I made a comment earlier this week in Discipline Is Not a Last Resort that deserves closer examination:
“If ‘anything but discipline’ is your mindset to achieve a goal, set that goal aside until you’re mature enough to provide the discipline it requires.”
We rarely consider the role maturity plays in our discipline as adults. We almost exclusively think of maturity as it relates to young people. Past a certain age or general life stability, we don’t meaningfully talk about it.
But discipline absolutely requires a high level of maturity. The maturity to live by principles not preferences. The maturity to delay gratification not effort. The maturity to prioritize purpose over comfort. The maturity to choose higher standards over lower standards. The maturity to reinforce those high standards when no one is watching and when everyone is watching.
Once you see the relationship between discipline and maturity, you’ll recognize how people struggle with discipline not because they’re incapable but because they’re not mature enough yet to choose it and do it. You may recognize this in yourself.
Lack of discipline is lack of maturity. Increasing discipline requires increasing maturity. You may or may not be ready for that right now, but there’s no way around it.
Discipline waits on maturity.
Brick by brick. Do the work.
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