Discipline Is Destiny - The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)

For Hercules, the choice was between vice and virtue, the easy way and the hard way, the well-trod path and the road less traveled. We all face this choice. Hesitating only for a second, Hercules chose the one that made all the difference. He chose virtue. “Virtue“ can seem old-fashioned. Yet virtue—arete—translates to something very simple and very timeless - Excellence. Moral. Physical. Mental. In the ancient world, virtue was comprised of four key components. Courage. Temperance. Justice. Wisdom.

Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. “We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp,” he wrote. “Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.” Virtue is something we do. It’s something we choose.

We mistake liberty for license. Freedom, as Eisenhower famously said, is actually only the “opportunity for self-discipline“. Unless we’d rather be adrift, vulnerable, disordered, disconnected, we are responsible for ourselves. Technology, access, success, power, privilege—this is only a blessing when accompanied by the second of the cardinal virtues - self-restraint.

We must keep ourselves in check or risk ruin. Or imbalance. Or dysfunction. Or dependency.

We must master ourselves unless we’d prefer to be mastered by someone or something else.

Courage is defined as the willingness to put your ass on the line — for something, for someone, for what you know you need to do. Self-discipline — the virtue of temperance — is even more important, the ability to keep your ass in line. The ability . . . . . . to work hard . . . to say no . . . to practice good habits and set boundaries . . . to train and to prepare . . . to ignore temptations and provocations . . . to keep your emotions in check . . . to endure painful difficulties.

Temperance is not deprivation but command of oneself physically, mentally, spiritually—demanding the best of oneself, even when no one is looking, even when allowed less. It takes courage to live this way—not just because it’s hard, but because it sets you apart.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.