Chapter 1. The Biological Basis of Self-Discipline

Noted author and speaker Jim Rohn once said, “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” Throughout your life, you can make a choice as to how you suffer; discipline is usually what keeps you from what you truly want.

Having self-discipline and willpower is the ability to do difficult or unpleasant things because those things are better for your well-being in the long run. That could mean waking up early to exercise when you would rather press the snooze button, or maybe resisting the temptation of a sugary snack that you know will result in an energy crash an hour later. Whatever you need to do in order to accomplish your goals and to be fulfilled, discipline will be a crucial skill in that process. On the other side of the spectrum, a life devoid of discipline is necessarily one filled with regret because nothing worth doing will ever come to fruition.

The focus of this book is to ingrain self-discipline and willpower as an unconscious habit to ensure that you can consistently achieve your goals and live without regret. Waking up five minutes earlier in the morning may not mean much on a daily basis, but there is a hugely cumulative effect that leads you to the path of success. Just like the athlete warms up and stretches her muscles before a race, self-discipline is a quality to be honed.

The Biological Basis of Self-Discipline

First, it is important to understand how self-discipline manifests biologically. Without understanding what causes, diminishes, or strengthens it from a neurological perspective, we are unable to act to benefit it. It would be like trying to treat a sickness without understanding what caused it. Pinpointing the physical origins of complex behaviors in the brain is a difficult and ongoing process for neuroscientists and psychologists. You won’t find the words “impulsivity” and “willpower” etched into specific places in our brains, nor is there an easy chemical hack for sustainably altering those functions.

It’s estimated that the average human brain has some 100 billion neurons—the tiny cells that travel through our brain circuitry to produce our thoughts and behaviors. That’s about the same number as there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and so it’s no wonder that scientists have only just begun to understand the connections between neurons and the outcomes they generate. Recent experiments have begun providing some clues about the inner workings of our minds.

Todd Hare and Colin Camerer in 2009 used functional magnetic resonance imaging machines, or fMRIs, in order to examine the brain activity that takes place when people are performing certain tasks requiring elements of discipline and self-control. Through this, they were able to see increased activity in a region of the brain called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex while the study’s participants were deciding between accepting a large monetary reward in the future or a smaller reward immediately—the classic struggle of delayed gratification and willpower.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—another region of the brain’s decision-making hub—was also shown to play a role when we are weighing our future and immediate options. There was a correlation between higher activity in this region and choosing options that had better long-term consequences—the larger but delayed monetary reward, or the healthier food item, for example.

These fMRI studies demonstrate that the ability to make healthier long-term decisions and engage in self-discipline comes more easily to some people than others as a result of the activity and structure of their prefrontal cortex. In other words, they were able to literally identify the areas of the brain responsible for discipline.

Why is this significant? Because of the concept of neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to constantly form and reorganize synaptic connections—we know that the amount of self-control somebody possesses is anything but static. The phrase “exercise your self-control” is an accurate way of thinking about your ability to be disciplined in the face of temptation, as that ability can be built up if you consistently exercise it by making healthier choices, and it can also be stripped down by constantly giving in to unhealthy pleasures. If you are the type of person that can never refuse donuts in the cafeteria, who struggles with maintaining a consistent exercise routine, or who simply wishes to quit bad habits or create good ones, this is refreshing news. You can improve and get better and you are not doomed.

A 2011 brain imaging study conducted by a team of 14 researchers re-examined volunteers who had participated as children in the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment—a famous study on delaying gratification that had been conducted some four decades prior and that will be covered in greater detail later.

The researchers found that those who were able to delay gratification in the original Stanford study had more active prefrontal cortices as well as key differences in the ventral striatum—a brain region linked to addictions—in their mid-life when they were trying to exercise self-control while enticed to make unhealthy choices. They were also uniformly more successful by almost all conventional means. These biological differences may have started out small, but were significant in later years.

Given our still limited understanding of the human brain, it’s impossible to say how much of your self-discipline comes from a genetic predisposition and how much of it is determined by your environment and upbringing. What we can say confidently is that wherever you began, it is possible to change and improve your self-discipline. Running exercises the legs; therefore, targeting the legs will improve fitness. It is the same with the brain areas identified in the various studies.

You shouldn’t feel discouraged if you struggle with self-control and discipline in your adulthood. It certainly would have been easier to learn those skills when you were younger, just as languages have been proven to be easier to learn when young, but that in no way makes it impossible to do so now. Self-discipline and willpower can be consistently exercised to achieve sustainable improvements over time. As with any skill, the more you practice being disciplined, the better you become at it.

These studies also provide fairly strong evidence against spoiling children. Always getting your way in childhood means that the brain structures that underlie discipline are neglected and underutilized, culminating in an adult that isn’t familiar with controlling urges and thinking about long-term consequences. You can imagine how this might play out in daily life.

Focus and Executive Functions

Focus is one of the main pillars of self-discipline; a person who lacks the ability to focus is almost certainly one who will also lack discipline. Focus itself is dependent on something that neuroscientists call executive functions.

The three executive functions that we are most concerned with when it comes to being disciplined are working memory, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility and adaptability. You can see why they are aptly named the executive functions. Your brain has to be able to set and pursue goals, prioritize activities, filter distractions, and control unhelpful inhibitions.

Together, these functions have been shown to take place in several brain regions including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex, in addition to the supplementary motor area and the cingulate motor zones. Just like with self-discipline and willpower, the association with specific brain structures means you can target and improve them specifically.

It’s clearly desirable to have more blood flow to those regions of the brain that are responsible for executive functions in order to improve and refresh discipline. For many years, meditation has been touted as a panacea for all sorts of problems, including a lack of focus and discipline. Somewhat surprisingly to the skeptics out there, studies have confirmed that the practice of meditation does indeed have a real effect. MRI scans were taken of volunteers before and after they participated in an eight-week mindfulness course, the results of which make a strong case for meditation being a useful tool for “strengthening” the areas of the brain that are responsible for executive functions, and thus self-discipline.

Moreover, meditation was shown to shrink the amygdala, which is generally responsible for the primal emotions, instincts, and drives that keep us alive. It is also the center of the “fight-or-flight” instinct, which heightens our arousal (for better or worse) in the face of a perceived threat. It’s the body’s alarm system. This means participants who meditated would be less susceptible to fear, emotional impulses, and stress. Self-discipline is often sabotaged by emotional impulses and stress, so keeping these under control is helpful to setting the conditions for willpower.

On top of that, the scans showed that the gray matter in the prefrontal cortex had become noticeably denser. The...