The Five Ps of Discipline
- Jarred Curcio
- Apr 7
- 7 min read
Part 3 of an Ongoing Series on Becoming Consistent and Unfuckwithable
This blog post is part of an ongoing series on success, discipline, and becoming the kind of person who executes no matter what. If you are jumping in here, start with Parts 1 and 2 first:
Part 1: The Formula for Success
Part 2: Excuses Are Goal Killers
Two months ago, we broke down the Formula for Success and what it looks like in the real world.
Then last month, we analyzed what prevents people from following that formula.
Those things are called excuses.
In that post, we also walked through a practical tool, the excuse machine exercise, which helps you identify your excuses ahead of time so you can see them coming before they rear their ugly heads and sabotage your goals.
This week is Part 3.
We are going to take all those possible excuses and sort them into five categories that all excuses fall into. Then we are going to look at the five internal qualities that allow you to stay disciplined, stay consistent, and keep executing even when those ugly, demonic excuses show up.
I call them the Five Ps of Discipline:
Power
Presence
Perspective
Purpose
Planning
Here is the difference between this and the Formula for Success:
The Formula for Success is external. It is what you do. It is the steps you execute.
The Five Ps of Discipline are internal. They are who you become. They are the traits that keep you consistent when your brain starts negotiating.
The formula works every time, without fail, if you collapse enough time.
So if the formula works… why do people still fail?
Because excuses get in the way.
And discipline is what slays them.
The Mini Excuse List
Let’s make this real.
You have a fitness goal. You decide you are finally doing this for real.
You buy a gym membership. You even hire a coach or build a workout plan yourself. You have structure. You have a strategy.
Your commitment is simple: show up three days per week.
So why do you still miss?
What does it actually sound like in real life when someone starts falling off?
Here is a mini excuse list:
“I’m too tired.”
“I feel sick.”
“I’m sore, I should probably rest.”
“Something urgent came up.”
“I lost track of time.”
“I couldn’t get out of bed or off the couch.”
“I’m not seeing progress, so what’s the point?”
“This is taking too long.”
“I’m unmotivated.”
“My schedule was too packed, I couldn’t fit it in.”
Those excuses sound different, but they are not random.
They fall into patterns.
They fall into categories.
And once you can see the category, you can solve the real problem.
That is what the Five Ps of Discipline do.
The Five Ps of Discipline
For each P, I am going to keep it simple:
What it is
What happens when you do not have it
How you cultivate it
What happens when you do have it
Then over the next five months, I will break each one down in more detail.
1) Power
What it is:
Power is your personal energy and physical fitness, your vitality, your capacity to execute. It is staying healthy, staying energized, and staying optimized so that you are able to crush your day instead of dragging yourself through it.
What happens when you do not have it:
When Power is low, everything becomes way more difficult than it should be. Your day feels heavy. Small problems feel big. Excuses feel believable.
How you cultivate it:
Training, healthy eating, hydration, sleep, recovery, and routines that protect your bandwidth. Power is built through the basics done consistently.
What happens when you do have it:
You have momentum. You have force. You are harder to knock off course. You still show up because you have the energy to show up.
2) Presence
What it is:
Presence is focus. Awareness. Being right here, right now. It is the ability to execute in the moment without getting pulled into distractions or fairy tales in your head.
What happens when you do not have it:
You drift. You get distracted. You start reacting instead of executing. You “lose track of time.” You get sucked into other things. You look up and the day is gone.
How you cultivate it:
Meditation, awareness practices, single-task focus, removing distractions, calming the nervous system, and learning to return to the moment.
What happens when you do have it:
You do the right thing, right now.
And if you are doing the right thing right now, then you are always doing the right thing.
But the key is that you have to be here right now.
3) Perspective
What it is:
Perspective is your mindset. The meaning you assign to discomfort, time, and progress. It is the story you tell yourself when things get hard.
What happens when you do not have it:
You get dramatic. You get impatient. You interpret normal friction as failure. You quit early because results are not immediate.
How you cultivate it:
Gratitude. Reframing adversity. Growth mindset. Learning to see discomfort as the price of progress.
