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Self-Discipline
June 5th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina            Email this article to a friend

This week I’ll be blogging a series on self-discipline. New posts on this topic will appear every
day Mon-Fri. I’ve also added a new self-discipline category.

I’ve already written about 20 pages on self-discipline for my upcoming book, including what it is
and how to develop it. I’ll share some of those ideas in this series, focusing on what I call the
five pillars of self-discipline.

The Five Pillars of Self-Discipline

The five pillars of self-discipline are: Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and
Persistence. If you take the first letter of each word, you get the acronym “A WHIP” — a
convenient way to remember them, since many people associate self-discipline with whipping
themselves into shape.

Each day of the series, I’ll explore one of these pillars, explaining why it’s important and how to
develop it. But first a general overview….

What Is Self-Discipline?

Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you could simply get yourself to follow through on your
best intentions no matter what. Picture yourself saying to your body, “You’re overweight. Lose
20 pounds.” Without self-discipline that intention won’t become manifest. But with sufficient
self-discipline, it’s a done deal. The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that
when you make a conscious decision, it’s virtually guaranteed you’ll follow through on it.

Self-discipline is one of many personal development tools available to you. Of course it is not a
panacea. Nevertheless, the problems which self-discipline can solve are important, and while
there are other ways to solve these problems, self-discipline absolutely shreds them. Self-
discipline can empower you to overcome any addiction or lose any amount of weight. It can
wipe out procrastination, disorder, and ignorance. Within the domain of problems it can solve,
self-discipline is simply unmatched. Moreover, it becomes a powerful teammate when combined
with other tools like passion, goal-setting, and planning.

Building Self-Discipline
My philosophy of how to build self-discipline is best explained by an analogy. Self-discipline is
like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger you become. The less you train it, the weaker
you become.

Just as everyone has different muscular strength, we all possess different levels of self-discipline.
Everyone has some — if you can hold your breath a few seconds, you have some self-discipline.
But not everyone has developed their discipline to the same degree.

Just as it takes muscle to build muscle, it takes self-discipline to build self-discipline.

The way to build self-discipline is analogous to using progressive weight training to build
muscle. This means lifting weights that are close to your limit. Note that when you weight train,
you lift weights that are within your ability to lift. You push your muscles until they fail, and
then you rest.

Similarly, the basic method to build self-discipline is to tackle challenges that you can
successfully accomplish but which are near your limit. This doesn’t mean trying something and
failing at it every day, nor does it mean staying within your comfort zone. You will gain no
strength trying to lift a weight that you cannot budge, nor will you gain strength lifting weights
that are too light for you. You must start with weights/challenges that are within your current
ability to lift but which are near your limit.

Progressive training means that once you succeed, you increase the challenge. If you keep
working out with the same weights, you won’t get any stronger. Similarly, if you fail to
challenge yourself in life, you won’t gain any more self-discipline.

Just as most people have very weak muscles compared to how strong they could become with
training, most people are very weak in their level of self-discipline.

It’s a mistake to try to push yourself too hard when trying to build self-discipline. If you try to
transform your entire life overnight by setting dozens of new goals for yourself and expecting
yourself to follow through consistently starting the very next day, you’re almost certain to fail.
This is like a person going to the gym for the first time ever and packing 300 pounds on the
bench press. You will only look silly.

If you can only lift 10 lbs, you can only lift 10 lbs. There’s no shame in starting where you are. I
recall when I began working with a personal trainer several years ago, on my first attempt at
doing a barbell shoulder press, I could only lift a 7-lb bar with no weight on it. My shoulders
were very weak because I’d never trained them. But within a few months I was up to 60 lbs.

Similarly, if you’re very undisciplined right now, you can still use what little discipline you have
to build more. The more disciplined you become, the easier life gets. Challenges that were once
impossible for you will eventually seem like child’s play. As you get stronger, the same weights
will seem lighter and lighter.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. It won’t help. You’ll only find what you expect to find.
If you think you’re weak, everyone else will seem stronger. If you think you’re strong, everyone
else will seem weaker. There’s no point in doing this. Simply look at where you are now, and
aim to get better as you go forward.

Let’s consider an example.

