Some of you are going to absolutely hate this. This is message 385 and day 39 in the 8-C Challenge and this message is dedicated to Navy Seal Jocko Willink. Jocko Willink wrote the book titled “Discipline Equals Freedom.” This is another one of those counterintuitive statements like yesterday’s “Freedom isn’t free” and “Even after your independence is declared from the tyrants in your life, you have to continue the fight.”
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote, “He is free who lives as he likes.” This means having the self-discipline to pursue and obtain what one wants. If you want contentment, you have the willpower to say yes or no to that which would disrupt it. If you want harmony, you have the willpower to say yes or no to that which would disrupt it. If you want security, you have the willpower to say yes or no to that which would disrupt it.
To the ancients it meant guarding against excess, it meant knowing when to stop and when to keep going, it meant good discipline within the soul. Today, we can still see it’s the virtue that opens up options for so much in life. You might think “But self-discipline limits me, restrains me, I would think it limits options?”
Think about it: Discipline in diet makes you healthier. Discipline in exercise makes you stronger. Discipline in relationships makes you happier. Discipline in learning makes you smarter. Discipline in work makes you reliable. It provides freedom of more time because you didn’t hit snooze. Discipline creates opportunities to try more activities because you have more energy. It opens opportunities because others see your trustworthiness. It creates space of having less to worry about because the bad choices are no longer considered. Discipline equals options. Discipline equals freedom. No person is more shackled, in bondage, than the one who is not in control of himself or herself. Don’t you see? If you don’t have the power to steer yourself to say no to that junk or yes to that necessity you aren’t truly free. Are you controlling the steering wheel of your life? This is a muscle you must exercise. Discipline equals freedom.
