For Them, Discipline Was Effortless

How you can build up your discipline to achieve your goals

5 min read

1 hour ago

Discipline takes work.

So much work that sometimes, we make up excuses to avoid doing what we must.

Take Anne Lamott for instance. When writing Bird by Bird, she would find excuses as to why she couldn’t work.

She blamed the dirty dishes at home.

“I used to not be able to work if there were dishes in the sink. Then I used to not be able to work if there were dishes in the house. Then I used to not be able to work if there were dishes in the street.” Lamott said.

Or Douglas Adams, who was so undisciplined that he would even climb mountains all to avoid working on his manuscript.

His editor would say in The Salmon of Doubt:

“He would lie in the bath for hours… he would buy new computers and spend weeks setting them up rather than writing on them. He once climbed a mountain in a Rhino suit to save the Rhino, which is a noble cause, but his editor noted it was also a magnificent way to avoid handing in a manuscript.”
The Salmon of Doubt

I chuckled but also related to the experiences of Anne and Douglas as they tried to escape discipline.