Nine Noble Virtues - Discipline

Wake early if you want another man’s life or land. No lamb for the lazy wolf. No battle’s won in bed.
~ Havamal Stanza 58

Discipline

I recently heard discipline described as an almost mythical trait. The idea that everything in life can be achieved through discipline is the basis of the American Dream: that with hard work, you can get everything you want. Consequently, if you don't have what you want, it’s because you are lazy and a failure. I think this makes discipline a word that polarizes people... either it motivates them to buckle down and do what they need to do, or it makes them languish, lamenting that they cannot succeed because they don't have discipline. Oftentimes, both groups fall short of their goals. The motivated because motivation fades, and the lamenters because they never even tried. 

The good news is that each and everyone of us has discipline. Each and everyone of us is a creature of habit and routine, which are the stepping stone of greatness. This basic idea that greatness comes from small acts has been held since the dawn of philosophy. 

These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions… The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.

~Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

If we take a small step each day and make each small step towards our goal, then greatness becomes the sum of our labours. Discipline isn't a magic force, it isn't some great motivator that keeps you going. It is the eventual inevitability of one’s success based on their actions. It is the ability to get up and press forward regardless of how many times you have been knocked down, or how hard the world presses down upon you.

Yeah, that's right. So far, this blog has been inspired by Christopher Reeve, The Havamal, Rocky, and Aristotle. 

You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

~Rocky Balboa

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. 

~Christopher Reeve

Now, I could pepper the page with inspirational quotes, but that won’t get anyone closer to where they need to be. I could tell you inspirational stories, but that is just revelling in the success of another. The question for me, and I imagine for most people, is how do we bring the wisdom of these people into our own lives?

The answer is, of course, small repetitive steps. Maybe you don't want to work out for an hour everyday, but if you start off at five minutes everyday and you claw that time out of a cruel life that doesn't want to give you anything, and you stick to those five minutes for a month, you will see that they are yours. That your time is yours, not Facebook, not instagram, not your boss, your family, or any other drain and anxiety. You have torn from the greedy hands of the world that says you need to follow their rules something for yourself. You are a hero! You have taken your first steps, you know your path. Keep your momentum and build upon it.

This process is the same for anything you want to do, it doesn’t have to be physical. Just stealing away for a meditation where you clear your mind and reaffirm your goals can be a powerful first step. Spend five to ten minutes a day learning a new language, and after a month you will see your progress. Small steps, each leading to your eventual victory.

Goals

How do you decide which small steps need to be taken? Well, that is easy enough and I am sure we have all heard of it. SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Specific. Five requirements for your goals to move you forward, five things to remember along your path. 

Specific
What are the steps you are taking? Let's keep with a fitness analogy for now, because it’s nice and concrete. Often, people will say “I want to lose weight”. It’s good goal, but it isn't specific. It would help you to track your progress and stay on track if you said instead “I want to lose 10 pounds over the next two months” 

Measurable
If you can’t track your progress, how do you know you are making any? This is important for two reasons:
If you aren't making progress, then you could be doing something wrong. You need to adjust your strategy and move forward. Learn from your mistakes, get back up and keep going.
WHATS THE SECOND REASON?

Achievable
There is no point in making a goal that is unreachable. That is an ambition, which is equally important, but not part of these plans. Goals are the steps you take towards your ambition. 

Relevant
You have an overarching ambition, a want that you are working to get to. Learn the guitar, speak Spanish, lift a certain weight, whatever big ambition is, you need to make sure your small steps are getting you closer to it. If your overarching ambition is to get fit, a goal of eating out every night might be counter-purpose. Look at your wants carefully and be sure that you are moving towards it.

Time Sensitive
This is similar to measurable: if you don't have a way to see how you’re doing, it’s too easy to feel lost and floating. This also kicks on your procrastinator brain, since you now have a deadline stick to it.

This isn’t a foolproof method, but these steps will help you take the actions that will form your virtues. From here, you can build your routine and create your discipline.

What are my SMART Goals?

In the last blog, I mentioned that I had six major goals, but I purposely didn’t lay them out as SMART goals. I already had this post mostly planned out and I wanted to use my goals as examples. Here we go!

• Working out Monday-Friday every morning.
• Meditation.
• Continue to drop my cell phone time.
• Read more books.
• Get in armour at least once a month to start.
• Write in this blog.

Let's start with working out. This had some specifics, but it isn't really measurable. It's also very very broad. To make it more specific and keep it to a monthly time frame (which I am trying to do for all of these), I will break it down:
I will start working out every Monday- Friday, starting off with a minimum of 7 minutes and growing over the next month to a one-hour daily workout. 
This goal gives me a specific time amount and a timeline for working towards it. It also gives me a little wiggle room for when life gets tough. 

Now let's do the rest!

• I will meditate for 5 minutes per night at the end of the day.
• I will work to reduce my cell phone time by another 10% overall.
• I would like to read one book per month.
• I will attend at least one practice in the next month
• I will write a weekly post throughout April and May.

Now that I have my goals, I will be adding updates on them to the bottom of the coming posts, just as an extra little bit of accountability!