The Power of Self-Discipline

Speaker: 00:00:05

th,: 2023

Speaker: 00:01:15

Her knowledge of arcane movie trivia was second to none. Whatever hours she didn’t spend watching films she spent on the Internet and in history books reading about them. If she could have gone on the trivia television show Jeopardy, she would have been a long-running champion. Rosa had read multiple biographies of all of her favorite directors: Spielberg, Kurosawa, Fellini, Miyazaki, and more. Yet she never translated this research, knowledge, and information into action. She had a fairly expensive video camera that she kept confined to her closet, as well as an archive of film editing software that she had only used a handful of times. They were all too intimidating and confusing. Moreover, what if she discovered that all her knowledge and preparation weren’t enough and she was destined to fail at becoming a director? It was easier to take the path of least resistance and remain in inaction.

Speaker: 00:02:13

At least learning about Fellini and Miyazaki’s favorite films made her feel productive to some degree, even if she was avoiding the elephant in the room. One day, she discovered an acquaintance of hers had started a YouTube channel that was quickly amassing millions of views. Out of curiosity, she started viewing the videos and was struck by what she saw. This wasn’t art—the shots weren’t framed adequately, her focus was wrong, and the narrative structure was reversed! None of the viewers seemed to care, however, as the views continued to increase. What’s more, the reviews of the videos were all glowing and encouraging. No one cared about the framing or focus. It was impossible for Rosa to ignore the fact that this person had done far more than Rosa and with far less knowledge and expertise. So Rosa made a dramatic decision.

Speaker: 00:03:11

If she can do it, why can’t I? For four months she was going to make real, concrete strides toward becoming a director—of anything. It was time to buckle down and keep going when all she wanted to do was give up. No more retreating to her comfort zone; she was going to translate her dreams into reality through sheer willpower and self-discipline. She already had the knowledge; it was just time to put it into action. She first organized her time into two categories: learn and practice. During learn time, Rosa methodically studied how to write a script, assemble a plot, and what methods renowned directors used to get the shots they wanted. During practice time, she experimented with different shots and angles, wrote a few scenes, and changed perspectives and storylines to see which ones worked the best. No more was she spending hours watching commentary of old movies she’d seen hundreds of times before.

Speaker: 00:04:15

And no more was she letting her equipment gather dust in the closet for fear of not being able to use it correctly. For a while, Rosa was brimming with energy and enthusiasm at finally doing something about a dream she had held for so long. The day those four months ended, Rosa set out to make her film. She found a few local actors who were willing to work for pizza. She herself was the camerawoman. Her cousin was her sound person, and her dog was a prop. When she finished, she put it online and it garnered a few hundred views, mostly from family and friends. Rosa wasn’t a professional filmmaker, but these were all steps on the journey to seeing her wishes become reality. She committed herself to completing one short film every month thereafter.

Speaker: 00:05:07

She soon grew a reputation for being one of the speediest and most knowledgeable directors in the business. A scant three years later, one of her short films was entered into a film festival competition, something she never even dreamed about when she was just starting out. While she didn’t win any prizes, she still gained recognition and began to be able to support herself through her childhood dream of directing. One day, all at once it seemed, Rosa took a look at the work she had done and felt genuinely good about how far she’d come. She had done it (or rather, she was well on the path to doing it, and keep on doing it!). All the awkward first attempts, early failures and learning curves almost vanished from her memory and she felt proud, accomplished, and confident in her abilities. She wanted to do even more and go even further. Some might say Rosa was lucky. Perhaps some other movie buff who never quite made the leap from “thinking about it” to actually doing it.

Speaker: 00:06:12

That is partially true—but if Rosa had never made the decision to buckle down and do what she had been avoiding for years, she never would have been in the position to be lucky. So what brought Rosa the success she attained as a director? She realized just in time that she needed to give herself the gift of self-discipline. She knew that whatever she wanted was behind a door that could only be unlocked by it, and no one else could do it for her. Nobody could push her through that door or open it for her. If she did nothing, she would stay on the wrong side of it forever, dreaming and hoping, yet never any closer to what she craved deep down. She changed her habits, started thinking methodically, and put her ideas into motion. She didn’t expect overnight miracles or get discouraged when her first attempts were a little rough. She didn’t accept a lifestyle devoid of challenge or pain, and she willed herself to a goal through hardship and struggle.

