---
title: "If You Can't Even Be Self-Disciplined, How Can You Talk About Freedom?"
description: "Self-discipline is the foundation of confidence and freedom. From Steve Jobs to Li Ka-shing, successful people are known for their strict self-control. Without basic self-discipline, one cannot achieve confidence or freedom. The article emphasizes that managing desires and maintaining self-discipline are crucial for personal growth and success."
author: "菜刀少爷"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2017-01-06"
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---

# If You Can't Even Be Self-Disciplined, How Can You Talk About Freedom?

> Self-discipline is the foundation of confidence and freedom. From Steve Jobs to Li Ka-shing, successful people are known for their strict self-control. Without basic self-discipline, one cannot achieve confidence or freedom. The article emphasizes that managing desires and maintaining self-discipline are crucial for personal growth and success.

**1.**
It is said that Steve Jobs used to wake up at 4 a.m. every day in his youth and finish his day's work by 9 a.m. Jobs said: **Where does freedom come from? It comes from confidence, and confidence comes from self-discipline.**
Self-discipline is self-control, while confidence is control over things. First, learn to restrain yourself and control your life with a strict schedule, and only then can you continuously hone your confidence through such discipline.
We are all adults. If we can't even manage basic behavioral control, how can we talk about confidence, let alone freedom?
Former Chinese richest man Li Ka-shing is known for his diligence and self-discipline. His daily routine is very famous:
> No matter what time he goes to bed, he gets up when the alarm rings at 5:59 a.m.;
>
> Then, he reads the news and plays golf for an hour and a half;
>
> Then, he goes to the office and starts working.
**He has done this for decades without change. His self-discipline is almost self-abuse.**
The impressive people in my mind are all tough characters: they either abuse themselves or abuse others, or both.
Many business people manage themselves like professional athletes: sleep, diet, habits, hobbies, physical strength, desires, etc. If you achieve this, you are close to the door of being an "impressive person."
**A person who can control their mouth, move their legs, and insist on running every night will not be bad at work either.**
After starting work, I gradually discovered that self-discipline is the cornerstone of life: if you act on orders and stop on prohibitions, you easily get on track, find mistakes, fix them, perform better and better, and life becomes bright and full of energy. If you don't act on orders and don't stop on prohibitions, you easily fall into chaos, repeatedly fail and fight, repeatedly fight and fail, "knowing but not doing," feeling frustrated and guilty, and everything is a mess.
**Self-discipline determines the operation of your personal machine, your execution, and whether you can become a better version of yourself.**
**2.**
Steve Nash is my favorite NBA player. He is a thin white Canadian with severe back nerve problems, considered "the least talented basketball superstar."
Such a person won the "back-to-back" MVP: the Most Valuable Player for two consecutive seasons. Only ten people in history have done this, and the other nine are all-time greats like Jordan and Chamberlain.
Nash is famously self-disciplined: he avoids sugar, fried foods, and deeply processed foods. On training days, he eats six meals a day: oatmeal (gluten-free), almond slices, raw nuts, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, carrots, and raw celery.
He and his teammate Grant Hill encouraged each other not to eat chocolate or high-calorie foods. Hill would occasionally "be caught breaking the rules," but Nash was never seen to make an exception.
Nash recommended his diet to his teammates. As a result, the Suns' young players all became Nash's followers, imitating him step by step, and their performance improved dramatically. The whole team tried to follow Nash as much as possible: eating, drinking, sleeping, training, maintaining a healthy atmosphere...
Nash's success gives ordinary people a little hope: **If you don't have talent, you can never become Kobe or McGrady; but if you are diligent and self-disciplined enough, at least you have a chance to become Nash.**
**Talent is given by God; self-discipline is up to you.**
Tim Duncan is the evergreen tree of the NBA and the cornerstone of the Spurs. At 40, he just completed a high-intensity playoff series. Competing against him are players nearly 20 years younger, so you can imagine how amazing that is.
Duncan has become lighter through weight loss, maintains good physical condition, and continues to show his "Stone Buddha" nature. **Only regular training and strict self-discipline can achieve this.** Although he is old, the coach and management see his self-discipline and the professionalism behind it every day, which is why they keep confidence in him.
Ray Allen is one of the best shooters in NBA history. His whole-body shooting is unique in the league, requiring extreme muscle, explosive speed, and touch. Ray doesn't drink coffee and obsessively controls his diet. That's how he reached that level. Normal kids can't endure such hardship.
Novak Djokovic is the 2015 Wimbledon champion. After winning, he sat in the locker room and wanted to do one thing: taste a piece of chocolate. He hadn't tasted it since the summer of 2010.
