I Found the Formula for Self-Discipline (Literally)

How much discipline do you have? Self-discipline is one of the MOST valuable skills you can have - and this rare US Army report reveals an exact formula we can use to get more of it.

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The Army turns thousands of regular men and women into disciplined soldiers each and every year - and this paper details exactly how discipline is built. "The Anatomy of Discipline" is a monograph written by Major Kevin S. Donohue for the United States Army Command in 1993. And if anyone knows about discipline - its the military.

This video will not only change your understanding of discipline - but it will give you a formula that you can start using today to build more discipline in your own life. This is life-changing information and I hope that you find it as illuminating as I did.

Timestamps:
0:00 - How To Build Self Discipline
1:21 - Defining Discipline
2:19 - Two Categories of Discipline
2:45 - Discipline B (Bootcamp)
4:40 - How Discipline is Built
5:50 - Resolving the Clash of Wills
8:20 - How to Become Disciplined
11:39 - Our Formula So Far
14:00 - Discipline A
17:04 - The Formula for Self-Discipline
19:16 - Discipline is the Most Valuable Skill

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[skypaver]

to quote the iconic movie Barbie Princess Charm School, "Trying once is easy, discipline is hard, but nothing can defeat me if the change is in my heart"

[JaneSmith-bdpj]

Hi there, as a current soldier and sergeant, I would like to bring this back to reality a little.

We are disciplined so hard in bootcamp to serve and protect the citizens of the United States. This requires strict training and rigorous standards because without it, one boot could, in the future, get hundreds or thousands of fellow military members killed.

We are trained in this way to follow our leadership, good or bad. We have no space for questioning or giving feedback. It’s for uniformity and power in dominating the enemy.

We are yelled at to learn how to handle loud noises (gun fire, machinery, etc) on the battlefield and to keep going, and not freeze up from the overwhelm. We are expected to yell back because whispering in a war zone can get people killed. If you don’t yell back to your drill sergeant you will either: 1. Be yelled at until you fall into a heap on the floor, or 2. Be yelled at until you yell back “Yes Drill Sergeant” to your DS at an acceptable volume to them.

Bootcamp sucks on purpose because war is utter hell, and it gets you to a point where you can “embrace the suck”. You turn off the part of you that feels anything to just get through it, and achieve your mission. Because you have NO other option.

I have gotten way more disciplined in my life but it has a lot to do with the mental shift I learned to make in bootcamp. I turn off any feeling or thought of what else I want to do, and trudge on. It’s definitely a “I’ve been through bootcamp or X deployment or X mission, so I can probably handle this, ” mindset.

Essentially, you get good at numbing out.

It’s super helpful, but not necessarily needed to build daily new habits like cleaning your room. I suggest following this video up with discussing Cognitive Dissonance Theory and the multiple experiments done on the importance of internalization (wiki it). That’s how you can instill change more easily into your psyche. Yelling at yourself like a drill sergeant is kinda dumb.

Also, I respect Jocko and his service to our country. He’s aspirational. But don’t think you need that level of discipline to achieve your goals. Seals, Green Berets, any other special forces team, eat sleep and breathe their training. They have to be that disciplined because they’re going into the most dangerous situations where they need the most qualified and trained team. And they can sacrifice a LOT (mental health, physical health, their LIVES, their marriages, seeing their kids grow up) for this training. You don’t need his 20-25 years of discipline garnered from Seals training to lose 50lbs or fix your finances.

The truth? The military is amazing at breaking down complex goals into very, tiny, daily tasks. We at times only did 1-2 types of training exercises each day, but over the course of months, that builds up to us becoming good at our job, or shooting a weapon, etc.

If you wanna, say, lose 50lbs using this “military discipline method” in a healthy way, I would:

