Self Discipline Quotes

Where your power is found:

“Hesitation is the enemy. Hesitation allows the moment to pass, the opportunity to be lost, the enemy to get the upper hand. Hesitation turns into cowardice. It stops us from moving forward, from taking initiative, from executing what we know we must. Hesitation defeats us. So we must defeat it. To win, all you have to do is overcome that moment: The Waiting. The Hesitation. And to do that, all you have to do is: Go. Move. Take the action. Get out of bed. Get your feet on the ground. Step forward. Do not hesitate. Do not wait. Go forward: And win.”
Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom (Page 55)

“I don’t accept that I am what I am and that ‘that’ is what I am doomed to be. NO. I do not accept that. I’m fighting. I’m always fighting. I’m struggling and I’m scraping and kicking and clawing at those weaknesses—to change them. To stop them. Some days I win. But some days I don’t. But each and every day: I get back up and I move forward. With my fists clenched. Toward the battle. Toward the struggle. And I fight with everything I’ve got: To overcome those weaknesses and those shortfalls and those flaws as I strive to be just a little bit better today than I was yesterday.”
Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom (Page 17)

Discipline Equals Freedom [Book]

Book Overview: Many books offer advice on how to overcome obstacles and reach your goals–but that advice often misses the most critical ingredient: discipline. Without discipline, there will be no real progress. Discipline Equals Freedom covers it all, including strategies and tactics for conquering weakness, procrastination, and fear, and specific physical training presented in workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced athletes, and even the best sleep habits and food intake recommended to optimize performance.

Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

16 Fierce Jocko Willink Quotes from Discipline Equals Freedom

16 Quotes ➜

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“In a paradoxical way, it’s only when you finally accept that you have little self-control in certain situations that you can start to take more control over these situations.”
Mark Manson

“Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.”
George Bernard Shaw, via Sunbeams (Page 159)

Stay in your light.

“If you are willing to discipline yourself, the physical universe won’t need to discipline you.”
Leonard Orr, via Sunbeams (Page 137)

“The bad days are more important than the good days. If you write or exercise or meditate or cook when you don’t feel like it, then you maintain the habit. And if you maintain the habit, then all you need is time.”
James Clear, Blog

Few understand.

“But what is philosophy? Doesn’t it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don’t you understand that really amounts to saying that if I would so prepare myself to endure, then let anything happen that will? Otherwise, it would be like the boxer exiting the ring because he took some punches. Actually, you can leave the boxing ring without consequence, but what advantage would come from abandoning the pursuit of wisdom? So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I’ve trained for, for this my discipline!”
Epictetus, Discourses, via The Daily Stoic (Page 155)

“The purpose of discipline is to promote freedom. But freedom leads to infinity and infinity is terrifying.”
Henry Miller, via Sunbeams (Page 93)

“A dog that’s allowed to chase cars will chase cars. A child who is never given any boundaries will become spoiled. An investor without discipline is not an investor—he’s a gambler. A mind that isn’t in control of itself, that doesn’t understand its power to regulate itself, will be jerked around by external events and unquestioned impulses.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 101)

“In the miraculous spontaneity of the sun, there is discipline that utterly escapes you, and a knowledge beyond any that we know. And in the spontaneous playing of the bees from flower to flower, there is a discipline beyond any that you know, and laws that follow their own knowledge and joy that is beyond command. For true discipline, you see, is found only in spontaneity.”
Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, via Sunbeams (Page 47)

“A modern stoic knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.”
W. H. Auden, via Daily Rituals (Page 3)

QUESTION: We Can’t Be Self-Disciplined 100% Of The Time—So, How Much Can We Indulge?

Excerpt: Self-Discipline is one of the key indicators of a person’s future success. But, can’t we indulge every now and again? If so, how much?

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable prerequisite for success.”
Brian Tracy

Beyond the Quote (339/365)

The ability to delay gratification—to resist an immediate reward in preference for a greater future reward—has been proven to be an accurate predictor of a person’s long-term success. In other words, it’s almost always a good idea. After all, a greater reward sounds better than a smaller reward, even if it is a little later, eh? But, at the same point, should gratification always be delayed? Wouldn’t pushing what you desire out into the future cause you a certain level of discontent/ unhappiness, too? How does that discontent/ unhappiness in the short-term measure up?

“You cannot be partying till early morning and attempt to scale Mount Everest tomorrow!”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 223)

Beyond the Quote (298/365)

We all have an “Everest” in our lives. A challenge that surpasses all of the other challenges we could face and yet, excites us to our core. A challenge that we know is going to take every ounce of strength and vigor and focus that we have and yet, still entices us to step forward. A challenge that feels right. One which our whole lives have prepared us for and one that matches our drive to our potential; our talents to our interests; our aptitude to our attitude. The type of challenge that you would skip a full night of partying for because your mission is more important to you.

“We must be disciplined about our discipline and moderate in our moderation. Life is about balance, not about swinging from one pole to the other. Too many people alternate between working and bingeing, on television, on food, on video games, on laying around wondering why they are bored. The chaos of life leads into the chaos of planning a vacation. Sitting alone with a canvas? A book club? A whole afternoon for cycling? Chopping down trees? Who has the time? If Churchill had the time, if Gladstone had the time, you have the time.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 240)