Delphic Maxim #21

Maxim #21 – Cling to Discipline

Discipline may sound like it's hard. It is. No way around it.

And it's essential for achieving nearly anything worthwhile - success in your career, happiness, solid relationships, artistic pursuits, physical and emotional health, mastery of any kind.

It all starts with a decision to change something about your life. Yes,

some willpower is needed at first to get the ball rolling.

Over time, the new habits become ingrained and part of your identity.

Discipline becomes your natural state because you value the outcome.

You see where your hard work is paying off and that it's worth the price.

The rewards are self-control, self-confidence, productivity, focus, and immense satisfaction for achieving your goals.

Discipline is the doorway. Open it and see where it takes you.

The 147 Delphic Maxims [as cited by Stobaeus] are ancient guidelines and advice for living a proper and happy life. They are enduring and eternal in many aspects, although one must consider the times in which they were written and adapt the language accordingly.

They remain an important legacy of human history and continue to provide wisdom for the ages. The maxims live because they have been preserved, reiterated, and reinterpreted throughout the oral and written traditions of the Hellenic world – not as absolutes, but as living guidance.

Stobaeus was a Greek writer from about 500 A.D. Clearly a well-read scholar in his day, he managed to safeguard much of the prose and poetry of ancient Greece. To him we owe a great debt.

Download all the Delphic Maxims in a colorful PDF – click here.