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1. HOW TO MASTER DISCIPLINE
A craftsman masters his trade by repeated practice, with care and
continual learning, with devotion to the purpose.
It takes the same kinds of things to master the craft of discipline:
Repeated practice
Single-minded devotion to the purpose
Continual learning
Care
I’ve been giving some thought to what it takes to master the craft of
discipline, and have been following some practices that I’ve found
extremely useful:
1. Do the task even when I’m not in the mood.
Procrastination is such a common problem that I believe it to be
universal. The main reason we procrastinate, without admitting it to
ourselves, is, “I’m not in the mood to do this.” The task is probably
difficult or confusing, and so it’s uncomfortable, and you’d rather go
to things that are easier, that you’re good at. You’d rather clean your
house or trim your nails or check your email than start writing the
next chapter of your book. But if we wait until we’re in the mood,
we’ll never master life. Instead, practice this: set yourself to do a
task, and start doing it, no matter what. Don’t let yourself check
email, or social media, or go clean something, or do a quick chore or
errand. Sit down, and do it. It will be uncomfortable. You can still do
it even if it’s uncomfortable.
2. Exercise even when you really don’t want to. Yes, this is the
same thing as procrastinating — we put off exercise for many reason,
usually because it’s hard and we’d rather do something easier. But I
look at it as something I need to do to take care of myself, like eating
healthy food and brushing my teeth. You wouldn’t skip brushing your
teeth for a week, would you? Your teeth would rot. Similarly, skipping
exercise for a week rots your body. Instead, practice this: tell yourself
you’re going to do a workout/run at a certain time, and then show up.
Do it even if you’re tired or feeling lazy. Ignore the lazy feeling, the

2. distractedness, and suck it up. You’ll find that you feel great for having
done it. Either way, you’ll start to master doing things that are
uncomfortable.
3.Sit with a little hunger. We tend to panic when we get hungry, and
run for the nearest junk food. What I’ve learned is that you can be
hungry and it’s not the end of the world. We don’t always need to be
stuff and satisfied with crazy delicious food. Instead, practice this: don’t
eat if you’re not hungry. When you get hungry, sit there for a moment
and turn to the hunger, and see how it really feels. It’s not so bad. This
practice isn’t to make you starve yourself (not great), but to show you
that a little discomfort won’t ruin your life, and that you can
make conscious choices about when and how much to eat.
4. Talk to someone about something uncomfortable. We avoid difficult
conversations, because they’re not fun. They’re scary, uncomfortable.
But that leads to all kinds of problems, including resentment, a worse
relationship, worsening of the situation, and more. Instead, practice
this: When you have a problem with someone, instead of replaying the
problem in your head, talk to the person in a gentle, compassionate way.
Try to see the situation from their point of view, not just yours. Bring it
up with a simple, “Hey, can we talk about ___?” And tell them how you
feel, without accusing them or making them feel defensive. Ask them
how they feel about it. Approach it with the attitude of finding a
solution that works for both of you, that preserves your relationship.
What you learn from this is that pushing through this uncomfortable
situation will resolve a lot of difficult problems.
5. Stick to a habit. One of the hardest things people face with changing a
habit is sticking with a habit after their initial enthusiasm dies down.
It’s easy to do a habit for a week — but what about pushing through the
second and third weeks? It gets a lot easier after those weeks, but a lot
of people drop the habit too early. Instead, do this: Commit to one small
habit for two months. Make it just 5 minutes a day, and do it at the
same time each day, having as many reminders set up as possible so you
don’t forget. Track the habit on a calendar or log, so you see your
progress. Show up every day and do it. You’ll start to master the
formation of new habits, which will open up all kinds of changes.

3. 6. Turn toward the problem. When we have a problem, often we avoid
even thinking about it. Think about whether you have one of these
problems: you’ve been avoiding exercise, you’re overweight, you’ve
been avoiding a major project, you put off dealing with your finances,
you’re unhappy about some situation in your life. Often these are
uncomfortable situations, and we’d rather not face them. Instead,
practice this: See the obstacle as the path. Don’t avoid the obstacle (the
difficult situation, the problem you fear), don’t go around it, don’t
ignore it. Turn toward it. See it. Acknowledge it. Figure out what’s
going on. Find out how to navigate within the problem. You’ll find that
it’s not easy, but not as bad as you thought, and you’ll be happy you did
it. And more importantly: you’ll get stronger from facing the problem.
7. See the good in the activity. Discipline is really learning that you
don’t need some incredible reward — there’s inherent good in just
doing the activity. For example, if you’re going to eat healthy food, you
don’t need to make it taste like your favorite dessert or fried food
(rewarding food) — you can just enjoy the activity of eating fresh,
healthy food. If you’re going to exercise, it doesn’t need to give you a
flat stomach or nice arms — you can just enjoy the activity. Practice
this: No matter what the activity, find the good in doing it, and the
activity becomes the reward.
8. Meditate. People think meditation is difficult or mystical, but it’s
fairly simple. Practice this: Take 2 minutes to sit still, and focus on your
breath, noticing when your mind wanders and gently returning to the
breath. There are lots of other ways to meditate, but this is the simplest,
and it shows you how to watch the urges that come up, and see that you
don’t need to act on those urges.
You might not be good at these at first, but that’s why you practice.
You’ll learn, through these practices, to get good at discomfort, to show
up even when you don’t feel like it, to stick to something even when the
enthusiasm wanes, to not act on your urges right away, to enjoy any
activity as a reward in and of itself.
Does life need to be pure discipline and no fun? Of course not. But if
you can enjoy any activity, in the moment, why not learn to master
something that will pay off for you in the long run?