Marcus Aurelius - How to Build Self-Discipline

In order to live a happy life, you need to learn to have self-discipline. And in his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five good emperors of Rome, offers us several insights on how to discipline our bodies, minds, and spirits. By following the next 5 principles, you can build up your self-discipline. Keep track of how things make you feel. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “... if you won’t keep track of what your own soul’s doing, how can you not be unhappy? ” If you don't keep track of how various foods, jobs, exercises, hobbies, and people make you feel, how will you take control of how you feel? Control beings with understanding, and understanding begins with awareness. Become aware and attentive to how different things make you feel. A disciplined person is aware of how they feel at any given moment, and so they can begin to take control over their own emotions. Pay attention to your thoughts. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts. ” Your feelings are influenced by your thoughts. Whether you feel sad, happy, angry, fearful, or excited, some thought likely preceded that feeling. Monitor how different thoughts make you feel. And when you discover a thought that leads to negative feelings, examine it closely. Is it a true thought? If it’s not, forget about it. But if it is a true thought, determine how you can deal with the negative consequences of that thought coming true. On the other hand, when you discover a thought that leads to positive feelings, examine it closely as well. Is it also true? But if it’s true, determine how you can make the positive consequences of that thought become a reality. A disciplined person is a skilled gardener who treats their mind like a beautiful garden. They pay attention to everything that grows inside of it, and they nurture the positive thoughts and prune away the negative ones through awareness and proactive action. Work only on what’s meaningful. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. ” If you find yourself struggling to focus, it means you're not working on something worthwhile. Think about it: when you’re watching a movie, playing a video game, or having a really interesting conversation, your focus rarely drifts away from what it’s focused on. That’s because you are doing something meaningful and worthwhile to you. When you do things that are not meaningful, you will struggle to maintain your focus. That’s only natural. A disciplined person lives an intentional life and works on meaningful projects, and thus they do not struggle to maintain extreme focus on the task at hand. Do less: focus only on what’s essential. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “‘If you seek tranquility, do less. ’ Or (more accurately) do what’s essential…” If you overwhelm yourself with too many tasks, not only will you feel overwhelmed, but you’ll just do a lot of things poorly. If you want to remain calm while doing excellent work, you need to do less. You need to focus only on what’s essential and eliminate what's unnecessary. If you spread yourself too thin across too many projects, you won’t have the energy required to do a good job at any one of them. And on top of that, you will be overly exhausted and do a bad job of what you accomplish. A disciplined person focuses their complete energy only on what is essential, and by doing so, they remain calm while performing at the highest levels. Become the friend that you would want to have. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “When you think you’ve been injured, apply this rule: If the community isn’t injured by it, neither am I. ” What’s truly good for you is also good for your community. And the reverse is also true: what’s truly good for your community is also good for you.

So when thinking about the person that you should become, become the type of friend that you yourself would want to have. Do you want friends that are dishonest, self-centered, and hedonistic? Or do you want friends who are honest, caring, and doing meaningful things? A disciplined person becomes the friend that they would want to have, and by doing so, they attract better influences into their lives, allowing them to journey onwards and upwards together. So these are the five principles we went over today based on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Keep track of how things make you feel. Pay attention to your thoughts. Work only on what’s meaningful. Do less: focus only on what’s essential. Become the friend that you would want to have. And by following these principles, you can build up your self-discipline. This was just my interpretation of Marcus Aurelius’ work, and if you’re interested in hearing more of my interpretations on his work, check out episode two of this series when it’s released.