1. Create an actually attainable goal (SMART goal, if you will)
2. JUST PICK ONE GOAL. We have ancient wiring, we oftentimes cannot focus on 1-2 longterm goals at a time. Stop trying to do it all at once. You have your whole life, chill out
3. Get super clear on why you want the goal. Stop lying to yourself if you feel you are about why you want something. Be real.
4. Get super clear on why you have failed previously. Don’t say you don’t understand why you haven’t lost the weight but order fast food 3x a week. Stop lying to yourself.
5. Conjure up every possible way your life will improve from accomplishing the goal.
6. Conjure up every way your life will continue to suck if you stay the same way. I also encourage you to just sit in that space for awhile. That practice scared me enough to move forward in the direction of my goals.
7. Figure out every single possible step it would take to get to that end goal, break it down into the most finite of steps you possibly can. Then take your steps and break them down further.
8. Only focus on specific way you’re going to work towards your goal at a time. For example, wanna lose weight? Cool, what’s the junkiest food you eat that you will miss the least? Stop eating that. Then work up from there. Do you want to work with your doctor to get a weight loss medication or procedure? That’s awesome, good for you to be honest with what you need to succeed. But you need to call to schedule an appointment first.
9. Condition your mind, everyday, that you love working towards your goal. Your conscious mind is the drill sergeant telling your subconscious (the new boot) that you love broccoli, broccoli is amazing, everyone up in your mind loves broccoli. Your subconscious will eventually agree. “I really want M&M’s drill sergeant.” Nope. We eat broccoli here, and we love it. You tell yourself that for 8 weeks, you’ll likely not hate broccoli anymore.
10. Work the plan.

The military has taught me to not BS. Any goal that’s achieved just takes some combination of the steps I mentioned above. We’re not magic people with magic training or magic teachers. There’s no such thing as that. Stop looking for it. No one is gonna save you but yourself, so get on it.

[storqe]

Retired military here and I can tell you that without someone else to keep you accountable it can be hard. The reason that bootcamp/basic training is 2-3 months is because it takes that long to establish the habit.
Either get someone who will hold you accountable or set up some things to make you.
* Get an alarm clock mat that you have to stand on to shut off or put a regular alarm across the room so you have to get up to shut it off.
* set your phone to remind you to go to sleep at a good time every night
* set up daily habits for your health and do them even in small amounts if you’re pressed for time
- clean, exercise, meditate
* start small and build up

[zakaryreilly]

I've been to boot camp and have been a soldier for 15 years. The most important thing I can bring to this conversation is that discipline can degrade over time, it needs to be practiced on a regular basis. I'm currently trying to get my discipline back. Thank you for the video!

[nadyanymph]

"Training yourself to obey your own rules" <33 - Will def be using this personally and in my personal training!

[legitlyspelunking]

This! This is why my golden rule is always, "go do the thing even if you feel like shit. If you still don't like it once you get there, then you can leave. But always show up." You get a boost for pushing through, and you come to understand yourself until being disciplined becomes part of you, like you said. I really liked your analogy of being both the good soldier AND the good sargeant. Definitely sharing this video, I know lots of people who need to hear this message!

[scarlet]

You're one of those creators who when I see you've uploaded, I usually drop whatever else I'm watching.

[karyssaexplainsitall]

“How much respect do you have for your own word?” Thank you for that line!

[mewslie]

This is a lovely outline for developing self-discipline.

I would like to point out an important difference in the process implemented by the US Army report and learning self-discipline by yourself. When you're first starting out, instead of punishing yourself when you couldn't follow through, realize that the failure was from drill-sergeant-you which gave the order. Especially when you're starting out, you don't have a clear idea of your limits, you might not know enough about your motivators, and you're inexperienced with taking into other factors that make things more difficult than anticipated. Drill-sergeant-you should be taking notes on what recruit-you can handle and adjust accordingly until both parts line up. Once you have a better handle on yourself, you can be more strict with following through without wiggle room.


Having self-discipline is well worth the effort as it is such a self-confidence boost to know that, above all else, you can rely on what you've set out to do because you've built that trust within yourself.

[growing]

1:50 self discipline 2:04 Training urself to obey ur own rules 2:24 discipline b a 3:19 yelling
3:40 Structure Scheduled 4:05 4:15 Obey Orders4:53 5:45 Behavioral reliability 6:04 Resolving clash of wills6:18Greatness vs mediocrity6:32Power 7:06 higher self 7:35 *Show up & perform no matter how u feel

8:26 Standard Rules
8:47 Uphold Standards9:30Zero Compromise9:52dg
10:15*Follow ur Rules & Take them Seriously10:50^Sgt
11:31 Build 11:57*Create Orders that you'll only follow 12:26 Eroding all bark no bite 13:24*Keep Training to the point its Habit

14:00 Disciplined Habit to Disciplined Attitude
14:40 *Control from within over & over again15:19Arist 16:30 17:13 *Summary 17:48 bed 18:36*Build up routine lifestyle 19:10 &Be on guard on weakness & lazy behavior 19:41 *Force yourself & Just Do It

[sobanoodlegamer]

I havent been able to be as disciplined as I want until I got medicated for my ADHD. Now discipline is finally within my grasp if I apply myself. Before it was actually impossible. Even if you held a gun to my head sometimes tasks would overwhelm me and I would shut down. So bad I used to sit in one spot waiting to be able to start a task for as long as 3 hours, crying and wondering why I could not apply myself. But it was a total block. I am grateful to have a non stimulant med that helps me handle tasks.

