Damn, I have to get off my ass and launch <a href="http://www.rescuetime.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.rescuetime.com</a> so that people like this guy can see exactly how much this discipline gets him... (for me, having actual data to play with on this front has been huge)
It took me a while to realize he really did get "dessert" wrong. He's talking about the meal.<p>I kind of agree with the message, though. Kind of. I'm not sure if self-discipline is as genetic as intelligence, but I'm sure it can be exercised.
Self-discipline is a very conscious effort. But when one needs to be creative one needs to be operating out of the sub-conscious and the conscious mind. However, it seems a certain amount of distractions and randomness are needed for any truly great creative thinking. I think the goal is to balance the two. Therefore, if adding discipline to one area of your life might help it could be totally worth it, like how Einstein would wear identical clothing everyday to free his mind from the business of deciding what to wear...
His bit about sugar, and feeling better - that's become more accepted, that sugar is just bad for you. We didn't evolve with so much of it. It does bad things hormonally over the long run. See Kurzweil's 'Fantastic Voyage' or Shallenberger's 'Diabetes Breakthrough' for specifics.
"You exercise every day? That must take a lot of self-discipline!"<p>"You never strike your children? That must take a lot of self-discipline!"<p>It becomes right when you get past "self-discipline" and get to "that's just what I do".