The Discipline Equation
Predict whether you'll actually do something before relying on willpower.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Writing a chapter on time management, Bartlett hit hundreds of competing techniques and asked why so many exist if any of them worked. His answer: they all work if you can stick to them, and sticking requires discipline. He then reverse-engineered where he did and did not have discipline into a rough equation. Discipline equals how much the goal subjectively matters to you, PLUS the psychological enjoyment you get from pursuing it, MINUS the psychological friction and dissatisfaction of the pursuit. When Simon Sinek put the bins out despite hating it, the 'why' (overflowing bins, a fine) was high enough to outweigh low enjoyment and high friction. When the pandemic made Bartlett see health as the tectonic plate under everything he cared about, the 'why' for the gym became so strong it outweighed the friction, and he trained six days a week for three years. Crucially the equation is also weighed against your other priorities in finite time.
Origin
Bartlett developed the equation while researching time-management techniques for The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, tying discipline to the scarcity of time and the reality of death.
Core principles
- 01Any time-management or habit technique works if you can stick to it; discipline is the missing variable.
- 02Discipline is not raw willpower, it is a balance of incentives.
- 03The 'why' can outweigh low enjoyment and high friction on its own.
- 04In a world of finite time, disciplines also compete with each other for the calendar.
How to run it
- 1
State the goal's subjective importance
Ask how much this goal genuinely matters to you, not to anyone else. This is the first and heaviest term in the equation.
Pro tip An emotional trigger converts intellectual knowing into real knowing and spikes this term.
- 2
Score the enjoyment of the pursuit
Estimate how much psychological enjoyment you get from the act of pursuing the goal, separate from the outcome.
Pro tip If enjoyment is low, engineer it, e.g. hire a trainer whose job is to make the gym fun.
- 3
Score the friction
Estimate the psychological dissatisfaction, effort, and friction the pursuit costs you, including time.
Watch out High friction is normal; it only sinks you when the why and enjoyment cannot offset it.
- 4
Do the maths
Add importance and enjoyment, subtract friction. A positive result means the incentives point toward action; a negative result predicts you will not do it.
- 5
Weigh against competing priorities
Even a positive equation can lose to a stronger discipline in a day of only 16 waking 'chips'. Rank it against your other goals.
Pro tip This is why Bartlett 'knows' meditation is good yet still does not do it.
Watch out A favourable equation is necessary but not sufficient when time is finite.
In the wild
Bartlett failed to start going to the gym for 27 years, announcing the intention publicly and failing for three years. When the pandemic made him see health as the tectonic plate beneath his relationships, pets and businesses, the 'why' term became so large it dwarfed the friction. He has since trained about 82% of the time, roughly six days a week, for three years, and it now feels effortless.
→ A 27-year failure became a stuck habit once the why outweighed the friction.
Sinek admitted he hates putting the bins out yet got up at 8am to do it when he heard the truck. Bartlett showed the equation still balances: enjoyment is near zero and friction is high, but the cost of not doing it (overflowing bins, a fine) makes the 'why' higher than everything else combined.
→ A disliked chore still gets done because the why outweighs the friction.
Common mistakes
Blaming the technique, not the discipline
Chasing a new productivity method when the old one 'failed' ignores that the real gap was the ability to stick to it.
Expecting a good equation to win automatically
Even a favourable equation can lose to stronger disciplines in a finite day, so a positive score does not guarantee action.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone who 'knows' they should do something (gym, meditation, deep work) but cannot make themselves do it consistently.
Not ideal for
Goals that are genuinely misaligned with your values, where the honest answer is to drop them.
From the transcript
“Any of these time management techniques would work if you could stick to them.”
“how much that goal really subjectively matters to you plus the psychological enjoyment you get through the pursuit of the goal... minus the psychological dissatisfaction…”
“all of the disciplines are also competing with each other to get into the calendar.”
From the episode
Steven Bartlett: 9 Secret Habits of a Multi-Million Dollar Entrepreneur - Diary of a CEO
Steven Bartlett