Going through my independence-seeking years of late adolescence, I thought of discipline as a verb. The sense was someone was forcing you to do something–you were being disciplined. Discipline became a metaphorical straight-jacket where you were constrained. Your freedom was curtailed. You were at the mercy of someone else.
My favorite writer on living a life of simplicity, Leo Babauta, thinks of discipline as a set of habits (he recently published an ebook on habits, so it’s on his mind). I think there is a relationship between discipline and habits, but they are not the same thing.
What life has taught me is that you will accomplish very little without discipline. Practicing spiritual disciplines (before I knew they had been named) and then studying Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline) and Dallas Willard (The Spirit of the Disciplines) has led to experience and knowledge of the power of discipline.
But I don’t consider “self-discipline” the same thing as “will power” either. You can’t really force yourself into discipline.
Discipline rightly understood is the self-directed choice of certain habits that lead you toward a goal–and for most of us, the goal is that of a fulfilled life.
I’m thinking about this, because I’m developing a course on spiritual discipline. But not as an educational, mental, theoretical exercise. Rather more it would be a leading of people into understanding and practicing a life of spiritual discipline.
You could begin practicing right now. In fact, you may already be doing it. Maybe you just need to be aware so that you do it consciously. Some spiritual disciplines include prayer, meditation, study, service, worship.
Faith Venture 
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