Discipline without willpower
🔥New science around self-control.
Welcome to the 169th consecutive edition of the newsletter.
For the month of December I am going to experiment with writing one short article each week.
Enjoy.
One book I am reading is Hidden Potential by Adam Grant.
On page 98, I stumbled on this segment that I believe has profound implications on your ability to dramatically improve your discipline.
Angela’s research suggests the people with the most discipline are not summoning some magical force called willpower to do hard things.
They are manipulating their environment to make hard things easier to do.
The term I scribbled down in the margin of the book was “Environmental Editing.”
That’s a game-changing idea for a few reasons.
First, it suggests that discipline happens from the outside in, not the inside out, as most people believe.
That means genetics plays a small role in your ability to be disciplined.
How liberating is that thought?
Second, if it’s less about will then it’s more about skills.
And skills can be learned.
You can be taught strategies to edit your environment to make hard things easier.
Here’s a few examples…
putting your workout clothes out the night before so your odds of getting out of bed and doing it are skewed in your favour.
using post-it notes to remind you of important things that must be done.
turning your phone on grayscale (black and white vs. colour) to spend less time on it.
reviewing online menus before going out to restaurants so you know in advance what you will order.
not having junk food in the house — if you want it you have to travel to it.
John Grisham built himself a writing cabin with no internet so he could do nothing but write when in there.
reading more by designating a specific chair for reading. No other activities other than reading can happen there.
using smaller dish-ware to manage portion control.
repackaging bulk foods into suitable portion sizes.
improving sleep by keeping your screens out of the bedroom.
physically removing yourself or adjusting your proximity to tempting or volatile situations.
physically removing temptations — ie. when at a restaurant move the basket of bread to another table or out of arms reach.
using apps to encourage desired behaviours.
listening to music to motivate/inspire you.
using alarms to remind you of important tasks.
breathing
saying something funny
choosing not to say anything at all
walking away
I’m just scratching the surface here, but the point I’m hoping to hammer home is that there are many ways to manipulate your environment to skew discipline in your favour.
Let’s end with a one line summary of this article that hopefully will be memorable for you…
Takeaway → Discipline is less about will and more about skills.
That’s it for today. 🙏 Thanks for reading.
I hope you found that helpful.
Much love my friend,
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