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{"id":16976,"date":"2011-05-25T11:27:28","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T16:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=16976"},"modified":"2011-05-22T13:30:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T18:30:17","slug":"discipline-a-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/25\/discipline-a-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"Discipline: A myth?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By Leo Babauta<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

What do you think: discipline or something else? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline.<\/p>\n
The myth is larger than life. Benjamin Franklin had it, with his waking early, his virtues checklist and his daily reflection. The best athletes have it, with the discipline to train harder than anyone else to win the gold. My readers often think that I am more disciplined, after reading\u00a0My Story<\/a> and the list of habits and accomplishments I\u2019ve achieved, from exercise to waking early to saving money.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all a myth.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m hoping that if you accept that it\u2019s a myth, you\u2019ll be released from the guilt of not being disciplined, you\u2019ll be empowered to create the habits you want without the need of the mythical discipline\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So what is it?<\/p>\n
Every single specific action you can take to make yourself do something is motivation. Not discipline.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why discipline is a myth. It might sound good, but it\u2019s not a useful concept. When it comes to taking specific actions to make yourself do something, the only things you can do are motivation. Not discipline. I\u2019ve challenged people to come up with a discipline action that isn\u2019t motivation for years now, and no one has done it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Leo Babauta: What do you think: discipline or something else? It\u2019s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline. The myth is larger than life. Benjamin Franklin had it, with his waking early, his virtues checklist and his daily reflection. The best athletes have it, with the discipline to train harder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscipline: A myth?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Leo Babauta: What do you think: discipline or something else? It\u2019s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline. 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