365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 133: On Self-Carin g

Self-discipline is self-caring. If we feel ourselves valuable, then we will

feel  our  time  to  be  valuable,  to  organize  it  and  protect  it  and  make

maximum use of it.

—M. Scott Peck

 

127

The  way  you  look  at  what  self-discipline  is  can  affect  how  self-

disciplined you are. If you think of self-discipline as punishing yourself in

return for some possible benefits in the future, how likely are you going to

be eager to maintain it in your life?

Instead, what if you embraced self-discipline as self-caring, a way of

manifesting that your time is valuable to you and that you want to make the

most of it?

Now,  instead  of  seeing  every  temptation  as  something  pleasant  that

you must avoid for the possible future benefit, you’d look at it as a threat to

your  well-being.  For  example,  upon  adopting  this  outlook  on  life,  you’d

understand  on  a  deeper  level  that  watching  TV  for  hours  on  end  is  not

entertainment; it’s killing your valuable time, and in the case of low-quality

TV, killing your brain cells.

And the other way around: things that you currently consider torturous

(such as waking up early, eating vegetables, saving money, expanding your

comfort  zone,  and  so  on)  would  all  become  manifestations  of  self-care.

You’d understand on a deeper level that waking up early makes you more

productive, and consequently, creates more time and energy for you — even

if it isn’t always fun.

---