This is probably the best post to hit HN all month. It's a thing that I notice over and over again, the ability to execute and persevere is strongly correlated with individuals that show (self)discipline. The ability to get out of bed (even when you don't want to) to work real hard (even when faced with a hundred or more distractions, or on something that you may not even like) and the ability to keep a long term goal in the cross hairs even when the going gets tough has 'discipline' written all over it.
And over time that translates into success. (For sure people will think of it as achieved 'overnight' but don't let that bother you.)
Motivation is something that gets mistaken by many for discipline, but in fact motivation is what makes you go downhill faster, discipline is what gets you uphill and most of the times you'll be going uphill.
I dunno - I think that it makes some good overall points, but paints too black & white a picture that, if you follow it literally, will eventually lead to a breakdown where you can't accomplish anything.
I think a better perspective is to think of yourself as having a "discipline budget". (This is actually born out by a lot of fMRI studies, which show that when you will yourself to do something unpleasant or difficult, your brain expends a lot of glucose, and when glucose levels drop below a certain level, you simply can't exert any willpower at all, and often end up making questionable judgment calls without any awareness that you're doing something stupid.) And then your conscious job is to figure out how to spend that discipline budget in the way that will give the greatest returns to you - recognizing, of course, that no matter what you try to achieve there will always be parts that are unpleasant and that you just need to power through. But then, this also recognizes that you are not superman, and sometimes you have to drop the difficult stuff and re-charge just as your natural self.
When you think like this, you pick your projects and profession carefully. You understand that you better pick something that you mostly enjoy, because most of the time, you're going to be running on cruise control and it's a lot easier to do that when you're going downhill than uphill. But you also understand that even if you do that, there are going to be some things that you have to do that are just work, they're not going to be fun, and you might as well get them done with without fussing or stressing about them.
Isn't that what being your authentic self is about, anyway? Understanding who you are and what you're good at and then choosing a place within the world where that naturally fits, but also understanding that the world is not automatically going to mold itself to your preferences and that no matter where you choose to go, you're going to have to do some shaping of yourself as well.
Running any company, of any size usually has more 'uphill' bits in it than 'downhill' bits. I used to think otherwise but over the decades this one factor kept staring me in the face: it was so much fun in the beginning, where did that go? And then I realized that it was fun in the beginning because it was the beginning! Everything was fresh and new, nothing had entered maintenance, no technical debt, all sales and hardly any support and then little by little normality crept in and what was effortless became a serious effort indeed.
I think it takes about 3 years to establish an actual business and by the time you're there most of your 'motivational energy' will have burned out or dissipated and you'll be going on discipline exclusively for the majority of the time.
There's nothing wrong with that, that's where the money is made.
And that's why many people choose not to run businesses, and that's fine too. Some make money in other ways, and some don't mind that they don't have a whole lot of money.
If you're succeeding in your businesses, that probably means that it's close enough to "enjoyable" for you to make it worth your while (if not - man, I'm sorry).
I knew folks at Google who had zero interest in ever founding a company. Why? Because they knew exactly what it entailed, and figured they wanted to spend their budget on things like hard technical problems or dealing with office politics rather than on building a business. Ultimately, I decided that wasn't what I want, and a good portion of the reason why is that I wanted the challenge of stretching myself in ways that I couldn't inside a large corporation. But that's a choice as well - I looked at the schleps needed to have some level of sustainable self-determination within Google vs. the ones needed to have some level of sustainable self-determination in a company, and decided I wanted the latter. I don't actually disagree with any of the facts you've put out, I'm just pointing out that one shouldn't immediately leap from those to the article's conclusion.
Do you have any references to the fMRI studies? I've never gone to the source for that sort of thing, and would appreciate a lead in getting started (not really sure where to even start looking).
The idea that we can biochemically run out of what powers willpower is a neat one. I feel like that implies there's something we can do to just replenish it, but making assumptions like that about complex things like brain chemistry is a great way to look smart while being not-smart.
