Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. He spent much of that time at war on the northern frontier, and in the evenings he wrote notes to himself in Greek. He never meant them for us. The notebook survived anyway, and we call it the Meditations.
What makes it worth reading isn't that an emperor wrote it. It's that he struggled with the same things you do: getting out of bed, staying on task, keeping his temper, doing the right thing when the easy thing was right there. Book 1 ends with a note of where he was writing: "Among the Quadi at the Granua." Book 2: "This in Carnuntum." These were army camps. He was writing about self-discipline in the middle of a war.
Below are seven lines on discipline, all quoted from George Long's 1862 translation (public domain; the old "thou" and "thy" are his). Each comes with a plain reading and one way to use it.
1. Get up
"In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being." (Meditations 5.1)
The most powerful man in the world didn't want to get out of bed either. He goes on to argue with himself: was I made "to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?" His answer is no. You were made for work worth doing.
Use it: Decide the night before what the first real task of the morning is. When the alarm goes, don't negotiate. Say the line, get up, start the task.
2. Do the thing in front of you, fully
"Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice, and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts." (Meditations 2.5)
Discipline isn't only about doing hard things. It's about giving your full attention to whatever you're doing right now. Marcus says this brings "relief." He's right. Half the strain of a day comes from thinking about everything except the task in hand.
Use it: Pick one block of work today and do only that. Phone in another room. When your mind drifts, bring it back without scolding yourself.
3. Do fewer things
"Occupy thyself with few things, says the philosopher, if thou wouldst be tranquil. ... For the greatest part of what we say and do being unnecessary, if a man takes this away, he will have more leisure and less uneasiness. Accordingly, on every occasion a man should ask himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things?" (Meditations 4.24)
Most men don't lack discipline as much as they lack focus. They're doing twelve things at sixty percent. Marcus's test is simple: is this necessary?
Use it: Look at tomorrow's list and cross off one thing that isn't necessary. Not delay it. Cross it off.
4. Stop waiting to start
"Thou sufferest this justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day." (Meditations 8.22)
This is Marcus catching himself in the oldest dodge there is. Tomorrow I'll start training. Tomorrow I'll have the hard talk. He doesn't let himself off. If you're suffering for it, he says, you've earned it, because you chose tomorrow over today.
Use it: Name the one thing you've been putting off to "tomorrow" the longest. Do the first ten minutes of it today.
5. Mind your own conduct
"How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only to what he does himself, that it may be just and pure." (Meditations 4.18)
A lot of wasted energy goes into watching other people: what they're getting away with, what they think of you, whether they're doing their share. Marcus points you back at the only person you control.
Use it: Next time you catch yourself keeping score on someone else, ask instead: what's my part, and am I doing it well?
6. Stop talking about it
"No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such." (Meditations 10.16)
You can read about character, listen to podcasts about character and argue about character online, and still never practice it. Marcus had read more philosophy than almost anyone alive, and this is the note he left himself. (It's also the line behind our Be a Good Man tee, in its popular modern wording.)
Use it: Pick one virtue you talk about often. Honesty, patience, generosity. Do one concrete thing today that shows it, and tell no one.
7. The two-line test
"If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it." (Meditations 12.17)
This may be the shortest code of conduct ever written. There's no fine print. It doesn't say "unless everyone else is doing it" or "unless it's a small lie." It's a test you can run in a second, before you act and before you speak.
Use it: For one day, run every decision and every claim past these two questions. Notice how often you'd have bent it.
What ties them together
Read these seven together and a pattern shows up. Marcus never talks about motivation. He doesn't wait to feel like it. He talks about choice: getting up, attending, cutting, starting, minding your own conduct, acting rather than talking, refusing what isn't right or true.
That's what discipline is. Not a mood. A series of small choices made the same way, again and again, until they're who you are. Marcus put it another way elsewhere: "Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts" (5.16).
Keep the line close
The reason Marcus wrote these down is that he forgot them. Everyone does. The fix is to put the line where you'll run into it. Write it on a card. Tape it to the mirror. Or wear it. Our Stoic t-shirts carry a few of these lines, including If It Is Not Right. Whatever you use, the point is the same. Read the line. Then do the thing.
If you want a month of this, one line a day with one task tied to it, our free guide, 30 Days of Stoic Discipline, is waiting when you join the Warband.
Source: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. George Long (1862), Project Gutenberg #15877. Section numbers follow Long's edition.
