In 1645, just before he died, Miyamoto Musashi wrote the Dokkodo which consists of 21 rules for life. He created this list through his training and study of the way of strategy and the sword. Dokkodo translates to “The Path of Aloneness” or “The Way of Walking Alone.”
Many people have heard of Miyamoto Musashi but few people have actually read his writings or know more than just his name.
The Dokkodo was written by Musashi at the end of his life as his parting wisdom. Musashi lived a long and fascinating life. He used his mastery of the sword as a way of understanding the deeper meanings of life.
Musashi, just like the rest of us, sought to become a better person. He used his mastery of the sword to better himself physically, mentally, and spiritually. The sword was Musashi’s Path. It was a path that he had to take alone. A path we all have to undertake alone. Only you can better yourself. No one else can do it for you and that’s what makes it the Path of Aloneness.
- Who Was Miyamoto Musashi?
- What is the Dokkodo?
- 1. Accept everything just the way it is.
- 2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
- 3. Do not, in any circumstance, depend upon a partial feeling.
- 4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
- 5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
- 6. Do not regret what you have done.
- 7. Never be jealous of others.
- 8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
- 9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for yourself nor for others.
- 10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
- 11. In all things, do not have any preferences.
- 12. Do not have any particular desire regarding your private domicile.
- 13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
- 14. Do not possess ancient objects intended to be preserved for the future.
- 15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
- 16. Do not seek especially either to collect or to practice arms beyond what is useful.
- 17. Along the way, do not fear death.
- 18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
- 19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
- 20. You can abandon your own body, but you must hold on to your honor.
- 21. Never stray from the Way.
- What Does Musashi Mean by the “Way”?
- Why Does it Matter?
- My Way
Who Was Miyamoto Musashi?
Miyamoto Musashi was a samurai born in the late 1500s who studied swordsmanship and went on to create his own style called “Two Heavens as One” or “Two Swords as One.” He is famous for creating a style in which he used two swords simultaneously.
Musashi was more than just a swordsman. He was also a painter, a calligrapher, carpenter, and fought in battle 6 different times. But he is certainly most famous for his swordsmanship.
Musashi fought his first duel at the age of 12 where he killed his opponent. From then he continued to fight in over 60 duels, many of which were to the death and never lost. From there Musashi went on to find deeper meaning than simply besting various opponents.
He sought enlightenment.
Musashi used his abilities as a swordsman to help achieve the enlightenment he desired. He believed that whatever you choose to do with your life, whether that’s becoming a swordsman, a carpenter, a poet, or an accountant, that is your “way.” He chose the way of the sword but maybe you and I will choose a different way. Whatever our way is, we must carry it out to the absolute best of our abilities.
He writes all about his style of the sword and finding the Way in his book Go Rin No Sho or The Book of Five Rings. In this book, Musashi breaks down his writing into five scrolls that each discuss a different topic regarding strategy, swordsmanship, and enlightenment.
What is the Dokkodo?
The Dokkodo is a list of 21 rules that Musashi said are essential for living and for following the Way. These are his final words to us and his parting wisdom. All those duels and all those hours of training and meditation led Musashi to these rules for life.
This is the end of his path but merely the beginning of ours.
1. Accept everything just the way it is.
We need to focus more on ourselves and our own paths and not concern ourselves with what’s happening throughout the world. The Stoics would teach us to focus on the things we can control.
Musashi isn’t saying to go along with the world, he’s saying to accept things as they are. This doesn’t mean that we can’t make positive changes in our community just that we should do what we believe is right regardless of the outcome. For example, this may mean voting in your community election but remaining indifferent to the candidate that wins.
There will always be bad governments and people we don’t like. We can’t let that stop us from doing what we were created to do.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
This is simple in concept but far more challenging in practice. Pleasure for its own sake would be a pleasure that serves no greater purpose. Musashi isn’t saying not to partake in pleasurable experiences. He’s reminding us to stay focused. To stay vigilant.
A pleasure that doesn’t further the Way or progress you toward your ultimate goal ought to be either discarded or done with extreme caution.
Pleasure’s goal is some kind of reward. Earn your reward. We think of pleasure as a break from our hard work. We watch TV to “unwind” or “relax,” and eat ice cream because we deserve a break and then we sleep in because we had a long day. None of these things are bad in and of themselves but when they aren’t earned they turn into everyday occurrences. Before long our days are structured with one pleasure after the other without any true fulfilment.
