Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Discipline

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Covey emphasises self-discipline. But we must be careful here. Self-discipline does not mean self-harshness, self-hating, self-loathing, or self-persecution. It is possible to practice "response prevention," that is, to resist the compulsion to be rude, to learn to hold your tongue, and your actions for increasing lengths of time, to give yourself mental space to allow alternate points-of-view to float into your mind, without being nasty or self-condemnatory to yourself. In fact, it is essential to learn the difference between restriction of self for the higher purposes that will benefit you in the long-run (an act of self-restriction aimed at giving you more pleasure over the long term), and simple self-shaming, which is something that a lot of people are good at! So self-discipline is not self-shaming. It is simply the practice of holding back for a few moments while you allow yourself to consider more options. (STEPHEN COVEY SEVEN (7) HABITS BOOKS: Click ON ME)