Discipline Is Destiny was random book pickup for me while at Target this winter. I saw they had a great deal on three books for only $15 in Arizona. One of the three books that I picked up was this one. It seemed like something that I would normally read and peaked my interest. As it turns out this was a great book to read and really kicked me out of some bad habits and bad frame of mind. Too little do we take for granted things in our life without realization.

The first thing that Ryan brings up before entering the first chapter is the difference between vice or virtue. I have found it important to realize which is which in daily life and to choose the virtues. Not all of life is so easy and sometimes it is too simple to take the easy choice. It is hard to see how something is going to benefit you when that is 5 years away, but that is what is going to be best for you and we need to realize when to make those choices and how.

Now that the first introduction into the main theme of the book has been made, I want to introduce the strongest points of the book to me. I will be going through the chapters and talking points and describing what really spoke to me and what I am now thinking about in my daily life. By using some of these methods in your daily life, you may see great improvements in all aspects of your mental and physical health.

Chapter 1

The chapters in this book are spread out and don’t follow the typical chapters you may be used to. Ryan splits the book into chapters but has many short excerpts located within each chapter.

The first chapters are centered around the exterior (your body). The first story is one that really resonated with me and dealt with the baseball player Lou Gherig. He was known for the most consecutive baseball games in history until Cal Ripken Junior. This is the first person that attributes the feeling of discipline. Lou was such a strong player and even stronger mentally. He was able to hold himself accountable for his actions and stop himself when he knew he was about to do something that he should not.

This is something that we should all do in our daily lives. We should be accountable for our own actions and know how they are going to influence the rest of our lives. He had great guidance and even stronger discipline.

This chapter taught me many things which I will summarize below:

• Always giving yourself what you want will never satisfy you. Sometimes you need to take a step back and tell yourself no. There will be another chance but just putting that second cupcake down will make the next one so much sweeter.

• This funnels into addictions and what Ryan titled as “Don’t be a Slave”. When reading this chapter all I could think about was being a slave to so many things in the world around us. Many people become slaves to drugs. Control your mind and your body will follow. It is so important to control yourself and not let it go.

• Distractions are too common in the world today and all around us. A good way to see this is by taking a good look at your desk at home or work. When I took a look at my desk at work and at home, I noticed so many things around me that could distract me or take away valuable work space. It is best to have a clear desk to do your work and get it done to the best of your ability.

• Show up to your life and the things that are going on around you. As quoted from the book, show up…

1. When you’re tired
2. When you don’t have to
3. even if you have an excuse
4. even if you are busy
5. even if you won’t get recognized for it.

• This next two parts of the book took me a second to think about because they were contradictory. However, I believe that if you use both of these correctly, they can be a great addition to your life. There are times in your life to go fast and get things done. What is the point of being lazy and not getting anything done? On the other hand though, you should take a break at times to think about what you are going to do. Overall, you need to slow down to think before you can begin going faster.

• To become really good at something, you need to have the discipline to practice it. No one became amazing at playing a certain sport or doing something in life just because they wanted to. These people had the discipline to practice what they were so interested in and became one of the best around.

One part of chapter one that really spoke to me the most was titled “Sleep is an Act of Character”. Most people would consider going to sleep at night as something that doesn’t take a lot of discipline but it does. It takes a lot to tell yourself that you need sleep so you can perform all of your duties the next day. Taking care of your body not only takes discipline but doing it is what sets you apart from the rest and can help your performance everywhere in life.

Chapter Two

This chapter dives more into the mind of the user and their thoughts. This will evaluate how you the reader feels on the inside and what you should be doing to enrich your mind and your body. This is very important because the mind is so closely tied to your body and how you feel during the day. Our mental emotions control how we feel physically. An easy example of this is when something happens in your life that makes you extremely anxious and you feel like throwing up. Though chapter 1 was very important for your mindset and how you attack life, I feel that chapter 2 may be even more important as it teaches you how to train and control your mind.

The main points and things to think while reading through this chapter to me are as follows.