> "I broke off a piece, a small piece, put it in my mouth, and let it melt on my tongue. I only allowed myself to eat that much."
To be number one, you have to pay such a price.
**3.**
Desire management is an important life skill and a quality to cultivate early.
From an emotional perspective, excessive desire will devour you.
Food and sex are great desires of humans. **Desire, along with original intention, should not be feared, but excessive desire will devour you.** From a life perspective, you must know moderation and not indulge desires wantonly. Don't believe it? Ask Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang.
**Indulgence is like a mountain collapsing, while self-discipline is like pulling silk from a cocoon.** **Don't indulge yourself, don't make excuses for yourself. Be strict with yourself. Over time, self-discipline will become a habit and a lifestyle. Your future self will thank your present self.**
Many people don't know the importance of cultivating the mind and use life pressure as an excuse to indulge desires. When young, striving to improve should be like clearing a yard, cutting away weeds and distracting thoughts, and focusing on personal growth. "Satisfy the belly, not the eyes" is the way to maintain inner happiness.
I don't want to be a slave to desire. I enjoy the state of not being controlled by desire. It's not exciting, but it's comfortable.
From a rational perspective, desire management can lower the threshold.
  * When I was a poor student, a meal at Sha County小吃 was delicious, and KFC was like New Year; when I grew up and earned money, even mountain delicacies and seafood might not arouse my interest.
  * In the 1990s, erotic descriptions in martial arts novels could make you blush; in today's era of rampant online pornography, you have no thoughts about women in real life.
Why is this? It's the threshold. Continuous stimulation raises the trigger point of desire.
People often say, "Suffering when young is not suffering, but a blessing." This is not just chicken soup; it has a logical basis: **Suffering when young is a joy of flying against the wind; suffering when old is the sorrow of a candle in the wind.** First bitter then sweet, you can recall the bitter and appreciate the sweet; first sweet then bitter, you can only weep and be depressed.
A certain degree of abstinence and self-control is necessary; it is an effective means to prevent the threshold from rising. Desire is endless; the extreme excitement of winning the lottery only lasts 18 months. The happiest way is to release desire little by little, matching desire with your reality:
  * Drifting in Beijing, sharing a rental → renting a big house alone → owning your own house → becoming general manager, CEO, reaching the peak of life... If the experience is reversed? That's a sad story.
It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality. The ancients did not deceive us.
**4.**
When I first started working, I didn't understand rhythm and was a workaholic whose time was filled with work. After studying time management, I found there was much room for improvement in work and life.
I tried making plans, keeping a diary, controlling attention, prioritizing important matters, finishing today's work today, tackling hard problems first, building my own time management system, balancing work and family...
Gradually, I began to step back from trivial mistakes, "step out of the painting to see the painting"; I began to have time to think about life and life goals; I began to feel "calm and organized"—the source of all this is self-discipline.
**The result of self-discipline is having more energy to do what you like.**
For example, writing a public account has brought me many unexpected joys. In fact, after setting up the structure, thinking through the strategy, and getting on track, this activity doesn't affect my normal life: when not too busy, I write a few paragraphs. It's like a time container, storing all the spare moments.
When I was in school, my self-control was poor, so I started researching methods to "cultivate habits." I used the methods I learned to cultivate many good habits, and gradually my life changed greatly.
I started keeping a diary in 2010, and I've maintained the habit to this day. After the initial adjustment period, all discomfort disappeared, and it became very natural. A few minutes of recording allows me to examine myself and calm my mind. It's not a burden or a task to be assigned; it's the driving recorder of an experienced driver's life.
A few years ago, I started "going to bed early and getting up early," from the initial "uncomfortable and unadapted" to now "naturally waking up at six every day." The benefits of getting up early are enormous:
> An extra two hours of pure time;
>
> Being able to eat breakfast calmly and well;
>
> Avoiding the crowded morning rush;
>
> Better lunch quality, less dinner, and more sound sleep...
**When your body becomes better and better, you face a different world. Self-discipline allows me to enjoy the good side of life.**
My life goal is freedom. It includes three dimensions: financial freedom, time freedom, and role freedom.
Thank this colorful and opportunity-filled era, making it seem not unattainable, but it requires more than a decade of intensive cultivation, continuous and stable positive accumulation, down-to-earth efforts, and unremitting self-discipline.
Self-discipline makes you free.
mrcaidao), Lao Cai's original study. Focus on entrepreneurship, professionalism, high efficiency, and internet finance. Please contact the author for reprinting.
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