Discipline is Irrelevant. Honestly.

I have argued — often, and without much apology — that discipline is irrelevant.

I stand by that. Mostly.

But there’s a but.

Here’s the thing about discipline. The moment you bring it up, everyone immediately pictures the same person. Up at five. Gym done before most people have found their phone. Bed made with military precision. Journal written. Cold shower taken. Day attacked.

We have somehow convinced ourselves that discipline is this monolithic, all-or-nothing character trait. You either have it or you don’t. You’re either the five AM person or you’re not.

Except that’s not how any of this actually works.

Look around — and look honestly. The colleague who is never late to a single meeting cannot remember the last time she went for a run. The guy who journals every single day without fail hasn’t washed his car since the previous government was in power. The person who hits the gym with religious consistency is somehow always behind on their email.

All disciplined. None of them disciplined in everything.

Because none of us are. Not one person walking this earth is consistently disciplined across every domain of their life simultaneously. What we actually have are pockets of discipline — specific behaviours, in specific areas, that have become automatic. We’ve just never said that out loud, so we keep measuring ourselves against a standard that literally nobody meets.

So if the problem isn’t the presence or absence of discipline — what is the actual problem?

Directionality.

Here’s where it gets interesting. And a little uncomfortable.

If you want to be a straight-A student and a serious athlete, that’s a legitimate ambition. Respect. But if you find that you’re disciplined about showing up to every single practice, every training session, every gym session — and somehow the studying keeps getting shuffled to tomorrow — then the discipline isn’t broken.

The direction is.

You are, in fact, a disciplined person. Brilliantly, consistently, reliably disciplined. Just pointed at the wrong target for the outcome you say you want. The energy is there. The habit-forming capacity is there. The follow-through is there.

It’s just going somewhere you didn’t consciously choose.

And that’s the part we never audit. We ask am I disciplined enough? when the more useful question is what is my discipline currently in service of? Because discipline without directionality is just very organised drifting.

The gym habit won’t get you the grades. The perfectly made bed won’t grow the business. The journaling won’t fix the relationship — unless, of course, those are the actual outcomes you’re after.

Discipline, unqualified and undirected, is just effort that feels virtuous. Discipline pointed deliberately at what you actually want? That’s a different animal entirely.

So before the next productivity book, before the next morning routine overhaul, before the next grand resolution about becoming a more disciplined person — ask the more honest question first.

Disciplined towards what, exactly?

Because you probably already have the discipline. You just haven’t checked where it’s pointed lately.

Everything teaches. Not everyone checks where it’s pointed.