1. Self-control is an important thing to have in life. This subject has already been touched on with chapter 1 but comes back up in the discussion of Winston Churchill. We must think before we act and have self control so things in life don’t go out of hand. By controlling yourself and your mind, you can attack what is in your life at the right time and not feel the consequences of your rushed/bad actions.

2. Knowing what the main task in your life is should be important to you. There is little reason to be going through life without thinking of your main goal. We work and do things in life for a purpose and you should keep giving yourself purpose. When you lose this purpose, you have little reasons to perform and little reasons to do things for the people around you. It is okay if that purpose is some monetary gain or for your family. Keep striving for something to keep you going.

3. Learn how to focus. This is one ultimately powerful thing to learn and something that has been hard for me to learn personally. Just the past few years I have been taking time to meditate. This is one place where focus is such a powerful thing. By taking time to sit down and clear your mind, you can prepare yourself for what else is in your day. Most people would think that meditation is easy because you can just sit down and do nothing. However, meditating is extremely difficult for your mind as you have to be able to clear your mind fully. This is the thing with focus; you must realize your task. You need to know what you are working for and what you are doing. Focus on what it is that you are getting done and accomplish it to the best of your ability. This will save you in your life, your job and your relationships if you can focus on the right things at the right time.

4. Most people would consider perfectionism as something that is good in life and that you should be a perfectionist. One of the most influential passages in this book was on how being a perfectionist is a vice. As explained by Mr. Holiday, perfectionism is an easy excuse to not get something done. Take and instance from my life where I am working on a research paper (senior year undergraduate electrical engineering). Consider that I am a perfectionist and work on this paper for a long time but never publish it because it “ins’t ready”. Well, it is never going to be ready because it will never be perfect. We need to accept the fact that things in life are not going to be perfect and they should be looked at by other people for improvement. Being a perfectionist isn’t a real thing and is just a way for someone to never get anything accomplished. I understand this is a harsh take on being a perfectionist, however, I feel it is imperative to think about it this way to really understand what it means. You are great, you are talented and you are intelligent. No one is perfect and by letting people in our life correct our REAL mistakes can assist us in so many ways.

5. Do the hard things first. By doing the hardest thing first at the beginning of the day you are eliminating it from the rest of the day. You no longer have to go through the rest of your day thinking about that thing you don’t want to get to. Doing the hardest thing at the beginning of the day can prepare you for what else may happen during the day. Now you can think while you do that other “hard” thing that you are so happy you at least have the other thing done. This doesn’t always have to be such a difficult task either. Maybe going to the gym is the hardest thing for you to get out to during the day, then take the time to do that thing first.

6. Little do we understand the power of silence. A great speaker does not only know what to say, they also know what not to say. They don’t only know when to speak, they know when to keep their mouth closed. These are so important and can help you in so many aspects of your life. From a work meeting to having drinks with your friends, you should understand what to do and when you should speak. There are times when keeping your mouth closed was the best move and would improve your quality of life. Be silent and control yourself, not only your mind, but your body too.

7. If there was one passage in this book that spoke to me the most, it would be this one. Respecting time is such a valuable thing in life. Not only respecting other peoples time but your own as well. Knowing what you can accomplish within a certain amount of time is important so you don’t make false promises or make it a detriment to your health. Also respecting other peoples time creates respect for yourself. When you have the set time to do something, you should and don’t break your promise. It means a lot to do things in respect to time because it shows discipline to yourself and the people around you. Controlling your time can also allow you to control your life and make sure you do things like go to sleep.

As you can tell, chapter 2 had lots of important information for controlling your mind and your life. By following these things in your life you can improve your own and the lives of the people around you. No one said that controlling your mind was easy but this is the next step to try and become a stronger individual.

Chapter 3

Chapter three just like the other chapters moves into its own version of discipline. While the first chapter was focused on the physical body and chapter two was focused on the mind, chapter three focuses on the soul. I would consider this, the soul to be a combination of our whole body. Everything from our mind to our legs to our tongue, our soul is really who we are.