DISCIPLINE IS DESTINY

DISCIPLINE IS DESTINY

THE POWER OF SELF-CONTROL

Part I: THE EXTERIOR (THE BODY)

Ruling Over the Body..

Attack the Dawn

The Strenuous Life Is the Best Life

Quit Being a Slave

Avoid the Superfluous

Clean Up Your Desk

Just Show Up

Sweat the Small Stuff

Hustle. Hustle. Hustle

Slow Down... to Go Faster

Practice... Then Practice More

Just Work

Dress for Success

Seek Discomfort

Manage the Load

Sleep Is an Act of Character

What Can You Endure?

Bevond

Part II: THE INNER DOMAIN (THE TEMPERAMENT)

Ruling Over Yourself.

Look at Everything Like This

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Focus, Focus, Focus

Wait for This Sweet Fruit

Perfectionism Is a Vice

Do the Hard Thing First

Can You Get Back Up?

The Battle Against Pain

The Battle Against Pleasure

Fight the Provocation

Beware This Madness

Silence Is Strength

Hold, Hold Your Fire

Temper Your Ambition

Money Is a (Dangerous) Tool

Get Better Every Day

Share the Load

Respect Time

Put Up Boundaries

Do Your Best

Part III: THE MAGISTERIAL (THE SOUL)

Elevating Yourself...

Tolerant with Others. Strict with Yourself.

Make Others Better

Grace under Pressure

Carry the Load for Others

Be Kind to Yourself

The Power of Giving Power Away

Turn the Other Cheek

How to Make an Exit

Endure the Unendurable

Be Best

Flexibility Is Strength

Unchanged by Success

Self-Discipline Is Virtue. Virtue Is Self-Discipline

The ability

... to work hard

to ignore temptations and provocations

... to say no

... to practice good habits and set boundaries

... to train and to prepare

... to keep your emotions in check

... to endure painful difficulties

What are you willing to put up with?

What can you do without? What will you put yourself through? What can you produce with it? You say you love what you do. Where's your proof? What kind of streak do you have to show for it?

We owe it to ourselves, to our goals, to the game, to keep going. To keep pushing. To stay pure. To be tough.

To conquer our bodies before they conquer us.

Temperance, like a tempered sword. Simplicity and modesty. Fortitude and self-control in all things-except our determination and toughness

Cherish the time. But most of all. use it.

Yeah, he wanted to quit. Yeah, he knew he was approaching his limits. Yeah, he knew that he could do less, that other leaders certainly felt obligated to do less. But he would never have accepted that in himself. He kept going. He had experience with this. He knew that little voice in

his head, the voice of fatigue and weakness, did not always need to be heeded.

He had trained for this.

He knew what he was capable of.

He had made his body, and now he could make it do what needed to be done.

That doesn't matter. What counts is what we do about it today. That we choose to stop being a slave.

What it will do is make you less free, more dependent.

The less you desire, the richer you are, the freer you are, the more powerful you are.

It's that simple

As the novelist Gustave Flaubert commands:

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

Clean up your desk. Make your bed. Get your things in order. Now get after it.

when you're tired

... when you don't have to

... even if you have an excuse

... even if you're busy

even if you won't get recognized for it

... even if it's been kicking your ass lately.

Because of a blister, the game was lost.

Because the little things were ignored, because discipline lapsed, everything was lost.

Save yourself. Save the world. Get the little things right.

We want to really challenge ourselves, not waste time running through some checklist, stretching before a workout, reading the instructions instead of diving in.

But that's the point: We're fit to tackle the big problems only if we do the little things right first. No strategy will succeed-however brilliant-if it ignores logistics.

"The devil is in the

thousand times.

It won't be easy, but in that burden is also freedom and confidence. The pleasure of the flow state. The rhythm of second nature.

The quiet calmness of knowing that, from the practice, you'll know exactly what to do when it counts... the pride and the dependability of doing it too.

figured out: how to play the game of appearances without being distracted or consumed by appearance.

We dress well... but not too well.

We take care to take care of ourselves... but never at the neglect of the people or things in our care.

We take our appearance seriously... without taking ourselves seriously.

As they say in fashion circles, we wear the suit, the suit doesn't wear us. We look sharp to stay sharp, to be sharp... because we are sharp.

A person who understands the value of discipline. A person who is comfortable being uncomfortable.

Go run a marathon.

Sleep on the ground.

Lift something heavy.

Do the manual labor yourself.

Jump in the cold lake.

Success breeds softness. It also breeds fear

want to think clearly tomorrow? You want to handle the small things right? You want to have the energy to hustle?

Go to sleep.

Not just because your health depends on it, but because it is an act of character from which all our other decisions and actions descend.

What man is happy? He who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind, and a docile nature.

The pause is everything.

The one before..

... jumping to conclusions

... prejudging

... assuming the worst

... rushing to solve your children's problems for them (or put them back to sleep)

... forcing a problem into some kind of box

... assigning blame

... taking offense

... turning away in fear.

No one can say yes to their destiny without saying no to what is clearly someone else's. No one can achieve their main thing without the discipline to make it the main thing.

Because it is extremely rare.