We sleep in because it feels good and then we don’t have time to workout or even cook breakfast so we grab a donut on the way to work. Once off work we get home tired and decide to relax by watching TV. Before going to bed we scroll through TikTok staying up later than we should making it harder not to hit snooze again. The cycle has started.
At any moment I can look up inappropriate content, stream mindless TV, order junk food to my door, or scroll endlessly through social media. These are all rewards that serve no greater purpose and don’t improve me. They’re pleasures for their own sake and exactly what Musashi is warning us against.
3. Do not, in any circumstance, depend upon a partial feeling.
Be sure of yourself and of what you’re doing. How can you do this? Know right from wrong. Know the truth and follow it to your death.
Far too often we go through life with a lot of “pretty sure.” We need to find the truth and get to know it so well that in any situation we find ourselves in we know what to do.
This is, of course, easier to say than to enact. Finding the truth may take many different forms in your life. It may mean meditating, reading, journaling, praying, or any other discovery form. It may also take time. Knowing whether you should go help someone in trouble vs who you should marry is a very different question. The latter may take much more time to discover.
Befriend virtue, acquaint yourself with morality, marry wisdom, and know God.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
Have a servant’s heart. Despise your own selfishness. Serve, love, and care for people above yourself. Find more value in other people’s lives than your own. The root of all sin is selfishness and that is a constant lifelong struggle to overcome.
Don’t be self-consumed. The world is vast and the people in it are amazing. Use your time and your abilities for others. Galatians 5:13 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Don’t use the freedom you have to enjoy pleasures for pleasure’s sake. Love others and serve them. Seek out opportunities to help and lift others up above yourself.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
This goes back to rule number 2: Do Not Seek Pleasure for its Own Sake. Is Musashi saying never desire anything? No, of course not. He’s saying don’t overindulge and overinflate pleasures. Seneca once said, “So called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.”
Being detached doesn’t mean not desiring or even no indulging. It means remaining indifferent to the pleasure so you feel no pain when they’re gone. Are there pleasures in your life that you aren’t sufficiently detached from? Maybe its your phone, clothes, food, or even a loved one. Whatever it is free yourself from it. Life isn’t on a mission to make you happy and unless you choose to be; you won’t.
Enjoy pleasure but only to a point. Remain indifferent to things not going your way. Always remember that it’s not events that make us happy, sad, or angry but how we interpret them.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
Did Musashi never make a mistake and so he wrote this one to show off his accomplishment? Definitely not. What he means here is don’t waste time looking back with regret and self-pity. You messed up. Maybe you messed up big-time like I have. Acknowledge it, accept it, and change it. Nothing else matters.
There will be far more mistakes in your future and if you can’t get past the ones you’ve already made then its going to be a long and hard life.
Always improve and grow but find forgiveness for your younger self. Don’t waste more time on things outside of your control.
7. Never be jealous of others.
Now we’re taking a trip back to Sunday school with Mrs. Hallem quizzing us on the Ten Commandments. This is another one that’s simple in concept but quite challenging in practice. Be inspired and impressed by your friends and colleagues. Not envious.
People often boil jealousy down to wanting what others have but it’s more than that. It’s a lack of contentment with what you have. It’s a two-fold problem. The Bible talks about envy an awful lot. James 3:16, Proverbs 23:17, Proverbs 14:30, and Ecclesiastes 4:4 to name a few. Solomon said that envy rots the bones. It eats at you from the inside out. Learn to despise it and seek contentment.
Epicurus said that “Contented poverty is an honorable estate.” Learn how to be content with what you’ve been gifted. There will always be someone with a nicer car, better clothes, bigger muscles, and more money. But so few have enough. Listen to Seneca when it comes to wealth: “Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.”
The one thing you can have that so few others have is enough. Be content and happy with little. The man who is happy with the least will have the most.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
This goes back to our interpretations. Epictetus said that “We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them. Musashi isn’t saying that if you go through a breakup or a loved one dies or you get fired you shouldn’t grieve those losses. But the grief you go through shouldn’t be contrary to the Way.
You should still be progressing even in times of mourning. Separation is part of life. You can’t change that or affect it.
