The Discipline Expert: The 4 Surprising & Easy Habits ALL High Achievers Have! (Based On 2,000 Years Of Research) - Ryan Holiday

1. Practice Memento Mori Daily

Regularly remind yourself of your mortality to create urgency, perspective, and prioritize health and important actions. This awareness helps overcome procrastination by acknowledging that life is short and time is ticking.

2. Focus on What’s in Your Control

Separate things into two categories: what is up to you and what is not. Allocate your energy and focus solely on what you can influence, as this is a critical resource allocation issue for effective living.

3. Cultivate Self-Discipline, Not Rigidity

Define discipline as living up to the standards you’ve set for yourself, rather than being strict with others. The highest form of discipline involves the ability to adjust, be flexible, and adapt to different people and situations.

4. Keep Commitments to Yourself

Build the muscle of reliability by consistently keeping the promises you make to yourself, no matter how small. Breaking even minor commitments can lead to a habit of making excuses, while keeping them builds self-esteem and the ability to achieve larger goals.

5. Root Goals in Your Own Standards

Measure your success by internal criteria, such as whether you are doing your best or if your work is meaningful to you, rather than external factors like sales or public reception. This approach minimizes disappointment and allows you to focus energy where it has impact.

6. Embrace Struggle and ‘Wilderness’ Periods

Recognize that periods of struggle, unpopularity, or setbacks are essential for growth and refining your ideas, character, and skills. These challenging times force adaptation and can lead to a greater sense of purpose and clarity.

7. Contribute to the Common Good

Find meaning and purpose in serving and contributing to other people and the collective. Your obligation as a human being is to help others and leave the world better than you found it.

8. Process Emotions, Don’t Suppress Them

Understand the cause of your ‘big feelings’ and process them, rather than stuffing them down. Suppressing emotions only defers them with interest and prevents you from making rational decisions, often leading to regret.

9. Prioritize Physical Self-Care

Ensure you are taking care of yourself physically through adequate sleep, proper fueling, and deferring maintenance. Being physically fine-tuned and fueled sets you up to thrive emotionally and temperamentally when stressful situations arise.

10. Engage in a Daily Physical Challenge

Beyond general physical activity, do something physically difficult every day, such as lifting heavy, sprinting, or a challenging workout. This practice builds resilience and the essential skill of pushing limits, preparing you for life’s challenges.

11. Cultivate Stillness from Digital Outrage

Create distance and boundaries from social media and digital inputs that incite conflict and unhappiness. Protecting your mental space from constant outrage is crucial for philosophy, happiness, and a good life.

12. Identify with Your Desired Self

When you make a mistake or fall short, do not identify with the failure itself. Instead, identify with the person you aspire to be and know you can be, allowing you to get back on track and rebuild positive habits.

13. Want Things As They Are

Cultivate the mindset of wanting things to be the way they are, rather than needing them to be a specific way. This acceptance is the path to peace, reducing tension and problems caused by unmet expectations.

14. Listen to Life’s Whispers

Practice daily or nightly self-reflection through journaling, long walks, or conversations to tune into feedback from life. Addressing these ‘whispers’ proactively can prevent situations from escalating into crises that scream in your face.

15. Focus on the Verb, Not the Noun

Instead of obsessing over whether you ‘are’ something (e.g., a writer), focus on ‘doing’ the action (e.g., writing). Your identity is built by your actions, so just do the thing you want to be.

16. Write to Clarify Your Thinking

Engage in the practice of writing to clarify what you think, identify contradictions, and plan effectively. Writing forces a structured process that is different from ideas merely bouncing around in your head.

17. Utilize Walks and Water for Peace

Incorporate long walks and engagement with water (like swimming or being near the ocean) into your routine for peace, inspiration, calmness, and stillness. These activities slow you down, promote presence, and rarely worsen problems.

18. Distinguish Preferred Indifferences from Needs

Understand that while some things are preferable to have (e.g., wealth, nice weather), you should not need them to be happy or effective. This mindset allows you to be adaptable and thrive in any situation.