In a world of distraction, focusing is a superpower. People say they're focused but then...

their phone pings

... they get distracted

... they get tired

... they try to multitask

... they don't actually have the discipline to truly lock into something.

well, the waiting is the hardest part.

To wait for news.

To wait for the right opportunity.

To wait for things to settle.

To wait for the solution to come to you.

To wait for people to come around.

To wait while you check your assumptions.

To wait and see if you think better of it.

What do we get out of waiting?

Well, the Bible says that through our patience we come to possess

nothing less than our souls.

The discipline of patience prevents us...

... from acting on insufficient information

... from picking the wrong option

... from going too soon

... from forcing it

... from rushing people (or giving up on them)

from the wrong conclusion

... from picking the wrong option

... from going too soon

... from forcing it

... from rushing people (or giving up on them)

... from missing out on all the wonderful rewards that come to those who wait.

Patience

Because it's here that you'll win. They'll be delaying, you'll be pulling ahead.

But only if you start now. First hard things

We endure pain, but we also have to address the root causes of it.

The mind and the body must find a way to work together, temperately, moderately, soberly.

Seek yourself, not distraction.

Be happy, not hedonistic.

Let the mind rule, not the body.

Conquer pleasure, make yourself superior to pain.

Nothing. No distractions. No setbacks. Nothing could stop him.

help them redirect that energy.

Because we're in charge. Our training. Our teaching. Our talent. Our (good!) temperament. They are our guide. They take the lead.

Not our passions.

Not the momentary mild (or not so mild) madness.

Can you...

keep a secret?

bite your tongue about someone or something you dislike?

get someone else to deliver the news?

put up with being misunderstood

actions do the talking.

You can listen more than you talk. You can speak only when you're certain it's not better left unsaid.

Of course, you can. But will you?

This isn't lying to yourself about how someday, hopefully, maybe you'll do something. No, you've decided to act. Now you've got the harder hurdle to clear: holding on. Taking the hits while you do so, while you move with deliberateness, to get it right and make it count.

Will you?

In life, in war, in business, we often only get one moment, one opportunity. Nobody is going to give you a do-over. You never get to go back and try it differently-to make up for deficiencies in preparation, to time things better, to get more leverage.

One shot.

Are we strong enough to wait for it? Can we discipline those nerves? Can we make it count? Yes. Yes, we can. We must.

We don't need accomplishments to feel good or to be good enough. What do we need?

The truth: not much!

Some food and water. Work that we can challenge ourselves with. A calm mind in the midst of adversity. Sleep. A solid routine. A cause we are committed to. Something we're getting better at.

Everything else is extra. Or worse, as history has shown countless times, the source of our painful downfall.

We decide which direction we'll go. Better or worse? A luxury or a burden?

We decide whether we'll deserve what we've gotten.

It's a beautiful irony: You're never content with your progress and yet, you're always content... because you're making progress.

You deserve that. But there's only one way you'll get it. It's by delegating. It's by asking for help. It's by making a change

Now is the time. Because now is the only time vou have.

While time is ultimately the dictator of our presence here on this earth, we do dictate how we spend it. As long as we are aware of it, aware of its value and the importance of managing it well. As long as we are putting it to work for us, even as it is working against us in the mortal sense. Now is the time. Because now is the only time vou have

Set your boundaries. Enforce them-gently but firmly. Treat everyone

else's with as much respect as you'd want for your own. Be the adult in a world of emotional children.

Your best is good enough." Not perfect. Your best.

Leave the rest to the scoreboard, to the judges, to the gods, to fate, to the critics.

Rarely does a person who competes with his head as well as his body come out second.

PETE CARRIL

Self-discipline is not just our destiny, it is our obligation.

To our potential.

To our country.

To our cause.

To our families.

To our fellow human beings.

To those who look up to us.

To those who come after us.

Because soon enough you will be truly tested-beyond the ordinary ways in which you have had to persist and resist on this journey toward your best self. Life will demand something greater, something bordering on heroic.

Your body, your mind, your spirit will have to align so that you might discover that you are capable of more than you thought possible. You will also be asked to give... more than you have ever had to give (or give up) before.

Because like courage, there is something contagious about discipline.

The fire within us can burn bright enough to warm others. The light within us can illuminate the path for others. What we accomplish can make things possible for others.

It doesn't matter what you bear," Seneca would say. "It matters how you bear it."

The truly great bear it with grace.

Poise.

Courage.

Discipline

From a place of love and support, we grow.

It is an act of self -discipline to be kind to the self. To be a good friend.

Don't beat yourself up. Build yourself up. Make yourself better. That's what friends do.

What matters isn't the title. It isn't the power. It isn't the wealth. It isn't the control.

That greatness isn't what you have. It's who you choose to become. Or who you choose to remain.

Sometimes we have to rush in.

Sometimes we have to hold our fire.

But often, the hardest thing is to go the other way

proved themselves greater than the adversity that befell them. They kept going.

So can you.

Don't despair. Don't give up.

Keep the faith.

Because one day, you will look back from the other side of this struggle.

and be glad you did.

All of us will.

Rigidity is fragility. Formlessness is unbreakable.

We can choose one or the other

You will concentrate your mind on what counts. You will not be inflated by the changes in your fortune. You will show that success has not changed you. Except that it has made you better.