Suppose you want to develop the ability to do 8 solid hours of work each day, since you know it
will make a real difference in your career. I was listening to an audio program this morning that
quoted a study saying the average office worker spends 37% of their time in idle socializing, not
to mention other vices that chew up more than 50% of work time with unproductive non-work.
So there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Perhaps you try to work a solid 8-hour day without succumbing to distractions, and you can only
do it once. The next day you fail utterly. That’s OK. You did one rep of 8 hours. Two is too
much for you. So cut back a bit. What duration would allow you to successfully do 5 reps (i.e. a
whole week)? Could you work with concentration for one hour a day, five days in a row? If you
can’t do that, cut back to 30 minutes or whatever you can do. If you succeed (or if you feel that
would be too easy), then increase the challenge (i.e. the resistance).

Once you’ve mastered a week at one level, take it up a notch the next week. And continue with
this progressive training until you’ve reached your goal.

While analogies like this are never perfect, I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this one. By raising
the bar just a little each week, you stay within your capabilities and grow stronger over time. But
when doing weight training, the actual work you do doesn’t mean anything. There’s no intrinsic
benefit in lifting a weight up and down — the benefit comes from the muscle growth. However,
when building self-discipline, you also get the benefit of the work you’ve done along the way, so
that’s even better. It’s great when your training produces something of value AND makes you
stronger.

Throughout this week we’ll dive more deeply into the five pillars of self-discipline. If you have
any questions on the subject of self-discipline (either specific or general) that you’d like to see
addressed, feel free to post them as comments, and I do my best to incorporate them along the
way.

This post is part one of a six-part series on self-discipline: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5
| part 6

How To Know and Control Life-Force

Practice Pranayama

By Premansu Chand
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A being has four divisions - material body, life-force (Prana), mind, and soul (Atman). In fact these
four are one. The subtler part of body is Prana, subtler part of Prana is mind, and subtler part of mind
is Atman. Only the body is visible and destructible; Prana, mind and Atman are invisible,
indestructible, eternal and divine.

The body with its cells and organs remains active and alive for the flow of fluids throughout the body.
The flow of fluids goes on relentlessly because there is a life-force (Prana) that flows throughout the
body. This flow of Prana is felt easily by the inhalation and exhalation of air across the nostrils. Flow of
air is not Prana but flow of Prana moves the air across the nostrils as well as fluids throughout the
body.

The subtler part of Prana is mind. So mind has control over Prana and so over the body. For example
when mind thinks to do something, both body and Prana move faster to do so. When mind wants to
take a rest, both body and Prana slow down and take a rest.

However we can notice that even if we are taking rest and sleeping, breath moves as usual. So Prana
moves and supplies energy relentlessly round the clock. From birth till death this Prana is working. Not
only in present birth but in countless previous births also this Prana was working relentlessly. So it
needs some rest from time to time. As in sleep we give rest to the tired body and after we awake we
get a refreshed and energetic body, so by giving rest to Prana, we shall feel refreshed and
tremendously energetic. By this we control and conserve Prana.

1. Choose posture. First choose either sitting posture (Padmasana) or sleeping posture
(Sabasana). Sabasana is better. For this lie on a soft and flat surface by spreading a blanket
on the floor. Hands and legs should be stretched with face upwards and eyes closed.

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2. Relax the body completely. From tip of fingers in hands and legs, move your mind
upwards across Chakras or joints, thinking that you are completely relaxed. By this, the
wandering mind also remains inside the body.

3. Keep your mind on the movement of air across the nostrils. Since body is at rest,
metabolism in the body slows down and so inhalation and exhalation goes on very slowly.
Since mind is kept on Prana and since movement of Prana has slowed down due to resting of
body, everything (i.e. body, Prana and mind) slows down and come to a point. This union of
body, Prana and mind is Pranayama. Body, Prana and mind are one and same and so they
must come for union.

4. Achieve Dhyana. When a practitioner stays in this position for at least fifteen minutes, he
proceeds to deep concentration of mind called meditation (Dhyana). However in Pranayama,
one gets refreshed and charged with energy. So you can rule over the body and thereby over
the material world.

This method by which Prana is given rest is called Pranayama. It is a part of Yoga. Already there are
various methods of Pranayama practiced throughout the world. But you should not do that Pranayama
by which breath is held forcibly. Inhalation and exhalation should go on without a break. In the body
metabolism in cells goes on continuously and so the carbon dioxide generated in cells should leave the
body immediately through exhalation. In order to do true and correct Pranayama, you should
remember and follow the steps described above.