Now and then, life asks us to pause and reflect, not just on what we’re doing, but also on who we are becoming. This is one of those moments.
We’re being confronted with questions and challenges that demand courage, clarity, and discipline in our personal lives, as a country, and the world in general.
However, it’s not always easy to respond to such challenges, especially when the ground beneath us feels shaky and uncertain.
In this article, I want to share a personal reflection that has shaped my thinking this month. It’s a reflection about:
- Recommitment to goals as we move deeper into the year.
- The difference between surface-level change and true transformation.
- What it takes to stay grounded when everything around you feels unstable and potentially volatile.
I hope that something in this article meets you where you are and offers insight, resonance, and direction.
Let’s begin.
What Are You Ready to Recommit To?
As we approach the midpoint of 2025, I’ve been asking myself (and the Nawiri community):
- What are you ready to recommit to this month?
- And what old story, excuse, or distractions must you release to recommit fully to your main goal for this year?
For many of us, the first half of the year has brought wins, stumbles, lessons, and surprises. Some of our original plans may no longer make sense. Others still burn brightly in our hearts, waiting for us to return to them with fresh energy.
This reflection isn’t about going back to January goals just for the sake of consistency. It’s about alignment, choosing (deliberately and consciously) what still matters, and then permitting ourselves to recommit to it boldly.
And that brings me to something deeper.
The Discipline Question That Shifted Everything
Earlier this month, as I reviewed my 2025 intentions, a question rang loudly in my mind:
“Where are you lacking discipline?”
It was jarring. Not because I’m not a disciplined person, but because I knew, without needing to dig, some areas where I was letting myself down.
But it also felt like an invitation. As if my inner wisdom had handed me an assignment.
As I thought about it, I began to see the areas where I’ve been self-sabotaging or just not showing up consistently.
That question stayed with me all day. And it triggered a memory of a program I hadn’t thought about in a while – the Personal Insight Library by Nightingale Conant.
Inside, 50 personal growth experts explore what they call the “Essential 8” disciplines, which are:
- Confidence
- Passion
- Discipline
- Teamwork
- Time Management
- Character
- Communication
- Giving
They go on to note that when you focus on mastering these areas, your bigger life goals in wealth, health, leadership, and relationships begin to align almost effortlessly.
Funnily enough, I found the DVD pack during the 28 Days of Loving Yourself Challenge in February, while decluttering (this is covered in Week 1 of the Challenge). And now, in June, when this discipline theme showed up again, I could even remember exactly where I stored the DVDs.
Coincidence? No. More like alignment.
My Personal Audit
As I thought through the eight areas, here’s what I saw:
- I’ve mastered Confidence and Passion.
- I’ve regressed in Time Management and Communication.
- I need to relearn what Character really means. Not in the sense of morality, but in terms of how consistently I show up for the version of me I say I’m becoming.
- And honestly? I score quite low in Giving right now.
But here’s what hit me the hardest:
Discipline is a Hard Change.
Seeing that list again was sobering. It also reminded me that discipline is not about micromanaging time. It’s about living in alignment with what matters most.
But more than that, it reframed something I’d been struggling with…
Easy Change vs Hard Change
Michael Bungay Stanier, in his work on leadership and behaviour change, offers a simple but transformative distinction:
- Easy Change is when you do something differently.
- Hard Change is when you become someone new.
Starting a new routine or habit, downloading an app, reading a book, learning a new skill – these are Easy Changes. They are surface-level improvements that improve your life, but they don’t fundamentally alter your identity or how you see yourself.
You can achieve easy change by reading a book, attending a webinar, learning online or from a YouTube video, and such. Even AI can coach you through easy changes and hold you accountable if you use a premium version of some AI models.
Hard Change, on the other hand, is identity-level work. It’s slow, messy, deep, powerful, and often invisible to others. It requires patience, grace, and support. This is where true transformation occurs, and so it comes with a lot of discomfort.
With hard change, you:
- Become someone who consistently follows through.
- Learn to live aligned with your deepest values.
- Go through the process of transformation despite uncertainty.
A Reframe That Changed Everything
Discipline is a Hard Change at this moment for me.