Oftentimes people think that the stoic response to this would be to be indifferent to the loss and move on. “No factor.” But this isn’t true. Stoicism isn’t trying to get you to care less but accept more. If you’ve suffered a horrible loss don’t try to ignore it or conquer it, accept it. Feel it.
Now, am I urging you to be hard-hearted, do I ask that you betray no emotion at the funeral, do I refuse to let your spirit even be touched? Not at all. It would be barbarous, not courageous, to watch the burial rites of one’s own-with the same eyes that watched them while living-and not be moved as one’s family is first torn apart. Suppose I did forbid it: some things have rights of their own. Tears fall even from those trying to hold them back; being shed, they lift the spirit. What, then, shall we do? Let us allow them to fall, but not order them to do so; let there be as much weeping as emotion may produce, not as much as imitation may demand. Let us add nothing to grief, nor enlarge it to match the example of someone else.
Seneca
Let your tears fall, let the pain hurt, and let your screams out. It’s inhuman not to feel those things. The goal isn’t to escape those feelings and emotions but plunge straight into them. Accept your pain unconditionally and progress past it.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for yourself nor for others.
Musashi would have gotten along well with the Stoics. Once again we go back to our interpretations. Don’t complain about things outside of your control. The things inside of your control you should take action on and change.
Resentment is more than anger. It’s bitterness at being treated poorly. Musashi says that resentment has no place in the Way. Listen to what Epictetus says about being insulted: “Remember that you are insulted not by the person who strikes or abuses you but by your opinion that these things are insulting. So whenever another provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion that has provoked you.” This takes us back to our interpretations again. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Don’t over-concern yourself with what others have to say or do to you. The primary focus should not be on what others think about you but on what’s actually true about you. Listen to Marcus Aurelius: “Some will disdain me? That is his concern. My concern is that I not be found doing or saying anything worthy of disdain.” Do you see the attitude switch here? We’re not pointing the finger at other people saying look at them and complaining. We’re pointing it at ourselves and if we are found with no fault then we simply move on.
Let’s also remember how truly broken and evil we are. Only the most evil men would have to spend so much time reading and learning about virtue and morality to be a better person. Evil is inherent, being good is learned. Take time and meditate on just how much you need to be forgiven for and use that to help you forgive others. Mark 11:25 is an invaluable verse for this.
Complaining is not for the warrior. Be thankful for your hardships because they’re gifts in disguise as curses. The only time these gifts turn into curses is when you start complaining about them and manifesting the curse. Be thankful that God has trusted you with these hardships and given them to you. Face them head-on and overcome them. Don’t pray that they’ll be over but pray for more.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
Stay in control of your body and mind. He isn’t saying that you should never love but that you should remain conscious and make wise decisions. Lust is one of the strongest and most powerful evils and one that should never be taken lightly. Fight it to the death.
Lust can take control of your mind and have you making decisions you know will be regrettable. Most guys I’ve talked to about lust think it’s fairly harmless and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone it isn’t a problem. This is a grave mistake.
There are no shortages of writings to pull from on the dangers of lust. Romans 8:6 says “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” To put this another way, let’s hear how Seneca put it “No servitude is more disgraceful than that which is self-imposed.”
Lust can easily become a self-imposed trap that will entrap those who partake in it.
One should be in complete control of their mind. Lust will infiltrate your thoughts like a virus. It will make you erode your mind and have you think of people as nothing more than objects of pleasure. We are to love people, not flesh.
11. In all things, do not have any preferences.
Once again, Musashi isn’t saying to go through life and never care for anything or anyone. Be fluid, not rigid. Be open, not uptight. Accept things as they are, don’t resent them for how they are.
Success is not found in the outcome of a situation but in the process that leads up to the outcome. If we give something every ounce of effort then whatever happens, we will have already succeeded. We will have no need for preferences.
Preferences are when a lack of effort meets a weak mindset.
Seneca once said that “Fate leads the willing, and drags the reluctant.” Whatever happens, will happen. Nothing you do will change that. Find your meaning and purpose not in outcomes but in processes. Find your meaning not in being or doing what you wish you were doing but in what you’re doing. Epictetus said it best:
“Remember that you are an actor in a play determined by the author: if short, then short; if long, then long. If he wants you to act as a begger, then act even that with excellence, just as a cripple, a ruler, or a citizen. Because that’s your objective: to act the role that is given to you well. To select the role is up to someone else.”
