This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Discipline Is Destiny" by Ryan Holiday. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Does your life feel out of control? Do you take your life’s purpose into account when you schedule your day?
Practicing discipline helps you fulfill your one purpose by leading you to prioritize your purpose and behave appropriately. When you do this, Discipline Is Destiny says that your life will be well on its way to being the best it can be.
Continue reading to learn how to get your life in order, according to Ryan Holiday.
How to Get Your Life in Order
Holiday explains that, when you’re disciplined, you understand how to get your life in order by regularly refusing potential opportunities that would divert your attention from what matters most. Set clear limits regarding what you’re willing to do and with whom you’re willing to speak, and avoid people who try to cross those limits. But don’t try to do it all yourself: Willingly accept or pay for any help that buys you time to reflect on whether you’re doing what’s most important and to actually do that work.
(Shortform note: Holiday’s approach to prioritizing your purpose aligns with the essentialist philosophy that Greg McKeown discusses in Essentialism. Essentialists prioritize their purpose by refusing opportunities that divert their attention from it. Essentialists set clear limits and avoid people who try to cross them; if someone repeatedly distracts them, they plan how they’ll deflect her, such as by making a list of the types of requests from her that they’ll refuse. Essentialists also create space to escape and think, which helps them determine what their purpose is and explore how to fulfill it. And if they also follow the ideas in McKeown’s Effortless, they embrace anything that makes their lives easier instead of overexerting themselves.)
Prioritizing your purpose also requires that you design your schedule around your purpose. Wake up early so that you can focus on the most important work. Doing what matters first not only ensures that you’re not distracted by others’ demands (since they’ll still be asleep), but it also ensures that you actually do the thing you want to do instead of procrastinating—and potentially never getting around to doing it. Once you set this schedule, stick to it every day—even on the days when it’s difficult to do so. Most people struggle to remain consistent. So if you can master consistency, you’ll steadily improve—and ultimately, grow more than those who don’t do it every day.
(Shortform note: Other authors elaborate on why consistency is important. In How to Become a Straight-A Student, Cal Newport explains that being consistent turns doing this work into a habit. Once it becomes a habit, you’ll be less likely to procrastinate on it, and you’ll put in more hours, which means you’ll get better at it, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in Outliers.)
| Work When You Can Focus Waking up early, as Holiday suggests, may not help you focus on the most important work. Even if others are asleep when you awaken, distractions can come from other sources—for example, if you check your phone in the morning, you may be waylaid by messages and emails you received overnight. Moreover, you may struggle to focus in the early morning because, as When author Daniel Pink explains, we all have different biological clocks and so feel energetic at different times. Pink recommends doing your most important work when you feel most energetic—whatever that time may be. |
How to Work Well
Holiday adds that when you’re disciplined, you figure out how to do your work most effectively. Start by mastering the fundamentals. Many people want to tackle the harder stuff first, but not mastering the fundamentals leaves you vulnerable to bigger problems down the line. For example, if you don’t understand factoring (an algebra concept), you’ll struggle to complete calculus problems (which require factoring). So practice these fundamentals until you can do them in your sleep.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Discipline Is Destiny summary:
- Why your ability to practice discipline determines how successful you are
- How to practice discipline throughout various stages of your life
- Why the greatest enemy to discipline is your ego
