Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
The Power of Discipline summary
Daniel Walter
How to Use Self Control and Mental Toughness to Achieve Your Goals
14 mins
Brief summary
The Power of Discipline by Daniel Walter is a self-help book that explores the concept of discipline and how to cultivate it for personal and professional success. It provides practical tips and strategies for building discipline and breaking bad habits.
Table of Contents
The Power of Discipline
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Self-discipline
Your first step to success is knowing what your goals are and what you want to accomplish. Take a moment to think about what you want to achieve and then what you’ll need to do to achieve that. You’re going to need to put in some real effort if you really want to achieve those goals, right?
To stay on track and push yourself forward, what you need is great self-discipline. That self-discipline requires you to take full responsibility for your actions and persevere against any obstacles that might come your way.
Actually, having great self-discipline will help you to be successful in every area of your life – from helping you build better relationships to increasing your work productivity, and even to managing your finances.
Conversely, if you’re lacking self-discipline, you’re more likely to suffer from low self-esteem, have difficulty understanding what you need to be successful, and be unable to control your desires.
Self-disciplined people are more confident in themselves, too. They believe that they can achieve their goals. After all, if you lack confidence, how can you expect to accomplish anything?
So let’s look at how can you go about strengthening your self-discipline.
The part of your brain known as the prefrontal cortex is responsible for your cognitive behavior including cognitive flexibility, adaptability, memory, impulse control, and social behavior. This also includes self-disciplinary functions like prioritizing tasks, setting goals, and filtering distractions.
Studies have shown that activity levels in your prefrontal cortex are higher when you’re making beneficial long-term decisions rather than ones which would provide you with instant gratification. This is particularly interesting because, effectively, it means that self-discipline is an acquired skill.
When you focus on the cognitive functions we mentioned you exercise this part of your brain and strengthen your self-disciplinary skills. When you make better decisions and continue to do so, your self-discipline strengthens. But when you continually make poor decisions it diminishes.
It’s also possible there’s something else holding you back. We’ll find out what in the next section.
Want to see all full key ideas from The Power of Discipline?
Key ideas in The Power of Discipline
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is The Power of Discipline about?
The Power of Discipline (2020) explores the biological tendencies within our brains that determine our ability to control our self-discipline. It shows us how we can refine these tendencies in order to develop improved self-disciplinary habits and reach our goals.
The Power of Discipline Review
The Power of Discipline (2021) by Daniel Walter is an insightful book that explores the importance of discipline in achieving personal and professional success. Here's why this book is worth reading:
- Packed with practical strategies and actionable tips, it provides readers with the tools to implement discipline in their lives and reach their goals.
- Drawing from real-life stories and examples, the book demonstrates the transformative power of discipline, making it relatable and applicable to readers' lives.
- With its engaging narrative and motivational insights, the book manages to captivate readers, ensuring that it is far from boring and instead, inspiring and empowering.
Who should read The Power of Discipline?
- Anyone lacking some self-discipline in their lives
- Those who need to ditch their bad habits
- Goal-setters looking for advice on how to be an achiever
Categories with The Power of Discipline
Book summaries like The Power of Discipline
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
35 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth
The Power of Discipline FAQs
What is the main message of The Power of Discipline?
The main message of The Power of Discipline is that discipline is key to achieving success and reaching your goals.
How long does it take to read The Power of Discipline?
The reading time for The Power of Discipline varies depending on the reader, but it typically takes several hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is The Power of Discipline a good book? Is it worth reading?
The Power of Discipline is a compelling read that provides valuable insights and practical strategies for personal and professional development.
Who is the author of The Power of Discipline?
The author of The Power of Discipline is Daniel Walter.
What to read after The Power of Discipline?
If you're wondering what to read next after The Power of Discipline, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- Retrain Your Brain by Seth J. Gillihan
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol
- Living in Flow by Sky Nelson-Isaacs
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
- 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
- Help Me, I Have No Discipline and Zero Self-Control by Vaughn Carter