Epictetus
Stop wasting time with preferences. Contentment will be more valuable than anything that could ever be bought.
12. Do not have any particular desire regarding your private domicile.
Musashi was a Ronin and he lived most of his life traveling throughout Japan. I’m sure this is where this rule originated from. We can interrupt this to mean don’t overvalue where you live. Seneca said, “It matters little whether the house be built of turf, or of variously colored imported marble; understand that a man is sheltered just as well by a thatch as by a roof of gold.”
People find safety and attachment to their homes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving your home or getting homesick. The problem lies in overvaluing your home until it becomes more important to you than following the Way.
Are you prepared to burn down your home in the presence of war? Are you prepared to pick your family up and relocate them if that’s what the right thing to do is? Find value not in where you live but who you live with.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
This brings us to the least talked about sin in all of Christianity. Gluttony. Musashi isn’t saying that if you taste something delicious you should spit it out and go eat raw bitter herbs. He’s saying to once again be careful of what you put value in. Don’t overvalue the taste of good food.
The way we eat should reflect how we live. This goes for all that you do whether it’s eating, sleeping, working out, or anything else. Moderation and purpose are rules that we should live by in every facet of our lives.
We should eat in moderation, not over-indulging just as we should do with all our pleasures. Musashi makes this abundantly clear with rule number 2, 5, and 10 all touching on this.
We should also eat with purpose, eating to fuel our bodies with sufficient protein and micronutrients. Everything we do should be done to further the Way and our purpose. Nothing should be done that doesn’t take us closer to our destination.
14. Do not possess ancient objects intended to be preserved for the future.
Exercise extreme caution toward the feeling of sentiment. There’s nothing wrong with finding value in something but too much value creates a scale that’s tipped in the wrong direction. The Bible calls these things an idol and the stoics call them an external.
An external is something that is outside of our control. The stoics would say that the only thing that’s truly in our control is our virtue and interpretations.
The reason I think sentiment can be very dangerous is because it can be a form of emotional control. Maybe you have an old glass plate that your grandma gave you on your wedding day and one day your toddler drops it and it shatters. A flood of memories and emotions come over you and you begin to cry and, hot with emotion, scold the child too harshly.
Is there something wrong with valuing a special gift from a special person on a special date? Of course not! In fact, be thankful that you even have a sentimental item and memories like that because many people don’t have the opportunity to have those.
But think about what really happened. You say “My grandma’s plate was destroyed that she gave me on my wedding day.” But this is not what happened. “A plate was destroyed and luckily my child was not hurt. The plate is gone but the memory of my grandma is not. What have I lost? My child is safe and my mind is intact, what more should I desire?”
Don’t destroy all your sentimental items. Cherish them. But don’t allow them to control you. Remember that all things have their season. Some things will be destroyed while others blossom.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
Don’t follow the crowd, follow the truth. The Bible teaches that we should be set apart from the world as children of God. Seneca said “Let men find that we are unlike the common herd, if they look closely. If they visit us at home, they should admire us, rather than our household appointments.”
We should be more than whatever is “normal.” We should be forever changing in terms of growth but unchanging based on our surroundings and company. Is it normal to gossip about others? Is it normal to eat foods that we know are harmful for us? Is it normal to complain about work?
Maybe. But are we called to be normal? or are we called to be above that which is considered normal?
16. Do not seek especially either to collect or to practice arms beyond what is useful.
Do what is useful and whatever is of no use do in absolute moderation. Time is our personal currency. The more time we spend on something the more worth we give it. If you spend more time on social media or watching TV than you do reading or exercising then you have put more worth on those things. Exercise caution in this.
This rule is two-fold. It says not to collect or practice arms beyond what is useful. Collecting arms beyond what is useful is similar to rule number 18, 14, and 5. All these rules deal with the problem of overvaluing things and forming dangerous emotional attachments to them.
Practicing arms beyond what is different is different and I believe has more to do with how we spend our time. Musashi was an impressive caligrapher, painter and more than likely wood worker as well. He practiced more than simply the sword but they all served a purpose. He wasn’t wasting time.
There is a grave distinction between learning calligraphy or painting and scrolling through social media or watching more TV. Consider how you spend your time and whether you’re practicing arms beyond what is useful.
17. Along the way, do not fear death.
The fear of death is a topic that the samurai discussed extensively. The samurai said that no good decision can be made when the fear of death is present.
As Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The Samurai put a lot of focus on not fearing death. Musashi said that “To win any battle, you must fight as if you’re already dead.” Seneca and Marcus Aurelius do a great job of giving this some more context.
Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly.
Marcus Aurelius
We must make it our goal to have already lived long enough
Seneca
What did the samurai mean by “no good decision can be made when the fear of death is present?” It means we must be prepared for death to vanquish our selfishness. We must value our virtue and morality more than our life. As Seneca said we should make it our goal to have already lived long enough.
Be ready for death. How can we be prepared for death? By living nobly, not seeking to live long but seeking to live well.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
I’m a finance major who is a big believer in investing for your retirement so this one hits close to home. But once again I don’t think Musashi is saying that money is evil and you shouldn’t have any. He’s saying the same thing he’s been saying this whole time which is don’t overvalue money in your old age.
This seems to be another theme in the Dokkodo. Numbers 14 and 16 both go along with this idea of not overvaluing things you shouldn’t.
The future is the forever unknown and expecting anything in your old age is a mistake. We once again arrive at this idea of contentment. You should not only be content with where you are now but also with what the future holds. It’s dangerous to make your happiness depend on an external thing. This doesn’t mean the external is bad just that we shouldn’t depend upon it.
Think about what things you’re depending on in your old age that you’re seeking to possess. For me, it’s definitely having a lot of money in my portfolio for retirement.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
Being a Christian, I believe in God although I can still respect where he is coming from. We should depend on God although there are times when we need to simply do what needs to be done.
Do we need God? Of course, we do. Has God also given you both the will and the ability to become better and to help others? Yes.
We can’t fail to be afraid, we can’t fail to be distressed. then we say, “Lord God, let me not be distressed.” Moron, don’t you have hands? Didn’t God make them for you? So are you going to sit down and pray that your nose will stop running? Better to wipe your nose and stop praying. What, then-has He given you nothing to help with your situation? Hasn’t He given you endurance, hasn’t He given you greatness of spirit, hasn’t he given you courage?
Epictetus
We shouldn’t turn our backs on God or think that he’s done the same. When you complain about God not helping you or fixing your situation think about the many ways He already has.
20. You can abandon your own body, but you must hold on to your honor.
This goes back to rule number 17, not fearing death. You can abandon your own body means you can die but you must not lose your honor. All must die. It’s better to die with your honor and morals intact than to live long. What’s a long life grant you if it wasn’t lived well?
Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly.
Seneca
Live rightly. Live justly. Live virtuously. If these things are done then death has no sting.
21. Never stray from the Way.
You’ve found your path and know what you must do. Now do it, and never stray. This is my favorite of all the rules because of its simplicity and profoundness.
These are some of Musashi’s final thoughts and his last writing before he died. This is the culmination of decades of training and practice. Dokkodo means Path of Aloneness and Musashi is showing us what his path was. These 21 rules were his path; his journey. “Do these things” he says, and you will find your way.
“Never stray from the way” could be read as “Never stray from virtue” or “Never stray from God.” However you would like to word it is up to you.
Musashi has showed us his Way. But what about yours? What about mine? What does our “Way” look like? Whatever it looks like it must be done alone. Life is the Path of Aloneness.
What Does Musashi Mean by the “Way”?
Musashi uses this word frequently in his writing as does a lot of Eastern writing and philosophy from that time. It has a mystical “this could mean anything” kind of vibe to it so let’s define it.
The “Way” means nothing other than to be aware of one’s own faults. To be aware of one’s faults from moment to moment and to work at this for one’s whole life is what is called the “Way.”
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
The Way is simply another word for saying your “calling” or “mission.” The main difference is that I believe Musashi has done a much better job at explaining and defining the Way than other people have done explaining and defining a calling or mission.
In the first scroll, Musashi compares the way of strategy to the way of the carpenter. He talks about how a carpenter builds a house and how they use different wood for different parts of the house. How they use different tools for different jobs and allocate different workers to different jobs based on skill.
That is the way of the carpenter. While he uses the carpenter as his prime example, this could be any profession.
Musashi says “In general, four ways exist for traversing human life: those of the warrior, the farmer, the artisan, and the merchant.”
What he is saying is that he hasn’t found the only path to enlightenment or to betterment. He’s saying that anyone can achieve that through their choice of work.
