Where Does Discipline Come From?

In the almost-six years that I’ve sustained a daily fitness practice, one of the most frequent comments I’ve heard is:

You are so disciplined. I’m not that disciplined to sustain a daily practice.

Where does discipline come from, and how can you get it?

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary modern definitions of discipline include

• control gained by enforcing obedience or order
• orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior
• self-control

We typically use discipline to mean the effort required to do the things we know we should do, but that we don’t really want to do, or that we lack the energy to do.

It’s no wonder that we struggle to find discipline for those things.

Here’s where discipline comes from:

The word discipline comes from the Latin disciplina, which means “instruction given, teaching, learning, knowledge,” also “object of instruction, knowledge, science, military discipline.” It is also related to discipulus “pupil, student, follower”, which is a pre-cursor to disciple.

The root is discere, which means to learn.

This is where discipline comes from.

Not from self-punishment, but from self-education.

When you stay connected to the benefits of the activity and what you enjoy about it, and when you view it as an opportunity to learn something new, you find your “discipline.”

Please share: How does this change your view on the things you believe you need more discipline to do?