The Barrow

also: working harder vs. working smarter.

This morning I listened to an episode of one of favorite podcasts, The Daily Stoic, in which guest Jay Heinrichs insisted he had very little discipline; he simply manipulated himself into seeing the good part of some unpleasant reality, or into seeing it as part of his identity. This kicked off a discussion about what discipline means, and some interesting differences between stoicism and Epicureanism.

My (perhaps undereducated) take is that it is irrelevant how you make yourself do the things that need to be done. Discipline is simply the quality of making it happen any way you can. If you use self-manipulation to make it happen, this too is discipline.

I would even say that a stoic discipline also does this. When you force yourself to endure something like a cold shower, you are thinking about exercising discipline so that you may use it in other areas of your life. You're basically doing the same thing.