I believe the act of prioritizing and having trade off’s is in itself Discipline no?

For me, I tell myself that I’ll enjoy Saturday’s night out so much more if I stay in Friday night and focus on my startup.

Otherwise I’d feel guilty of going out both nights.

Of course you could work both nights, but I believe having a work/life balance will maximize your happiness. Plus prevent burn out.

Excuse me for my english/american im dutch

I have recently started reading The Art of Manliness and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The first time I started reading I couldn’t stop for about two days. Here’s a Superspeed Virtual High Five to the team that slaves away to bring us such great content.

What fascinates me is where this conversation is going. Now, I am sure most people reading this post had to be really disciplined to not read all of the comments, but hey, we all have our guilty pleasures.. :) I have become fascinated with the evolution of this particular comment section. Funny story, starting to write this comment just made me stop smoking. Ha! Inspirational. But the thing is, there are tons of reasons I can name for quitting, but for some reason I didn’t have the self-discipline to make the final call. Truth be told, there are a lot of areas in my life that demand attention, I personally, try to go with the flow and take an easy approach to life, however, my personal life, my career, my love and all the little things in between have been approaching what Jonathan Fields describes as the Conversations at the crossroads of work, play, entrepeneurship & life..

Wow.. Mind=Blown

As I have seen there are a number of topics that creep up from this article. But the one thing that is lingering on my mind is the word Discipline. I believe discipline has become a badly twisted echo of what Basil William Maturin beautifully descibes. We are disciplined in any given way from childbirth.

“You may not have dessert until you have finished your supper.” A phrase I am sure most of us are all too familiar with. In essence we are raised to await some kind of reward for obtaining self-discipline. Unfortunately, I think the rewarding structures have slowly eroded away through the ages, to a watered down memory of what it was. Reward is good but we are conditioned to strive for it, and competition is intense.

We are all striving to achieve that ultimate reward, some have a strong spiritual inclination and build their values one what they believe is to be true, organised religion is the ultimate example of reward. But then you have the monetary system, professional image, love life, worldly gain, all falling into that same concept of reward. I could really write a thesis about this, but what I am getting at is to propose a question..

Have been losing touch with the art of living? We talk of balance, but it is a very loose topic. A cat has more balance than a man because it walk on four legs. Arbitrary statement. A dog has four legs, not nearly the balance that a cat has, but yet, it finds pleasure by simply being on the ground.

Anyway, I’m going to stop ranting about. Will be avidly following the comments on this one. Keep up the good work.

But what I specifically like is the suggestion that at first the discipline is terribly restricting and feels like it is maybe not the most valuable way to spend time.

I have a constant battle with myself on what is ‘the best” thing to do with my time. As suggested in the comments above, isnt happiness just doing what you enjoy in each moment? I do subscribe to the idea that I need to be “healthy” in general, a good (present) uncle, a knowledgeable citizen, a sound person that doenst rely on the “easy road”.

But I admit, I regularly get stuck in a situation when I have two options; one is to be disciplined (go to the gym, crack the accountng textbook, research stocks or start a company) and the other is to be more “present” and enjoy the moment (go out with friends, watch the hockey game, a new movie, go on a date). The dilemma, in my mind, is that it is hard to put a value on either one. Watching the game pays dividends in a variety of ways, like being able to discuss the team with a coworker, or spendnig time with a friend, or just feeling great afterwards. Its this balance that I struggle with regularly. Probably because I cannot decide what is truly important to me (and I’ve tried, have i tried).

I have tried the life blueprint and all but I always feel like its too much of what I “ought” to be with no space for “just going with it”. But now I work construction after turning down the opportunity to earn a finance designation that leads to some of the highest paying jobs in the country, and quit my job teaching at a college earning far too much money. And I’m totally ok with it. For now…

But I like the idea of an unknown destination earned by discipline. Maybe I’m afraid of becoming a social goon that’s ruined our politics/education/economy. Maybe I’m just afraid to start my life.

That comment was meant to be short. Instead I’ll just hope someone can relate. I think this article really hit a nerve.

From my read I think the article is suggesting that discipline can lead to a happiness that you cannot currently even vision. The pianist who is naturally brilliant can’t find how good he can be until he is trained to improve his weak spots.

So essentially, the discipline is a means to find even greater happiness. The musician will now create even more inspirational, creative music and be less restricted due to an increase in skill.

Much the same as a teen who is already strong and athletic but starts to lift weights. He finds gains through training, but might find unexpected ability by lifting correctly, and in an efficient, disciplined manner. Thus greater happiness.