Do you know of any adults who have successfully cultivated discipline? Based on those I've known since elementary school and still know today, perhaps 80% of the discipline I see in people can be explained by how much discipline they had at 10 years of age.
Ok, so what can one do? I have a genetic discipline disorder, as 23andMe could confirm you, if I could be bothered to do the screening. I possess exactly ZERO self-discipline, and in retrospect, I guess I never had any. I own my career to not having enough discipline to do my math homework at 13 - that's when I picked up programming. The lack of self-discipline is becoming an obstacle in professional lie though. How does one fix this?
Start small and don't expect results any time soon.
How small? I.e touch the phone when you wake up until you count to 20.. do it for a week. Add another small task (i.e clear kitchen table before going to sleep) and work on both of them. Try to do each task for 4 weeks minimum. After six months you will be doing so much of the small stuff that I will begin to impact your life in a really positive way, and you're self-discipline will grow.. Big time.
His basic philosophy is to anchor a very small habit to one you already do. For example, is there one thing you always do first at work? Make coffee, open email? Then choose a tiny habit you would like to form (it should take less than 30 seconds) and do it right after that normal routine habit. (I don't know, maybe write down one task you promised someone you would do and pin it on your monitor). Then after you have done the tiny habit, give yourself a small celebratory high-five. (Cheesy as it sounds, the tiny habit where I didn't do this little celebration didn't stick after the week long program).
Check out and sign up for his 1 week program (its free).
IE, get external forces working in your favour. You could use a coach or psychologist. Commit to tasks. Make sure they check up on you. Work closely with others. Pair programming or an environment where someone is waiting for you to finish something so they can start something else. Seek environments where you can't hide procrastination. discipline thrives in public.
That's what works for me. When the task is boring, the guilt of letting other people hanging pushes me to finish it. It doesn't quite work for personal improvement, though, at least for me.
This seems like awful advice to inflict yourself as a burden (pair programming, always seeking review and validation) rather than being self disciplined, autonomous and professional.
I'd suggest to stop thinking of yourself as someone without self-discipline. It's very hard to behave in a way if you believe it's against your nature.
For example, I've always considered myself to be a smoker. I tried quitting dozens of times, but I always gave in because I knew I was a smoker deep inside. But at some point, I realized that there's nothing about me that makes me a smoker. And then it was easy to quit smoking.
It's possible to change yourself. Nothing really prevents you from becoming a disciplined person. The first step is realizing you don't have to be a procrastinator (or whatever you consider yourself to be).
Yes. My boss is one of them. Cal Newport writes quite a bit about doing deep work. [1] Tobias Lutke of Shopify seems to be another. [2]
Most people are similar to how they were when they were in school, because most people don't deliberately put themselves in contexts in which they are forced to grow and develop.
Discipline, in my opinion, is seldom something that you develop entirely for its own sake– rather, it tends to be something that you develop to achieve some greater goal. Along the way you may find that discipline is a worthy pursuit by itself, but few people wake up at 20 and go "Jeez, I want to be really really disciplined!"
It's more like, you have some itch you want to scratch, and you realize the only way to do it is to train yourself.
I'm a different person due to the supplements and food I eat. I'm obsessed about always improving my nutrition and supplement stack. It's paying off in terms of how much work I'm capable of doing. "Give your body the right food and it will do the right thing" is something I believe in.
That combined with the routine of going to a 9-5, then afterwards going to a coworking space for my startup, I'm really getting a lot of work done. Before I would stay at home and do the bare minimum of contract work, waste time on the internet, and dream about doing a startup. I'd say I'm about 3 times as productive as I was when I worked from home.
Listing everything I do for nutrition probably won't help anyone - people can't be told to add/remove certain foods without a strong belief that it will be beneficial to them. It's like politics. You can't convince a die-hard conservative to suddenly become a liberal with a comment on the internet.
