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Your Discipline Is Not a Superpower

It’s fear.

Serge Faldin
5 min readJul 22, 2020
Photo by Joey Nicotra on Unsplash

It was our second day in Nice. I woke up and smiled lazily in the sunlight. Immediately, I thought how great it would be to have coffee and pain au chocolat on the beach.

But not yet, I told myself.

First, I’ve got to complete my daily routine: run 10K and write 2,000 words.

After all, that was the rule I created for myself. And if I deviated from it, it meant I was bullshitting everyone — including myself — when I called myself a ‘disciplined person.’

Some things are just non-negotiable, I think, as I tie my shoelaces.

“Will you be back before breakfast?” my girlfriend asked, clearly irritated that I can’t give myself a break on a fucking holiday.

“I’ll try,” I say and walk out the door.

She doesn’t understand. This is my superpower. I am the most disciplined person alive.

As I run along the coastline of the Nice Promenade, I think about what I will write that day. I made it a point to write every single day — to learn how to write — and to build a following on a platform called Medium. I recently read in Haruki Murakami’s book that writing and running go well together. If it worked for him, it should work for me too. Plus, it’s hard to find two better vocations…

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Serge Faldin
Serge Faldin

Written by Serge Faldin

Honest thoughts. Unpopular opinions. Not necessarily true or smart. | Bylines: The Guardian, Truthout, Meduza, Prospect | Personal essays: sergeys.substack.com

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