Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday (English) Hardc

Description: Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday The instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller!In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.To master anything, one must first master themselves–ones emotions, ones thoughts, ones actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever.In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism.At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Ryan Holiday is one of the worlds bestselling living philosophers. His books, including The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Stillness Is the Key, appear in more than forty languages and have sold over 10 million copies. He lives outside Austin with his wife and two boys ... and a small herd of cows and donkeys and goats. His bookstore, The Painted Porch, sits on historic Main Street in Bastrop, Texas. Review "Ryan Holiday has helped bring the ancient teaching of Stoicism to millions of readers—from athletes and politicians to CEOs."—GOOD MORNING AMERICA"A brisk and absorbing read."—ANNIE DUKE, bestselling author of Thinking In Bets "A powerful case for the virtues and values that leaders must live by in the modern world."— ADMIRAL JAMES STAVRIDIS, former NATO 16th Supreme Allied Commander"Well-meant advice for making positive life choices."—KIRKUS REVIEWS Review Quote "Ryan Holiday has helped bring the ancient teaching of Stoicism to millions of readers--from athletes and politicians to CEOs."-- GOOD MORNING AMERICA "A brisk and absorbing read." -- ANNIE DUKE, bestselling author of Thinking In Bets "A powerful case for the virtues and values that leaders must live by in the modern world." -- ADMIRAL JAMES STAVRIDIS, former NATO 16th Supreme Allied Commander "Well-meant advice for making positive life choices." -- KIRKUS REVIEWS Excerpt from Book Part I The Exterior (The Body) Our body is our glory, our hazard and our care. Martha Graham We begin with the self-the physical form. In St Pauls first letter to the Corinthians, were told to keep under the body, and bring it into subjection, so that we will not be made a castaway. The Roman tradition, according to the Stoics, was about "endurance, a frugal diet, and a modest use of other material possessions." They wore functional clothes and shoes, ate off functional plates, drank moderately out of functional glasses, and committed earnestly to the rituals of ancient life. Do we pity this? Or admire it for its simplicity and dignity? In a world of abundance, each of us must wrestle with our desires, our urges, as well as the timeless battle to strengthen ourselves for the vicissitudes of life. This is not about six-pack abs or the avoidance of all that feels good, but instead about developing the fortitude required for the path we have chosen. Its about being able to go the distance, and steering clear of the blind alleys and mirages along the way. If we dont dominate ourselves physically, who and what does dominate? Outside forces. Laziness. Adversity. Entropy. Atrophy. We do the work, today and always, because its what were here for. And we know that while it might seem easy to take it easy and more pleasurable to indulge our pleasure centers, in the long run, it is a far more painful route. Ruling Over the Body . . . He played through fevers and migraines. He played through crippling back pain; pulled muscles; sprained ankles; and once, the day after being hit in the head by an eighty-mile-per-hour fastball, he suited up and played in Babe Ruths hat, because the swelling made it impossible to put on his own. For 2,130 consecutive games, Lou Gehrig played first base for the New York Yankees, a streak of physical stamina that stood for the next five-and-a-half decades. It was a feat of human endurance so long immortalized that its easy to miss how incredible it actually was. The Major League Baseball regular season in those days was 152 games. Gehrigs Yankees went deep in the postseason, nearly every year, reaching the World Series a remarkable seven times. For seventeen years, Gehrig played from April to October, without rest, at the highest level imaginable. In the off-season, players barnstormed and played in exhibition games, sometimes traveling as far away as Japan to do so. During his time with the Yankees, Gehrig played some 350 doubleheaders and traveled at least two hundred thousand miles across the country, mostly by train and bus. Yet he never missed a game. Not because he was never injured or sick, but because he was an Iron Horse of a man who refused to quit, who pushed through pain and physical limits that others would have used as an excuse. At some point, Gehrigs hands were X-rayed, and stunned doctors found at least seventeen healed fractures. Over the course of his career, hed broken nearly every one of his fingers-and it not only hadnt slowed him down, but hed failed to say a word about it. In another sense, hes almost unfairly famous for the streak, which overshadows the stats he accumulated along the way. His career batting average was an unbelievable .340, which he topped only when it counted, hitting .361 in his postseason career. (In two different World Series, he batted over .500.) He hit 495 home runs, including twenty-three grand slams-a record that stood for more than seven decades. In 1934, he became just the third player ever to win the MLB Triple Crown, leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs (runs batted in). Hes sixth all time with 1,995 RBIs, making him, effectively, one of the greatest teammates in the history of the game. He was a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star, six-time World Series Champion, Hall of Famer, and the first player ever to have his number retired. While the streak started in earnest in June 1925, when Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp, a Yankees legend, in reality, his Herculean endurance could be seen at an early age. Born to German immigrants in New York