For example if I went back in time I could tell my teenage self everything about nutrition. Unfortunately it would be pointless. Even though I'd listen, without the years of experimentation, forming beliefs and learning I would never have the discipline to think "These foods are poison. Other people can eat them, but not me."
So it's a long process and I think people should discover what works for themselves. But since you asked, here's what I eat and don't eat as of now...
NEVER EAT: HFCS, DAIRY, processed foods, greasy foods, red meat, brominated/bleached flour, unfermented soy (especially soybean oil), alcohol, artificial flavored foods or things that you don't recognize the ingredients, basically avoid all restaurants even supposedly healthy ones
EAT: Tons of organic vegetables/fruit, things cooked in coconut or olive oil, organic chicken, organic eggs, sprouted wheat, high-quality spring water, home cooking flavored with herbs/spices instead of sugary/salty sauces, foods with high omega 3s or high antioxidants, cook everything yourself using basic ingredients
Things that are listed "never eat" I make no compromises for no matter the pressure... "Oh hey - it's our company's annual pizza taste-testing competition, you can make an exception this time can't you? Don't you want some of this amazing pizza with cheese, soybean oil and brominated wheat flour in it. NO!?! What's wrong with you? Are you going to risk your job by not participating???"
YES - I will quit my job before eating pizza... it's poison to me, I won't eat it.
I channel some of my motivation into cultivating discipline. I also apply discipline to periodically remotivate myself.
In practice this means I'll do a hackathon to build something I want, while limiting myself to using one new technology that has to be relevant to my startup.
To stay motivated I pitch everyone I can because nothing motivates me as much as other people getting excited.
As someone that used to lack motivation and discipline, this has kept be going on my startup for 4+ years.
"The ability to get out of bed (even when you don't want to) to work real hard."
If you have problems getting out of bed, I recommend that you work on it first.
If you have problems getting out of bed it is because you don't sleep enough, or if you are fat or old you can interrupt your sleep at night(sleep apnea).
Both motivation and discipline is needed for success, but the basics are your food, exercise and rest.
If you don't sleep well, eat what you need, exercise, or rest, your body will prioritize it over anything else.
As an exercise, try not to sleep for two days, and try to think in something, it is really hard.
Do the same two without eating. Write down what you perceive in detail.
Try to stay in bed one entire day if you believe exercise is not important.
You will learn how your body reacts to extreme situations and you will be able to identify the same perceptions much more attenuated in your normal life.
"If you have problems getting out of bed it is because you don't sleep enough, or if you are fat or old you can interrupt your sleep at night(sleep apnea)."
Or because you are depressed, or any number of other reasons.
Writing it off as something as simple as being fat, old, or not sleeping enough is oversimplifying something.
"As an exercise, try not to sleep for two days, and try to think in something, it is really hard."
This is how I got through my university exams, not staying awake studying for 2 nights before, that would imply I revised, but I cannot sleep for the few nights before an exam, I usually head to lie in bed with hot chocolate around 3am and watch TV until 7, then get up and load up on cappucino.
"Do the same two without eating. Write down what you perceive in detail."
Again, there are people who, for whatever reason, hyperactivity, lack of appetite, or some faddy diet, do not eat for a couple of days, and manage to function perfectly fine.
"Try to stay in bed one entire day if you believe exercise is not important."
Load up 120GB of David Attenborough documentaries, and you wont get out of bed for a week.
If you have problems getting out of bed it is because you don't sleep enough,
or if you are fat or old you can interrupt your sleep at night(sleep apnea)
Losing weight requires discipline. I know because I have none and I'm fat.
And over time that translates into success. (For sure people will think of it as achieved 'overnight' but don't let that bother you.)
Motivation is something that gets mistaken by many for discipline, but in fact motivation is what makes you go downhill faster, discipline is what gets you uphill and most of the times you'll be going uphill.