I break it down into three areas in my own work. Self-motivation. Self-discipline. Self-reinforcement.

And I add three more:

Self-preparation, meaning our interior rehearsals for various emergencies. Self-belief, meaning confidence born either of an objective assessment of our talent or a wholly subjective conception of the force of our dream. And self-command, which arises from the prior five practices.

What form does this self-training take?

It’s talk. Self-talk. Interior conversations between you-and-me and ourselves.

An example: I’m in a situation right now where, for reasons I can’t talk about, I’m not able to publish stuff I’ve already written. I’ve got two books ready to go. But I can’t do anything with them, at least for the moment.

Here’s my self-talk addressing this situation (which covers all six of the categories above):

Steve, an external event beyond your control has broken your normal rhythm of production. The temptation now is to slack off. The voice of Resistance in your head will tell you to “take it easy” or “explore new possibilities.” You will feel like, “Hey, I’ve done my bit, let me back off for a minute until we can get on track again with our normal work rhythm.”

In other words, I’m assessing the situation—internal as well as external—for myself the same way a professional coach or trainer would do it if I had one.

What you must do now, Steve, is the opposite of what Resistance wants you to do. You must elevate your intensity. Pick the next project and plunge in with the same level of concentration (or higher) as if there had been no external interruption. 

Instead of relaxing, even a little, increase your level of exertion. Put your head down and work. 

Things now are NOT normal. They are harder. They are an insidious form of emergency. Treat this moment that way.

That’s training. That’s self-training.