in 1903, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive infancy. He entered the world a whopping fourteen pounds, and his mothers German cooking seems to have plumped him up from there. It was the teasing of school kids that first hardened the determination of the young boy, sending him to his fathers turnverein, a German gymnastics club where Gehrig began to develop the powerful lower body that later drove in so many runs. Not naturally coordinated, a boyhood friend once joked that Gehrigs body often "behaved as if it were drunk." He wasnt born an athlete. He made himself one in the gym. Life as a poor immigrant was not easy. Gehrigs father was a drinker, and a bit of a layabout. Its more than ironic to read of his fathers chronic excuses and sick days. This example shamed Gehrig, inspiring him to turn dependability and toughness into nonnegotiable assets (in a bit of foreshadowing, he never missed a day of school). Thankfully, his mother not only doted on him, she provided an incredible example of a quiet, indefatigable work ethic as well. She worked as a cook. She worked as a laundress. She worked as a baker. She worked as a cleaning lady, hoping to provide her son a ticket to a better life. But the poverty, the poverty was always there. "No one who went to school with Lou," a classmate recalled, "can forget the cold winter days and Lou coming to school wearing [a] khaki shirt, khaki pants and heavy brown shoes, but no overcoat, nor any hat." He was a poor boy, a fate no one would choose, but it did shape him. There is a story about Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, who, as he walked through Athens on a cold day, had his thin cloak blown open by a gust of wind. Observers were stunned to find he had little else on underneath, despite the frigid temperatures. Slowly, they burst into applause at the sheer endurance of it. So it went with Gehrig, who, even as his Yankees salary made him one of the highest-paid athletes in America, was rarely seen in a hat or even a vest in New York winters. Only later, when he married a kind and loving woman, could he be convinced to put on a coat-for her sake. Most kids like to play sports. Lou Gehrig saw in the game a higher calling. Baseball was a profession that demanded control of, as well as care for, the body-since it was both the obstacle and the vehicle for success. Gehrig did both. He worked harder than anyone. "Fitness was almost a religion to him," one teammate would say of him. "I am a slave to baseball," Gehrig said. A willing slave, a slave who loved the job and remained forever grateful at just the opportunity to play. This kind of dedication pays dividends. When Gehrig stepped up to the plate, he was communing with something divine. He stood, serenely, in a heavy wool uniform that no player today could perform in. He would sway, trading weight between his feet, settling into his batting stance. When he swung at a pitch, it was his enormous legs that did the work-sending the ball off his bat, deep, deep, out of the ballpark. Some batters have a sweet spot; Gehrig could hit anywhere, off anyone. And when he did? He ran. For a guy who was teased for having "piano legs," its pretty remarkable that Gehrig stole home plate more than a dozen times in his career. He wasnt all power. He was speed too. Hustle. Finesse. There were players with more talent, with more personality, with more brilliance; but nobody outworked him, nobody cared more about conditioning, and nobody loved the game more. When you love the work, you dont cheat it or the demands it asks of you. You respect even the most trivial aspects of the pursuit-he never threw his bat, or even flipped it. One of the only times he ever got in trouble with management was when they found out he was playing stickball in the streets of his old neighborhood with local kids, sometimes even after Yankees games. He just couldnt pass up the opportunity to play . . . Still, there must have been so many days when he wasnt feeling it. When he wanted to quit. When he doubted himself. When it felt like he could barely move. When he was frustrated and tired of his own high standards. Gehrig was not superhuman-he had the same voice in his head that all of us do. He just cultivated the strength-made a habit-of not listening to it. Because once you start compromising, well, now youre compromised . . . "I have the will to play," he said. "Baseball is hard work and the strain is tremendous. Sure, its pleasurable, but its tough." Youd think that everyone has that will to play, but of course, thats not true. Some of us get by on natural talent, hoping never to be tested. Others are dedicated up to a point, but theyll quit if it gets too hard. That was true then, as it is now, even at the elite level. A manager in Gehrigs time described it as an "age of alibis"-everyone was ready with an excuse. There was always a reason why they couldnt give their best, didnt have to hold the line, were showing up to camp less than prepared. As a rookie, Joe DiMaggio once asked Gehrig who he thought was going to pitch for the opposing team, hoping perhaps, to hear it was someone easy to hit. "Never worry about that, Joe," Gehrig explained. "Just remember they always save the best for the Yankees." And by extension, he expected every member of the Yankees to bring their best with them too. That was the deal: To whom much is given, much is expected. The obligation of a champion is to act like a champion . . . while work Details ISBN0593191692 Short Title Untitled 1699 Language English Year 2022 ISBN-10 0593191692 ISBN-13 9780593191699 Format Hardcover Publication Date 2022-09-27 Imprint Portfolio Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2022-09-27 NZ Release Date 2022-09-27 US Release Date 2022-09-27 UK Release Date 2022-09-27 Pages 352 Series The Stoic Virtues Series Author Ryan Holiday Subtitle The Power of Self-Control DEWEY 179.9 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:137209517;

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