The Joy of Discipline

Fred Rogers began each day the same way.

Awake at 5am. An hour of prayer and reflection. Off to the athletic club to swim laps. Weigh in after swimming (almost always 143 lbs).

He'd head to the TV studio where he'd record his show for millions of people.

Then a new routine would begin.

After the show, he'd take a nap, have dinner with his family and be in bed by 9:30pm. He’d wake up the next day, and start the process all over again.

This kind of relentless discipline would torture most people.

But it was precisely what turned Fred Rogers into Mister Rogers, the creator and face of one of the most impactful TV shows of all time.

Discipline carries a heavy connotation.

Hard. Rigid. Joyless. A necessary evil, an elusive enemy, a thing you want but can never quite sustain.

Just because this is a common narrative doesn’t mean it must be your narrative.

There’s a different perspective to be had here.

Discipline is also creativity, possibility, opportunity. It’s joy, energy, fun. It’s freedom, as Jocko Willink likes to say.

Discipline is a chemical element, a singular atom, a basic building block of success.

Perhaps one exists, but I have never met a high-performing person who didn’t build discipline into their days. How you develop and implement it is up to you, but develop and implement it you must.

Embrace the joy of a disciplined life.

Teddy is the author of The Process. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife and kids. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or X, or reply to this email.