On Discipline

Have you ever felt like your life was scattered and disorganized? That everything was a rush to get to the next thing on the “To-Do List”? Have you ever looked at the lives of others that seem so rhythmic and healthy, where they have time for personal wellbeing, accomplishing their dreams, and have a vibrant social life and wondered how in the world they do it when you’re giving all you have and are struggling just to get by?

I have.

I’ve often found myself so envious of others lives, filled with structure and vibrancy and have struggled to know what it is that separates my life from theirs. I am tired of feeling behind, of taking shortcuts, of always needing to run to the next thing, and never having the time I need to ground my life. I want a life of rhythm, one that priorities what’s most important over what (seems) most urgent. One that grants me time and energy to give my all to whatever task finds its way into my hands, to be fully present and full of energy for every moment of my life.

As I have struggled to figure out what the “secret” was that separated my life from the life of those whom I admired, the elusive answer finally hit me like a ton of bricks. It was so basic, so fundamental, so unglamorous, and also so achievable.

See what I mean? You probably just rolled your eyes as you read that. “Of course it’s discipline.” You say. We all know that if we buckled down and disciplined ourselves, creating rhythm and structure in our lives, we could achieve almost anything. We all know it. But so few of us actually do it. It’s so much easier to hit “snooze” on the alarm one more time. It’s easier to make excuses for our chronic lateness. It’s easier to take short cuts and tell ourselves that next time we’ll do it differently.

It’s far easier, in principle, to live an undisciplined life. But it’s far less satisfying.

What sparked this simple realization for me was a quote from Thomas a’ Kempis, the Dutch medieval canon who wrote the now famous spirituality texts, “Imitation of Christ”. In that devotional, a Kempis writes:

“It is harder toil to resist vices and passions than to sweat in bodily labor.” 

It takes more energy to do the right thing when we are in an undisciplined life than it does to do the work of living in rhythm. It is in our disorderly disposition that temptations and vices are fueled and empowered. We are less concerned with living righteously and embodying love than we are with making sure we can just get by. But when we live our lives, working hard and in an orderly fashion, there is less time for temptations and more room for progress.

When we live undisciplined lives, we open ourselves to temptation. Temptation to “half-ass” our work. Temptation to be slothful and lazy. Temptation to exploit, disrespect, or take advantage of others. And at the end of the day, when we lay our head on our pillows, we feel the residual effects of our unkempt lives.

But when we discipline ourselves, make ourselves sweat, move methodically and intentionally through our lives, we make time for all that’s important and can lay our head on our pillows feeling fulfilled and full of life. Because we have done all that needed to be done and more. We have made time for what’s most important. What gives us life. We have delayed our need for immediate satisfaction, an in so doing, have reaped a more gratifying reward.

The key to living an abundant life, it seems to me, is not impulsive living. It’s not being able to do what we want, when we want it. It’s not freedom from structure or rules. It’s discipline. 

May we go forth and find the resolve and accountability we need to do the hard work of disciplining ourselves. If we do, life and joy will flow from us like a rushing river and we will finally become all that we know we were meant to be