Because discipline is no longer just about doing more. It is more about becoming someone consistent, grounded, and aligned, even when it’s hard. And especially when it’s hard.
When I reframed my discipline struggle as a Hard Change, something softened. I stopped feeling like I was failing and realized I was just in the middle of becoming.
That gave me grace. It gave me space. And importantly, it gave me patience because I could see that I’m in a transition, not a breakdown.
Navigating an Uncertain World
Much as we are working on our growth and transformation, we don’t live in a vacuum. And so we can’t ignore what’s happening around us.
We’re all part of a larger world that often feels Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, what is also known as a VUCA world.
In such seasons, true discipline becomes essential. It’s not optional. It’s a lifeline. This is especially true when faced with external realities that demand we adapt our plans.
Just last year and again this year, I had to cancel a physical Nawiri community meetup in Nairobi due to prevailing instability. While disappointing, these moments are powerful reminders that in a VUCA season, you cannot hold rigidly to your initial strategies.
True discipline isn’t just about sticking to a plan
It’s also about the flexibility to pivot while keeping your eyes firmly on the ultimate goal.
This is why I’ve moved our upcoming meetup online and transformed it into a virtual event. It’s an opportunity to learn and connect, allowing us to evaluate the first half of the year and plan for the second, despite external challenges.
This kind of adaptive discipline isn’t about giving up on your objectives. It’s about finding new pathways to achieve them when the original route is blocked.
It means:
- Discipline of focus: So that we don’t spiral into anxiety, fear, or distraction, but instead seek new solutions.
- Discipline of values: So that we speak, act, and respond with clarity, not reactivity, even when plans change.
- Discipline of presence: So that we stay anchored in what we’re building, even when everything around us feels unstable and we need to shift gears.
- Discipline of courage: So that we take aligned action and purpose in our civic lives, including how we speak up, vote, organize, and support others, and how we adapt our pursuits.
This isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending all is well.
It’s about developing the resilience to keep moving through uncertainty. We do this not by bypassing it, but by becoming stronger, clearer versions of ourselves within the uncertainty.
Now, our goals and visions will be tested by the economy, fatigue, distraction, fear, grief, and injustice. We will feel like giving up, even on our most desired dreams.
But this is where transformation lives. This is the kind of season that shapes us, if we choose to learn from it and commit to the required hard changes.
A Reflection For You
Having read this far, I invite you to first take a breath, then ask yourself:
- How would you rate yourself when it comes to the 8 areas outlined above? Where are your strengths, and where do you see growth opportunities?
- And where would you say you lack discipline and need to work on it immediately? What’s one specific area you’d like to focus on?
- What story, excuse, or distraction do you need to release to commit fully to the newer version of you that you’re working on?
- And what is one bold, clear step you can take in the coming week to honour that commitment?
You don’t have to take ten steps. Just take one.
And if it feels hard, you’re not alone. But maybe you’re not off-track. Maybe you’re just in the middle of a transformation.
That’s Hard Change. That’s growth. And that’s where the real shift lives.
So stay anchored. Recommit with grace. Choose the Hard Change, because that’s where real transformation occurs.
Here’s to becoming more disciplined as we forge forward during uncertain times. And to do this with grace, power, and clarity of purpose.
Share your thoughts in the comments below
Have you had to pivot a plan recently?
What’s one Hard Change you’re currently navigating, either personally or in how you face the world’s uncertainties?
Share in the Comments and let’s learn from each other.
(Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash)
Ready to Deepen Your Transformation?
Want to explore these ideas in a community?
Join me and members of the Nawiri Community for our Mid-Year Strategy Circle. This is an online reflection space to close the first half of the year with clarity and create momentum for the second half of the year.
Click here to find out more and register for the virtual meetup.
And this is for you if you’re a self-employed professional
As this post explored, navigating hard change and making meaningful progress, especially in uncertain times, requires both discipline and support.
If you’re an ambitious self-employed professional woman in Kenya committed to achieving significant business breakthroughs, Elevate Mastermind offers the clarity, accountability, and collective wisdom to help you move forward with focus.
Let’s explore if Elevate is the right fit for your next season of growth:
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