Speaker: 00:07:16

She didn’t give up when she wanted to, as she did for years, and put her goals above a sense of temporary discomfort. In a way, she dimply no longer accepted that not striving for her goal was an option for her anymore. Self-discipline, willpower, self-control, “mind over matter”—whatever you want to call it, that was what Rosa summoned, and that’s what this book is about. It’s the process of going through what we’d rather avoid, in order to reach what makes us happiest. Even if you don’t quite believe it right now, Rosa possessed no extra superpowers that you lack. If it seems difficult, well, it is. But it was no less difficult for Rosa to get over her sense of doubt and disbelief, than it is for you now to imagine that you could succeed at your dreams. What I mean is—if she can do it, then so can you. On the surface, it’s easy to explain: ensuring that we act in accordance with our intentions.

Speaker: 00:08:22

It means focusing our intentions and behaviors in one direction to achieve the life we want. It represents the ability to do what we want no matter what. We intellectually and logically know that it’s the way to what we want. The only way. So why did Rosa wait years to act? Why is it so hard for many of us? Self-discipline and matching a thought to an action involves the mind. The second part—the action—is not a problem because our arms and legs generally do what we tell them to do. They aren’t pulled in different directions by stray thoughts.

Speaker: 00:09:00

Even if they don’t listen to us the first time, we can physically force them into compliance. But the mind—your thoughts, intentions, and expectations—can’t be twisted and forced into anything. Consider that the goal of most meditation and mindfulness practices is to eliminate all mental chatter to focus on a single thought, or to focus on a physical sensation and no thought at all. Control and mastery over our minds are a few of the best weapons against stress and anxiety. Arguably, control over the mind and translating that into action is one of life’s most elusive achievements. Quick—don’t think about the purple elephant wearing a tutu. Did my warning work? Are you now not picturing the elephant standing in a meadow with its big floppy ears and a white sheer tutu? Are you successfully not imagining its trunk and thick legs?

Speaker: 00:10:03

Probably not. And that’s why the mind is such a difficult beast to defeat. Self-discipline is the creation of a clear path between your internal and external realities, no matter what. No matter if there are no immediate rewards; in fact, the rewards are usually so far away that you can’t even fathom them at the moment. No matter that sometimes the progress is so gradual that it’s difficult for one to gauge any difference, and if they can’t see exactly how they’re getting better, then they’re apt to give up. No matter that other times, the mind is hijacked by emotions, triggers, and otherwise damaging thought patterns. This is just a small sampling of what we battle on the road from intentions to actions. However well-intentioned you are, your mind just doesn’t care. It has to be coaxed, built, and even tricked into compliance, and that’s what you’ll learn in this book.

Speaker: 00:11:05

Appropriately, this first chapter is about the various obstacles we face in putting a leash on our minds. 5 Mental Hindrances to Self-Discipline What blocks us from attaining strong self-discipline? An especially illustrative set of obstacles comes from Buddhist philosophy. When you think of Buddhism, the world discipline is usually not far away. In fact, discipline is right at the core of Buddhist teachings. Its tenets emphasize maintaining a sense of control over one’s mind and body as a means to fulfillment. In fact, it preaches that we are naturally endowed with the ability to do what we want, and feel contentment at all times. However, we give up those feelings of control to someone or something outside of ourselves; we relinquish our own power to an external force that we perceive has more power. We say, “I can’t,” “I shouldn’t,” or “I won’t,” far more often than we should.

Speaker: 00:12:12

We say it so much that we believe that fighting against these powers is useless, and thus we lose power over ourselves. In other words, when we tell ourselves we have no discipline, it ends up being true. Therefore, Buddhism teaches that a lack of personal power is illusory. It can be difficult to take that power back, but this, of course, is one of the first steps to self-discipline—believing that it’s possible and within your control. Part of the process involves knowing exactly how we’re being blocked or prohibited from exercising that control. To that end, there are five areas that cover most, if not all, of the sources of our trepidation in taking control of our lives. If you’re just starting to figure out where your shortcomings in self-discipline exist, these five areas are helpful to start investigating yourself. If you’re a grizzled veteran seeking new methods, these five areas may provide new perspective on familiar issues. Below are the five mental hindrances: • giving in to the five senses • animosity and malice • apathy and laziness • anxiety and remorse • hesitation and doubt Giving In To The Five Senses.

