The Myth of Discipline
Post written by Leo Babauta.
Its one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline.
The myth is larger than life. Benjamin Franklin had it, with his waking early, his virtues checklist and his daily reflection. The best athletes have it, with the discipline to train harder than anyone else to win the gold. My readers often think that I am more disciplined, after reading My Story and the list of habits and accomplishments Ive achieved, from exercise to waking early to saving money.
Its all a myth.
Im hoping that if you accept that its a myth, youll be released from the guilt of not being disciplined, youll be empowered to create the habits you want without the need of the mythical discipline.
Why Discipline is a Myth
Ive written about the illusion of discipline for almost 4 1/2 years now (see my old posts on the topic), but its necessary to revisit the topic now and then. Especially when I read otherwise excellent posts still spreading the myth. So I need to put an end to this myth right now.
Heres the thing discipline sounds like a perfectly valid concept, until you dig a little deeper. Consider the first line of the post I linked to above:
Discipline is not a mystery.
Except that it is. What is discipline? How much of it do you have? How do you get more of it? If by practice, how do you practice if you dont have any in the first place? If you dont feel like doing something, how do you use discipline to force yourself to do it?
Ive had many conversations with people who believe strongly in the myth of! discipl ine. It usually goes something like this:
Me: What is discipline, exactly? How is it different than motivation (which is a set of actions we can actually do)?
Friend: Motivation is like pulling you toward something, making yourself want to do it. Discipline is pushing you to do something, making yourself do something you dont want to do.
Me: OK, so if I have no discipline, how do I get it?
Friend: You practice. Its a muscle that gets stronger as you practice.
Me: How do I practice if I have no discipline?
Friend: Just do something small, then keep practicing over and over.
Me: But it takes discipline to do that. What specific action do I take to make myself do something if I dont want to do it?
Friend: You push yourself to do it anyway.
Me: But that takes discipline that I dont have. OK, lets say Im sitting on the couch and I want to go out and run, or get up and write. How do I make myself do that? What specific action do I take?
Friend: Hmmm. You visualize about the end result, something that you want.
Me: Thats a motivation action, not a discipline action.
Friend: OK. Then you set up rewards. No, thats motivation. Hmmm. You psyche yourself up and tell yourself you can do it. No, thats motivation too. You tell people youre going to do it. No, motivation too. You focus on the enjoyable aspects of it or, maybe you only do the things you like doing. No, those are motivation things. Huh.
Every single specific action you can take to make yourself do something is motivation. Not discipline.
And thats why discipline is a myth. It might sound good, but its not a useful concept. When it comes to taking specific actions to make yourself do something, the only things you can do are motivation. Not discipline. Ive challenged people to come up with a discipline action that isnt motivation for years now, and no one has done it.
If youre interested in learning about motivation, Ive wr! itten a book about it.
Build Habits for Consistency
When people talk about wanting discipline in their lives, they usually mean they want to be more consistent at something. Maybe thats exercise, or meditation, or writing, or some other creative activity, or finances, or eating, or productivity at work.
These are all doable without the concept of discipline. What you want is to build habits instead.
Habits are not well understood by most, which is why Ive created The Habit Course. In the course, I explore the concept of triggers, positive and negative feedback loops, consistency, motivation, accountability, support, and other things that help form habits.
But none of these are nebulous concepts. They are all specific actions you can take to form a habit. If you want to be consistent about something, take the actions necessary to make it a habit. Start small at first, so you can successfully build the habit. Once its ingrained as an actual habit (which can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months), you can expand on it from there.
Habits are the key to consistency. Not discipline.
And I can attest: once youve built a consistent, positive habit, its a wonderful thing. You feel disciplined, and strong, and good, even if youre a living embodiment of a myth.
Its kinda like how the Greek gods must feel.
Mythical Tweet
The Habit Course: By the way, theres just one more day to sign up for my new course. Deadline to register is midnight Eastern on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
