Old Men Lack Stamina

... at least that's what I'm telling myself.

This purpose of this whole exercise, the one where I'm trying to take advantage of the Chicom Flu Quarantine, is to dramatically improve my self-discipline. I'm working to channel my inner Stonewall Jackson, as it were. Pushing myself to work on the MGB wiring is a means to this end, but the real goal is to become a better servant of Christ.

As I get older and through my time nursing first my father and then my mother to the end of life, I've realized that I'm running out of time to do something big. I've had some decent accomplishments in life and I know how long they take. I figure I've got time for one more. It needs to serve God. I lack discipline and that slows me down so here we are.

The lesson of the last few days is codified in Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, linked and reviewed below. The two addlepated intellectuals who, after writing the thing, had the courage to see it published anyway, tell us that as we grow tired throughout the day, our willpower declines. That's exactly what's happening to me. By 4 PM, I'm done. I might still be working, but my willpower is utterly gone. Pretty soon, a can has been popped and, on some days, we're off to the races.

Since I don't want to be doing that, the lesson here is to call it quits at 4 PM. I'm going to spend the time from 4 to 5 reading, praying, watching the daily Masses that several priests are posting on YouTube and otherwise laying around as an idle consumer of nourishing content.

Let's see how that works.

My Self-Discipline Book List

I have consumed a ton of audiobooks about self-discipline. Here's a quick list.

Winners

• No Excuses! A Brian Tracy book so that means it's excellent. It's read by the author which means you feel like a 3rd grader as you listen. I love that.
• Standing Like a Stone Wall. This is a biography of Stonewall Jackson. He's my inspiration for self-discipline. I have his photo up in my garage, next to one of Robert E. Lee. His whole life was a study in discipline.
• Atomic Habits. This is probably the best of the small-scale, practical books. It shows you how to first make use of the trigger-response-reward cycle by creating specific habits that occur under specific conditions. It then shows you how to stack habits to create much bigger ones by making the reward from one habit the trigger for another. For example, my new habit of coffee and journaling could trigger a follow-up habit of 5 minutes of prayer.
• Eat That Frog! Another Brian Tracy book. This one teaches you to do your hardest tasks first. It's great.
• Suffering Is Never for Nothing. This is inspirational. I've adopted one of her maxims already. "Do the next thing."
• Up from Slavery. This is the story of Booker T. Washington. Read it and you stop whining, guaranteed.

Flawed, Has Moments or Forgotten, Requiring Another Try

• Digital Minimalism. Hey, I forgot I had this one. I haven't heard it yet. I'll try it out today.
• The Power of Habit. This one is a scientific approach, describing how the brain forms habits. Breaking habits down into trigger-response-reward, it asserts that you need to keep the triggers and rewards the same, but learn a new response. Recognize your triggers and the reward you are trying to achieve and you can come up with a new route to get there. It's a bit too long, but has nuggets of wisdom.
• Make Your Bed. This is from a famous commencement address by Admiral McRaven. I think it's good, but overrated.
• Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography. Yes, I know all about the villainous parts of his life. Spare me your outrage. I also know of his redemption at the end of his life, something almost no one knows these days. All virtue posing aside, Forrest's life teaches one to find ways to win no matter the odds.
• The Fulfillment of All Desire. Another one I can't remember, but need to sample again.
• Better Than Good. Zig Ziglar is always a winner just for his voice and his stories. He's pure Mississippi corn, so don't say you weren't warned.
• The Power of Self-Confidence. Another Brian Tracy gem. This one might not belong on this list and probably repeats much of what was covered in the other two.
• Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. This one brought me two epiphanies. The first was that willpower wanes as you grow tired. I observe this all the time, but I don't take steps to deal with it. The second was just how stupid credentialed people can be. Two eminently lettered researchers combine to fill a big book with gasps of wonder as they "discover" things that were common knowledge before the modern American university system lost its mind. They mumble a bit about their surprise at finding out what people like Stonewall Jackson and Booker T. Washington knew long ago, but it doesn't dawn on either of them that their whole industry is intellectually corrupt.

Meh

• Self-Discipline: How to Build Mental Toughness. It's a lot of yelling at you, demanding you do everything at once.
• Self-Discipline: Develop Daily Habits. It's got some good bits, but it's very poorly written.

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Since you can't have a blog post without an image, so here are some orchids from my mom's garden. I'm sure she's looking down and smiling at them.

"Orchids, Mr. Bond."