[karsenschafer-junger]

getting out of a live in relationship with someone who was wildly controlling and finally being able to control my day to day routine, i find pride in making my bed everyday, getting in exercise daily, eating a well balanced diet, flossing everyday (silly but now i can’t go without it), wearing a retainer, reading daily, praying daily, etc. so much confidence comes from setting these standards and upholding them!

[AnMayable]

I'm crying because this video hit me really hard. I stopped in my losing wight process and I disappointed myself, and I want to be back on track.

[claraIbrahim]

thank you for all your videos kiana you’ve actually changed my outlook on life and i’m canadian too so i relate a lot to you (and i’ve lost a significant amount of weight as well) and watching your videos doesn’t make me feel like i’m wasting my time rather learning a lot and bettering myself ANYWAYS, thank you!! :)

[FreePigeon]

Wouldn't fly in the military but I've found a journal is really good for keeping me accountable to my past self.

[DieselGlori]

This was so cathartic, I have built a disciplined lifestyle over years and experiencing daily fulfillment, peace of mind, joy, and better self management in the process…these standards and my lifestyle have slowly eroded with my new partner and some career moves and I have been feeling so down and disjointed, at times depressed from the deviation of my structure and the uphill battle to restore it- I want and NEED the elements of my previous life for lack of a better word but it’s been a challenge getting buy-in from my partner or support in maintaining the structure. Not consciously of course, consciously they are supportive but in practice and habits not so much.
Anyway I’ve been feeling like I’m dying and i couldn’t explain why such an extreme reaction, now i kinda get it. I achieved the first kind of discipline and existing in insubordination to it.
Time to say eff everyone and return to what makes me well
Things will have to shift

Thanks for the perspective

[MarvinPowell]

It's hard for me to stay disciplined because I've realized I always set up goals for myself that are too difficult or too extreme, like going to the gym 2 hours a day, six days a week, so I always end up failing. So I think that one of the most important things I've learned here is to start small and slowly build up more easy goals over the course of a year. Thank you so much for this video! I'll be adding it to my Favorites playlist and watching it more than once!

[MarlopolyGaming]

Honestly whenever I see videos of people being yelled at by army officials it makes me cringe, as someone who thrives on positive encouragement rather than avoidance of the negative.

When I did my first ever sporting event (orangetheory Dri-Tri) it was a constant berage of "YOU CAN YOU CAN!! YOU ARE ALMOST THERE YOU'RE DOING SO WELL!!" and I was on FIRE. I was determined to please, to make them proud cause they believed in me. I came 3rd place, after a childhood of being the kid that sat out of PE class.

On the contrary, I have had negative reinforcement shouted at me in my life as a form of "encouragement" and "discipline enforcemtn" and all it does is is make me go "you know what you're right, I AM a piece of shit and I CAN'T do this so fuck you stop asking". It's like, unless I'm being praised, I cry at best or snap back at worst. One of my core memories is doing cross-country and one of the PE teachers said "What are you doing?!?!?! you're nearly in last place!!!" and my response was immediate anger, and I stopped running, and purposely came complete last place.


My boyfriend has been the best thing for my health (physically and mentally) and growth cause he *always* says he believes in me. He believes I can. Whereas growing up, I was constantly ridiculed and told I couldn't. Told to give up before I even started. Nearly everything I did was met with negative reinforcement, and it discouraged me completely.

TL;DR: I'd be kicked out the army in a week cause I shut down unless I have positive reinforcement cause I have no drive to prove people wrong, only to prove them right if they say they believe in me. I couldn't imagein anything WORSE for my mental health and discipline than military training

[Emi-clrt]

The moment you said "formula" I'm like OMG give this to me. I'm someone who for some reason can't do anything consistently unless I have a schedule or formula or something logical to grab onto and guide me. Btw Kiana, your videos are awesome. You disappeared from my recommended feed for a long time for some reason, but I just found you again!

[Bunn.B]

Okay so watching more, this is actually great advice and how I finally forced myself to keep my fitness regimen going longer than two weeks. I have to forcefully shut the part of my brain up that wants to stop. Every time I want to quit, I imagine a trainer yelling louder at me, holding me accountable to keep going, that they won't let me stop. I don't know why I don't do this for the other parts of my life. I'm gonna read the document.