[Medh_Suk]

"It costs you nothing to believe in yourself.

But it will cost you everything if you don't."

Discipline is a muscle. Go Build it. Key is to understand different activities require different muscles.

Be mindful of picking your activities, but dont keep on waiting.

[javajosh]

And yet the Art of War tells you to attack when you are ready and your opponent is not. There are some problems that really need to "stew". Others require immediate action even when you aren't ready. It's very hard to tell the difference, but it's wrong to assert that all problems require immediate action (although I agree that if you're going to err, do so on the side of action, in general)

[ethanbond]

I am discussing a way to be disciplined, which is with decent flexion deliberately built into your self-image.

E.g. I know many people who go through bouts of intense fitness or diet fixations, take a lot of well-deserved pride in their discipline, and then hit a major event that temporarily precludes the fixation. They really struggle to get back on the train.

One major factor, IMO, is that they’re daunted by the intensity of what they achieved before. Obviously in fitness there’s a physical component to this, but there’s a significant mental component as well — especially outside of fitness.

Basically all I’m saying is you can (and should) gradually and deliberately dial up your sense of self-efficacy when it inevitably crosses some local minimum due to events outside of your control. You ought to build a self-image that’s robust to occasional and sometimes significant failures.

[inanutshellus]

Sounds like your friends are "goal oriented" rather than "process oriented".

Goal Mindset = "reach difficult state of fitness"

Process Mindset = "Time to do my gym routine, just with lighter weights bc I'm temporarily weakened"

[roflyear]

I've never gotten anything out of discipline itself.

[ethanbond]

IMO the most disciplined thing to do is build systems that don't depend on discipline.

[kayodelycaon]

This is exactly what I do. "Discipline" in the traditional sense isn't an option. I have a severe impairment with executive function and can't do specific things at specific times.

So I gave up on that. I go with the flow of my brain. When I can, I build and shore up systems that will survive chaos and reduce my cognitive load. When I can't do plan A, hopefully I can manage plan B, C, or D.

This seems to work pretty well. I'm more reliable long-term when I allow myself to be unreliable day-to-day. :)