Militaristic Approaches to Instilling Self-discipline, According to a US Military Major

Ever built a daily schedule, starting with an early morning rise and an hour of workout in the gym— only to end up procrastinating and letting the whole day go to waste? No matter how much planning you’ve done, days just never go right. You feel unproductive and regretful about all the decisions you’ve made throughout the day.

Most of us would beat up ourselves with how “lazy” we are, and sure— some part of us being lazy might be true. However, what some do not know is that discipline itself is a skill. To be able to practice discipline effectively, you must start as a beginner, and one must practice it daily and deliberately before reaching an expert level— a level was waking up before dawn and working out daily are nothing but effortless habits.

And if anyone knows anything about discipline, it is the military.

In a 1993 monograph by Major Kevin S. Donohue titled “The Anatomy of Discipline”, he cited different techniques on how the military transforms regular people into formidable soldiers. These techniques are, fortunately, applicable to us normal humans, even without a drill sergeant screaming at us.
If you are someone who constantly struggles with self-discipline despite being self-aware, here are some of the military protocols you can employ according to Major Donohue.

1. Define discipline

Major Donohue defined discipline as a concept with two coexisting components: discipline B(ehavior) and discipline A(ttitude). Discipline B pertains to behaviors reinforced repeatedly through practice and constant obedience to rules. On the other hand, Discipline A focuses more on the psychological aspects of discipline such as self-initiative and core values, all of which are developed by constant practice of Discipline B.

2. Set clear personal standards

Discipline in the military begins with the basic training of the recruits. The first 10 weeks of the ‘plebes’ start before dawn, with the whole day following a rigid schedule. Not only do they follow these strict structures down to a ‘T’, but they also adhere to a certain code of conduct that ultimately rewrites their manners. These conducts even include something as small as their posture, the rhythm of their footsteps, or even how they greet their higher-ups. If not followed, the recruits would endure rigorous punishments that can only be described as torturous. Such high standards seem ridiculous to us civilians, but as stated in the document, this type of training drills one thought in the recruits’ heads: “to obey”.

Emphasis on obedience is very important in the beginning of disciplining yourself. In the military, men and women are taught to be compliant with orders, regardless of the physical and mental state that they are in or their opinions on said orders. One of the most difficult feelings to overcome as humans is the constant desire to rest; to neglect what must be done in favor of following your instinct of seeking comfort.

Drill sergeants force recruits to act in a disciplined manner, regardless of whether said recruits are disciplined or not. To go against procrastinating thoughts, we could begin with setting personal standards. Envision the type of disciplined person you want to be: What time do they wake up? What do they eat? How do they talk? List them down if you must.

3. Resolve the “clash of wills” within

Now that you have set personal standards, the hard work starts with upholding these standards. This step is, unfortunately, where most of us trip. In the monograph, this is named the “clash of wills”. Basically, we humans always have the will to be better, to do impossible feats, and aim to be the champions, but we mostly listen to the other will, the will to live in the comfort zone. The latter, since it is easier, is what mostly governs our decision. To overcome this, we must silence this instinct.

The disciplined person you envision when you created your personal standards is there, not only to be a role model, but also to be the authority you deter to. This is the essence of self-discipline, surrendering authority to the best version of yourself. If the standards you set are achievable, always believe in showing up for yourself, overcome the impulse to procrastinate, and dedicate time in completing tasks necessary to achieve your goals.

4. Leave no room for compromise

Following Pavlov’s classical conditioning, a certain behavior must be followed by an apt response. In this case, if you did not uphold a standard you had set for yourself, e.g. limiting your daily social media scrolling to one hour, it must be met with an appropriate punishment, such as cancelling your subscription to Netflix or deleting an item you “add to cart” in an online shopping website. With this, you are placing yourself in two positions, the recruit and the sergeant.

In the military, the soldiers uphold their standards mainly to avoid facing the consequences. If they are not equally met with these consequences consistently, the sergeants would risk sending a wrong message to their recruits, that their rules hold no weight in them. The standards you set for yourself would be nothing but pretty words and a daydream if they are not accompanied by consequences. Show up consistently for yourself regardless of how tired or lazy you feel, and if you fail even once, make yourself feel the ramifications of a wrong decision.

5. Check and self-reflect

As stated earlier, self-discipline is a skill. If you constantly find yourself tripping up in a certain routine, you might be playing in the league higher than you are supposed to. In the bootcamp, drill sergeants do not immediately subject their recruits to superhuman tasks, lest they risk those soldiers quitting and being insubordinate to them. There, in the first 10 weeks, soldiers are met with challenges that are hard yet achievable. The activities they are tasked to do build up at the same pace as their minds and bodies do. With this, not only are the bootcamps physically and mentally improving the soldiers, but they are also building their confidence in completing tasks, as well as gaining respect to obey their higher-ups.

As the drill sergeant of yourself, it is necessary to reflect on the areas you are setting yourself up for failure. Like what was said, if you continuously aim to do things before building up to it, you risk losing your motivation and self-subordination. It is important to track where you are and set your goals from there. For example, if you aim to wake up at 4 am but had been waking up at 8 am before, you should adjust your alarm a little closer to your usual waking hours and then build your momentum from there. The only time you aim for higher and better standards is when you are consistently achieving success.

6. Build consistent habits to transition to Discipline A

In the military, it is known that desired behaviors are continuously drilled, no matter what “rank” the soldiers reached. The level of dedication you had for improving yourself should not be let up, no matter how much you think you have achieved. Consistently uphold your standards until everything becomes second nature. This is because, as stated in the document, at this point, you are still working according to Discipline B, which would bring us to the last and most important step.

Major Donohue cited that there might be some observations stating that Discipline (B) could be enough to manage your army. However, he noted that soldiers who are only disciplined externally (meaning they are only doing things to avoid punishment) lack the standards that those who internalized discipline have. For discipline to be a part of your identity, the behavior needs to be a habit. The document goes on to follow Aristotle’s philosophy of being a virtuous man, beginning with doing virtuous deeds. Habitualizing such deeds would ultimately lead to it being a part of you. With this, it is important to continuously practice discipline until it becomes a habit, even if it would take you months or years to do so. Through habits, you would achieve Discipline (A).

Would a person who internalized Discipline (A) not get tempted to be lazy anymore? Of course not, because as stated earlier, the instinct of seeking comfort always remains inside us. However, if self-discipline had been a part of who you are, going against it would feel unnatural and against your character. At that point, punishment would no longer be external, as the feeling of disappointing yourself and going against your nature is heavier than any subscription cancellation would do.

The path to self-discipline would, indeed, require a huge amount of effort, but the benefits far outweigh whatever hardships you face during your journey towards it. In my opinion, self-discipline, the mastery of your own self, is the most important skill one can have as this is the key to mastering any skill. To end this all off, according to the words of Epictetus, “He who conquers himself, conquers all.” The first step to achieving any goal is to instill the discipline required to achieve it.