Speaker: 00:13:34

Control over our thoughts is usurped when we are distracted by our physical surroundings. We put too much attention and importance on information from our senses of sight, sound, smell, hearing, and touch—whether it’s physical beauty, the smell of freshly baked bread, a great love song, or a horrible scene of violence. We allow these sensations to overwhelm us and replace our conscious thoughts and goals. Our senses bring us the most immediate understanding of the external world and help us orient and make sense (quite literally!) of ourselves and our place in the word. But we overstate their importance to us and can forget that we are ultimately in control. Our senses gather data from the world, but it is then up to us whether we get distracted by, attached to, or lost in that data, or whether we can maintain a calm, focused awareness of ourselves despite any stimulus, even as transient sensations pass over us. Many of us only believe in what we can experience with these senses, or we at least allow them to take over our concentration as we seek to gratify ourselves. We forget ourselves. Our attention becomes like a flimsy balloon blown this way or that way by any breeze that comes along.

Speaker: 00:14:58

Sensory information by its very nature is instant gratification. But not everything is beneficial or even deserves our attention. We have a choice. To attain self-discipline, we need to put sensory information in its proper context: allowing ourselves to indulge in and experience those senses fully but also keeping aware that they are temporary, distracting, and ultimately hindrances. Animosity And Malice. Emotions have the ability to completely override our thoughts of self-discipline, and anger is one of the strongest emotions. People are adept at unconsciously ingraining all emotions adjacent to anger, such as resentment, bitterness, and animosity, into their thought patterns. The destructive power of malice isn’t just about what other people do to us, either—it can also be directed toward ourselves in the acts of guilt or self-loathing. They have the ability to undermine all of our thoughts and render us practically blind in fits of rage.

Speaker: 00:16:10

We obsess over past miscarriages of justice or fairness that hurt us: the ex who broke your heart, the company that fired you for stupid reasons, or the drive-thru restaurant that got your order wrong. These feelings activate our impulse to exact retribution or punish the people or institutions who have “done us wrong." It’s draining at best and self-sabotage at worst. When you act to address animosity and malice, you certainly don’t address your goals. Apathy And Laziness. The simple act of doing is not usually preferable. Being human takes a lot of work. For many, it’s easier to allow themselves and their bodies to seek an escape from constant mental and physical activity by shutting down and feeling nothing. Whatever it takes to get along in the world is just too much for them to deal with, and the end product is apathy and sloth.

Speaker: 00:17:11

This is a mental hindrance you are probably quite familiar with. Humans tend to enjoy the path of least resistance and will seek it whenever possible. The problem is when this becomes an instinctual course of action, with a corresponding inability to break out of it when necessary. Anxiety And Remorse. Like anger, anxiety has the ability to completely overpower your more productive thoughts. The previous three hindrances show how one can be immobilized by inner thoughts—but anxiety causes you to be mentally overactive and do too much. Anxiety is the fear of a bad or less-than-perfect outcome leading to agitation and worry, making one become overwhelmed with stress, worry, and then finally remorse after the fact. How can you function if you are crippled with fear? It becomes clear that no action at all is far safer.

Speaker: 00:18:10

Self-discipline is relegated to a distant priority compared to safety and security. Hesitation, Disbelief, And Uncertainty. Why would you engage in self-discipline if you believe it is all for nothing? For somebody who struggles with doubt, low self-esteem, or insecurity, self-questioning can be a debilitating factor that goes well past the point where introspection remains valuable. “I don’t know if I can do this,” “Am I doing this right?" “What’s the point of this, anyway?" “What the heck is this?”—all these questions serve as barriers to disciplined action. They indirectly call out our reasons for doing anything or raise just enough uncertainty about a given task that you might abandon it without much resistance—the very opposite of what a self-disciplined person does. Planning and powering past these doubts is a key to restoring self-discipline.

Speaker: 00:19:13

, who was born on this day in: 1920