Hard Work Is Inevitable, Self-Discipline Is Imperative
Our needs will drive us to work hard, self-discipline is necessary for reaching and maintaining goals
Hard work is inevitable because our innate needs, as described in Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs [1], will push us to do so. In contrast to wants, our needs coerce us to satisfy them because unmet needs cause us pain. I will discuss why hard work is inevitable and describe how self-discipline is paramount in helping us achieve our goals and hold on to our successes.
Hard work is inevitable
Our basic needs of food, water, security, and safety are at the bottom of the pyramid. Not meeting them may cause us to feel anxiety hence pushing us to work extra hard. Remember how stressful it was when you were looking for your first job after college and the relief you felt once you got your first paycheck? Over time, as the job stabilizes, it may become mundane, forcing us to seek higher-order needs.
Once our survival is secured, we seek the psychological needs for relationships, friendship, respect, and prestige, which may manifest as a feeling of something missing from our lives. Consequently, they drive us to pursue dating and relationships. This effort is in addition to maintaining productivity at work.
Again, once we settle down in work and family life, we may go through a crisis where we feel that we are not living to our full potential. This is called the need for self-actualization. This need for self-actualization and growth is an endless iterative journey.
The catch is that going higher in the pyramid does not relieve our responsibilities associated with maintaining our lower-level needs. For example, we perform family and work duties and maintain a healthy lifestyle while pushing ourselves to write a new article for Medium every couple of days. Over time, motivation for such mandatory tasks can become more unreliable, but they are necessary to prevent our marriage and health from deteriorating.
Self-discipline is Imperative
Self-discipline is essential so that we can consistently perform our duties and responsibilities, and also seek growth. Work, family life, relationships, maintaining health, etc. are like a job with deadlines and responsibilities that must be addressed consistently, and adding the need for self-actualization makes it even more difficult. Prioritizing self-discipline has the following motivations.
The carrot associated with thinking of self-discipline as freedom
A disciplined approach enables us to reach higher potential through consistent effort. For instance, waking up at 6:00 a.m. regularly can help us extract time from our busy schedules to progress with writing a new article.
Discipline is Freedom — Jocko Willink
Essentially, self-discipline gives us freedom to pursue our goals of growth and self-actualization, moving us up the pyramid.
The stick associated with Self-discipline necessary for survival
It gives us the crucial drive to consistently get done with our duties and obligations even when we don’t feel like doing it, thus keeping us from sliding down the pyramid. It is well known [2] that when we anticipate losing something valuable, it increases our stress levels and motivates us to prevent the loss.
People will take greater risks to avoid losses than to achieve gains. That’s called Loss Aversion. — [2]
For instance, the most effective way I was motivated to maintain a lifestyle of regular exercise, avoiding sugar, and eating healthy, despite all the temptations to do otherwise, has been because of the fear of developing diabetes and all the associated complications, which are endemic to the modern society. My motivation for having six-pack abs, building muscle, or participating in races and events, did not last very long. I believe that once we recognize the cost of breaking self-discipline, we will naturally get motivated to maintain it.
Final Thoughts
Even though maintaining consistent self-discipline can often be painful and harsh, it is necessary to persevere and grow. In a life filled with hard work, struggle, and failure, self-discipline helps us survive difficult times, eliminate unnecessary effort, and be productive. I hope that internalizing the above arguments will make us naturally driven toward choosing actions aligned with self-discipline.
References
[1] https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
[2] Voss, Chris; Raz, Tahl. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It (p. 127). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
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