He chose the sword, the way of the warrior. Another may choose a plow, the way of the farmer. What you choose to do is not what’s important but rather how you do it. Working at our faults from moment to moment our whole life long is the Way.
Why Does it Matter?
Now we get to the meat of it. Why is this so important? Why have I named and molded this entire blog around this word?
When I first read the meaning of the word Dokkodo it really resonated with me. Especially after I had read the Book of Five Rings and understood Musashi’s writing and what he meant by the “Way.”
As you now know, Dokkodo translates into the Path of Aloneness. I love this concept of the path or the way that must be followed alone.
To me, this means that you have to take absolute accountability for the position you’re in and for your actions. The Path of Aloneness means that you have to do the things that no one else can do for you.
You can hire someone to fix your plumbing, you can hire someone to cook your food, but you can’t hire someone to be virtuous for you. You can’t hire someone to exercise your body and you can’t hire someone to follow the way for you.
These things can only be done by you. No one else can do them. You have to take total responsibility for them.
I’ve been wanting to write consistently for a long time but I always put it off or made excuses as to why I didn’t do it. But no one else can do this for me. I have to take accountability for my writing.
Beyond that, you have to choose what your path is. The Path of Aloneness is different for everyone. Musashi’s path was the way of the sword. It was the 21 rules you just read. But yours doesn’t have to be the same as his. It could be the way of the farmer or the way of the Gospel or the way of weightlifting. You aren’t meant to be dragged through life. Take responsibility, find out what your Way is, and follow it.
Follow it to your death.
My Way
The purpose of this blog is to help me zero in on my path. My Way. I think it would be awesome if by doing so it also helped others too but this can’t be my goal. This project can’t be about SEO optimization or readability analyses, or clickbait titles. It has to be about staying on the path.
When asked why he took so much trouble over a piece of craftsmanship that would never reach more than a very few people: “A few is enough for me; so is one; so is none.”
Seneca
My goal is to use this blog as a platform to progress and track my progression through writing. I have many areas where I wish to improve and grow and I hope that this will help me accomplish that. If you continue to read more content you will find articles tackling topics that pertain to where I’m growing in.
1. Faith
My faith is very important to me and its something I’ve neglected far too much. Religion is an area that over the last several years has become harder and harder to talk about so let me break it down.
I believe in God and the Gospel. But maybe you don’t. The goal of this blog isn’t to convert people to my religious beliefs. Religion is part of my “Way” but it doesn’t have to be a part of yours. Yes, of course, I want you to believe in Jesus but that’s not the goal of my writing.
My goal is to do the things I believe are right and the things I have to do to become better. If religion is something that you really don’t like then simply don’t read my Christian articles. I’m not doing this for anyone other than myself. As Seneca said, a few is enough for me; so is one; so is none.
2. Fitness
This is probably my best area but still somewhere I feel insufficient. I don’t have my fitness dialed in yet. When I say “fitness” what I mean is my exercise routine and my diet.
My exercise routine is what I have the most dialed in but not enough for where I should be. My diet is absolutely terrible. Both of these areas need to be fixed. I should be making way more gains in terms of strength and body composition.
To do this I need to dial in my training and be consistent. This means using periodization and staying consistent with it.
I also have to get my diet right and leverage it to help me accomplish my goals. This may mean eating two to three times more calories than I am right now to gain weight or reduce calories to cut. Whatever the intermediary goal is, I have to leverage my diet.
3. Finance
Finance is an area of my life where I have a lot of knowledge but not enough action. I know I should be following a budget and investing the difference every month but I’m not. I should have a lot of different accounts in place and ready to go but I don’t.
Making my financial life part of my weekly routine is vitally important. Checking accounts, tracking spending, and investing more often than I do. Finance is vitally important and I need this dialed in.
4. Writing
Writing is an area of my life that I’ve put the least amount of work and effort into. I enjoy writing and I want to grow my skills as a writer. There is no other way of doing this than by simply writing every day.
I want to make it a habit to write every day even if it’s as little as 300 words per day. Guess what 200 words per day is over the course of a year? It’s over 100,000 words. That’s a book-length right there. Just by writing 300 words a day.
Writing is the method of communication I plan on using for my Path.
No one else can do this for me. The Way is a Path of Aloneness.
![](https://dokkodojournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LogoMakr-5sRri0.png)