.

SPEAKER_02:

Get your swag on. That swag is so powerful, Mo. Because as you're talking about swag, right? I think about a scenario as we're talking about health, right? Working out, take a side twist on this and get your opinion on this one, right? Okay. So there was a point in time where I hung out with a certain group at my work, and uh every word that came out of my mouth was a cuss word. Fuck this, fuck that, mother. And it was difficult going to church in my communication style. And I started not liking the fact that you know I cuss like that all the time. I just didn't feel right about it in certain environments. And so I decided I need to stop cussing, right? Because that was a habit of mine. Okay. And so I told the people around me, every time I say a cuss word, I owe you a dollar. Every time I say a cuss word, I owe you a dollar. So the people around me, they start making a little money, right? And I start losing a little money, right? And so that cussing, all of a sudden, it without me even knowing, I eventually just stopped cussing. And when I would say it, it just didn't feel right anymore.

SPEAKER_04:

Let me ask you this. And here's the cop quiz for you.

SPEAKER_01:

Doop doo-doop.

SPEAKER_04:

In that moment of planning to reduce and going through the behaviors of reducing the cursing. Take me through the swag process for you as you look back on it today. So tying it to swag.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so the first part was self-awareness, right? I started sensing the feeling like I really didn't like cussing. I really didn't like that being part of who I was as a person and in my communication. So then that was that self-awareness, right? I just it wasn't me anymore. And so my my aligned action. What was your why? My why. My why was I wanted to be able to speak effectively in no matter what environment it was, and I wanted to be able to utilize it in a way that didn't make certain people feel comfortable utilizing certain words. I just didn't it wasn't comfortable talking to my mama that way, so I wanted to make sure whoever else I was talking to. And so I put together some action, and that's that was the dollar bill. I'll give you a dollar, and mind you, that dollar was worth more than than it is today, but that's a whole side story. And then my grit was had a lot to do with me being aware of the cussing, and my grit was just basically paying that dollar and getting tired of paying that dollar. It was costing me money, and and then, in a sense, unconsciously went back to self-awareness, right? Because now I was aware that I wasn't to cussing. I was aware that when I didn't feel comfortable with it or I didn't feel like the person I wanted to be, so it was it created a cycle that created a habit. And when it came to cussing, I was no longer that silly rabbit, if that makes sense. Nothing up my sleeve.

SPEAKER_04:

It makes total sense. And going through that process of removing curse words from your daily speaking regimen was swag, bro. Because like when you've when you had become conscious and reduced it, how did that make you feel?

SPEAKER_02:

I felt my energy level was when I don't cuss, my energy level is more on a higher end compared to on the lower spectrum cussing, right? And then believe it or not, Coach Mo, unconsciously, situations and circumstances that came into my life no longer required that type of communication. Absolutely, bro. And then I'm gonna take it one step further, Coach Mo. When I worked in the group homes, right, these young boys, and all they all that came out of their mouth was cuss words, and we couldn't really discipline them. You know me, self-awareness, right? I realized the benefits of this, right? So I told the boys every time you say a cuss word, you owe me five new words and the definition from the dictionary. Oh, okay. Hold on. You see what I'm you see where I'm going with this, Mo? So now with them, they would get to the point where they would get frustrated and wanted to use a cuss word, but then they knew the outcome. They would have to spend the rest of their day writing, and they didn't want to spend the rest of the day there writing. But when that became a habit, right? Guess what? Their behaviors change. Absolutely. And guess what? Our environment changed. Now these boys, which we used to house in the rooms and angry, and now they're lively, and we're going to the beach and having a good time, it changed that whole atmosphere.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely. Absolutely, 1000%, bro. And although those actions which you did for yourself and for those boys, at the time, it was just doing a positive thing for the betterment of the world and yourselves and the kids. But today, looking back then, that was swag. That was swag. That was swag. And so what I've done, let's put this in a framework. Let's call it swag. Let's call it swag. And the boys, they got swag. That's correct. They got swag because, like you said, they're relively now. That's swag. That's swag. When you feel so confident about yourself, we always say, you know, that that person got swag. But we're thinking at it, we're thinking at it of it from an attitude viewpoint of it. Swagger. But swag is really deeper than that. It's the self-awareness, the why power, the aligned action, and the grit. And when you can like really understand that, and it puts you in that a different cycle, bro, of building self. And at the end of the day, that's what we all want. It is. But we get in our own way because of that punk ass inner critic writing shotgun. And then here's the other thing before we get ready to get off it. The reality of all of this, and most of us is unconscious to this, is that it's so much easier to deal with the pain, the reality of the current pain that we're dealing with right now, than face the unknown of tomorrow. That's correct. That fear of not knowing what tomorrow is going to look like, it's just naturally easier to succumb to the pressures and the pain that we're currently dealing with. Because that's been the cycle that you've been in up until this point. Who am I to change? That's right. And then when you have the punk ass in a critic writing shotgun, validating yesterday's mistakes, pain points, all of that, creating these visions that we don't know what tomorrow looks like, but it can be what we just experienced yesterday. So don't try it. Or masking it where let's be busy, let's do this and this, and don't even think about tomorrow. Because you're gonna get disappointed. So let's it's just mask in so many different ways to keep you off of a off the cycle, off of a productive cycle. So that you're not thinking of how you can plan to get out of your own way, too. It shows up like that. To make you feel good about your bad self. Exactly. Exactly. And so it's the power of swag. And that's all I'm gonna I'm gonna leave with on this today. But we continue to build it, we continue to have conversations around swag because it ties in with whatever anybody is doing, whatever framework anybody is coaching with, be it forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Swag aligns with that. That's correct.

