Push and Deny

I recently read a post from the 24 Fighting Chickens Blog about what it takes to become a world champion. While I have no interest in becoming a champion fighter, one thing he said jumped out at me:

Self-discipline...consists of two different components:

Push - The ability to make yourself do something you want to do
Deny - The ability to not do something that you want to

Each of these two components is completely separate from one another. Some people are gifted with push, and others with deny. After observing people doing karate for three decades, I feel very comfortable saying that some people are gifted with push, some with deny, some with neither, and some with both.

I was thinking about this in regard to my quest for fitness. I seem to be better at "deny" than "push", but frankly, I find I lack both. Thinking about it in these simple terms may help me improve at things like getting out of bed, and skipping dessert.