Re:How to Do Hard Things
by spoiler on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @04:25AM
(#35436673)
I think it's more nuanced than that. I like to simplify these complex topics to myself by gamifying them a little.
Imagine every time you make a conscious decision to do something you expend willpower points. You have a only a set number of willpower points a day.
Some things you like, some things you don't, and that depends how much they will cost. Choosing not to do something can also costs points, because it's a habit.
Habits are a way to reduce or discount this choice associated cost.
Now, I recently thought a lot about discipline, motivation, dreaming (for the future) and hope. And I think the problem with discipline is that, everyone has a different definition on it, and it also changes between context. Military discipline is not the same as daily discipline. Soldiers are plenty undisciplined in their daily lives.
When people talk about discipline they think "doing things that one doesn't want doing" but it's really not that simple. It all ties to hopefulness and dreaming for the future.
And s someone who's experienced this first hand due to a traumatic childhood: People who don't value themselves won't be disciplined for their own sakes, but they can be incredibly disciplined for the sake of others. So, there's a component of seeing value in what you do, or believe that there is value even if you don't see it.
So, like everything in life, discipline is multi faceted.
As an example, people talk about dopamine and motivation, but I've realised that it's probably closely tied to discipline too. You need to be motivated to be disciplined.
I've recently started becoming more "disciplined" by being incredibly intentional about trying to regulate my dopamine baseline throughout the day. I started doing it to feel less miserable throughout the day, but ended up being more disciplined as a side effect. And I've also realised that this has increased my daily "willpower" budget from earlier.
Imagine every time you make a conscious decision to do something you expend willpower points. You have a only a set number of willpower points a day.
Some things you like, some things you don't, and that depends how much they will cost. Choosing not to do something can also costs points, because it's a habit.
Habits are a way to reduce or discount this choice associated cost.
Now, I recently thought a lot about discipline, motivation, dreaming (for the future) and hope. And I think the problem with discipline is that, everyone has a different definition on it, and it also changes between context. Military discipline is not the same as daily discipline. Soldiers are plenty undisciplined in their daily lives.
When people talk about discipline they think "doing things that one doesn't want doing" but it's really not that simple. It all ties to hopefulness and dreaming for the future.
And s someone who's experienced this first hand due to a traumatic childhood: People who don't value themselves won't be disciplined for their own sakes, but they can be incredibly disciplined for the sake of others. So, there's a component of seeing value in what you do, or believe that there is value even if you don't see it.
So, like everything in life, discipline is multi faceted.
As an example, people talk about dopamine and motivation, but I've realised that it's probably closely tied to discipline too. You need to be motivated to be disciplined.
I've recently started becoming more "disciplined" by being incredibly intentional about trying to regulate my dopamine baseline throughout the day. I started doing it to feel less miserable throughout the day, but ended up being more disciplined as a side effect. And I've also realised that this has increased my daily "willpower" budget from earlier.