SPEAKER_02:

Because once you get your swag, you're able to be it forward. No doubt. And I agree with you, Coach Mo. And I'm gonna put it pretty just like this. As the people are gathering in the office and gathering their swag for 2026, I would say this, Coach Mo. Remember self-awareness is the starting point of real change, right? When you get honest about who you are and what you are, what's holding you back and what you truly want, you stop living on autopilot and start living on purpose, right? And that's what you're talking about. But awareness isn't enough. You've got to follow it with aligned action, as she was calling it. Meaning your choices match your values and your steps and your goals, and you're all in alignment, right? And then it comes back to that grit, that determination to keep showing up even when it's hard, right? Even when it's uncomfortable, even when nobody's watching, when you there alone. I would close by saying this, Coach Mo.

SPEAKER_01:

Stay aware, stay aligned, stay gritty, be it forward.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely, brother, absolutely. And it's just an ongoing process, right? Because we're all in someone's cycle, whatever that looks like. If there's an aspect of your life that you're not satisfied with, you're in a you're in a cycle that's repeating itself. That's why it's generating a space of you feeling that you don't want to do this anymore. That's the cycle that you're in. And the inner critic helps make it resistant through the validation, the distractions, the mass, and trying to shift out of that cycle is always going to be present. And what's the awareness that you carry in order to get through that resistance to enter swag? And a simple way that you can do it is self-awareness, white power, aligned action, and grid start defining it for you. Define what is the self-awareness that you need to shift the narrative that you're trying to change? What is the purpose of you trying to make that shift? What aligned actions do you need to take to make that shift? And then finally, how do you get those mental reps in when the resistance is gonna appear? Because it's gonna appear. It always does. How are you going to have the emotional stamina to persevere through?

SPEAKER_02:

Coach Mo, you really hit home on that. And I want you to continue on that, but I gotta throw this in there because it just hit my mind that with swag, you don't have to fake it until you make it.

SPEAKER_04:

That's right. That's right. Really, what we're doing, bro, is we're just putting consciousness on these cycles, advertising a critic, and the cycles that we're in, and creating choice. Just choose. Choose to be aware, choose your purpose, choose your line actions, and choose how committed you're gonna be rep-wise. Boom, swag, baby. There it is.

SPEAKER_02:

Appreciate you. Appreciate you too, Coach Mo. And hey, I like the way you tied swag in all of this, by the way. It seems like swag is everything that we do has swag on it.

unknown:

Bro.

SPEAKER_02:

Whether it's your health, whether it's your wealth, whether it's your family, right? Just I got five on it. I got swag on it, right? I got swag on it. Swag on it. I appreciate you, man. Catch you next time. Sound like a plan, brother. Have a blessed day.

SPEAKER_04:

That's another rep in the inner arena. You didn't just listen, you leveled up your swag. Self-awareness, why power, a lot of action, and grit. If this hit home, share it, subscribe to the Let's Think About It podcast, and lock in with me on YouTube at Swag Coaching. Until next time, stay aware, leave with your why, click in the like, and keep your gritty coming up.