"Only the disciplined ones are free in life..."

I've mentioned the Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge a few times in the past (see "Almost doesn't count, except in horseshoes and hand grenades" and "Blind taste tests and the universal laws of success").  The first time was in the context of his goal to try to be the first long-distance runner to finish a marathon in under 2 hours, while the second time focused on a concept from the book, The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success by  Albert Laszlo-Barabasi (the fact that performance is bounded, but success is not).  I have more to say on goals (and our level of motivation to achieve these goals, depending upon how close we are to achieving them), but for today's post, I want to focus on one of Kipchoge's great quotes.  Kipchoge, who is considered one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, gave a speech at the Oxford Union in England in 2017.  He said, "Only the disciplined ones are free in life. If you aren’t disciplined, you are a slave to your moods.  You are a slave to your passions. That’s a fact."

I've thought about Kipchoge's quote a lot lately.  I understand the self-discipline that is required to successfully train for a marathon, as I have run three marathons during the past 10 years or so.  I stopped running regularly about 2 years ago, which was not good for me.  For the past 6 months or so, I've been slowly building my endurance back up to the point where I can run three miles at a time and feel pretty good.  In order to save my hips and knees, I've committed to only running every other day.  I've learned that the discipline required to maintain my every other day running schedule is just as hard.  Discipline is important.

Kipchoge's quote suggests to me that true freedom - the kind that lasts anyway - comes from self-discipline and not from doing whatever we feel like doing.  If we learn to control our habits, emotions, and impulses, we are making a conscious decision and effort to stay focused on our purpose and our long-term goals, not on our moods on any given moment, which are temporary.  That is liberating in and of itself.  If we do not have self-discipline, we are controlled by our emotions and moods - even though we may feel "free" at first, the reality is that we are "slaves" to our emotions and passions.  We are no longer living our own best life.

Kipchoge's quote is a powerful reminder of why self-discipline is so important.  Breaking a good habit is worse than breaking a bad one.  It takes discipline to maintain good habits.