This is also one of the main things I help my clients with during our calls: maintaining the right perspective when things get challenging, and when the excuses start to pile up.
What happens when you do have it:
You stay in the game long enough to win. You stop quitting when progress is still loading.
4) Purpose
What it is:
Purpose is your why. Your mission. Your North Star. It is the deeper reason you are doing the work in the first place.
What happens when you do not have it:
Everything feels optional. You negotiate. You delay. You rely on motivation, and motivation is unreliable.
How you cultivate it:
Reflection, journaling, deep introspection, honest conversations with yourself, coaching, and getting clear on what you want your life to stand for.
What happens when you do have it:
Decisions get simple. It becomes easier to know what to say yes to and what to say no to.
Purpose makes motivation optional because you are connected to something bigger than comfort.
5) Planning
What it is:
Planning is the glue. It is how we fit all the things we have to do into the 24 hours in a day and the seven days in a week, in the 3D, 4D reality in which we exist.
What happens when you do not have it:
You squeeze things in and try to find time, which rarely works. You drift. You scramble. You fall behind. Decision fatigue piles up because you are constantly trying to figure out what to do next in real time.
How you cultivate it:
You prepare ahead of time. Weekly planning. Clear next steps. Task lists. Scheduling your workouts and habits into your calendar. Building a plan that works inside your real life.
What happens when you do have it:
You stop squeezing things in and you make time. You always have enough time because you decided in advance what matters and when it is happening. You stop guessing. You stop negotiating. You execute what you already decided.
Categorizing the Excuses Under the Five Ps
Now let’s take the excuses from earlier and drop them into the buckets they actually belong in.
Power excuses
These are the body and energy state excuses. They usually show up when someone is under recovered, under fueled, or just not used to operating through normal friction.
“I’m too tired.”
“I feel sick.”
“I’m sore.”
“Something hurts, I might be injured.”
“I didn’t sleep well.”
“I’m fried, I have no energy.”
“My body just feels off today.”
Presence excuses
These are focus and attention leaks. The plan existed, time existed, but you got pulled away, distracted, or reactive.
“Something urgent came up.”
“I lost track of time.”
“The day got away from me.”
“I got sucked into work and forgot.”
“I got distracted and it got too late.”
“I was overwhelmed and just froze.”
“I ended up scrolling or zoning out and then it was bedtime.”
“I had a million little things and never locked in.”
“I couldn’t get out of bed or off the couch.”
Perspective excuses
These are meaning-making excuses. The story in your head becomes the justification. This is where people quit early because they interpret discomfort or slow progress as failure.
“I’m not seeing progress.”
“This isn’t working.”
“It’s taking too long.”
“It’s too hard.”
“I don’t have what it takes.”
“I always fall off, so why try?”
“I already messed up this week, so what’s the point?”
“I’m too far behind to catch up.”
Purpose excuses
These are why and identity excuses. If the reason is weak, everything feels optional.
“I’m unmotivated.”
“It’s not that important right now.”
“I don’t even know why I’m doing this.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
“I’ll do it when I feel more inspired.”
“I’ve got bigger priorities.”
“I’ll get serious later.”
Planning excuses
These are structure and logistics excuses. The intention might be real, but the system is not.
“My schedule was too packed.”
“I couldn’t fit it in.”
“I didn’t plan my week, so it didn’t happen.”
“I didn’t have a specific time set.”
“I didn’t know what workout to do.”
“I didn’t have my gym stuff ready.”
“I had to run errands and it threw everything off.”
“I’ll go tomorrow when I have more time.”
The Point
Excuses will always try to show up. Even for disciplined people.
But when you cultivate the Five Ps, you stop treating excuses like unique emergencies.
You see them as predictable patterns.
And predictable patterns can be eliminated.
Over the next five months, I am going to break down each of the Five Ps in more detail so it becomes abundantly clear:
what it is
what happens when you do not have it
how to cultivate it
what happens when you do have it
Because discipline is not a personality trait.
It is a practice.
And it is the practice that turns you into the person who wins.
Quick Question
Which P has been the biggest challenge for you lately?
Power, Presence, Perspective, Purpose, or Planning?
Drop it in the comments.
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