Even Marcus Aurelius Probably Hit Snooze: What the World's Most Disciplined Man Teaches Us About Morning Struggles

We like to imagine Marcus Aurelius as the ultimate embodiment of Stoic discipline. The philosopher-emperor. The guy who meditated on mortality while managing an empire and fighting wars on the frontier. Surely he sprang from bed each morning with noble purpose, ready to serve Rome without hesitation.

Except... he probably didn't.

In Book 5 of Meditations, Marcus dedicates an entire passage to the internal argument he has with himself every morning about getting out of bed. And here's what stands out: people who naturally bounce out of bed typically don't write multi-paragraph justifications for why they should get up.

Here is the passage:

"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'

—But it's nicer here...

So you were born to feel 'nice'? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don't you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you're not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren't you running to do what your nature demands?

—But we have to sleep sometime...

Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you're over the limit. You've had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you're still below your quota. You don't love yourself enough. Or you'd love your nature too, and what it demands of you."

The Signs of Someone Who Actually Struggles

Look at the structure of Marcus's morning pep talk. He doesn't just say "get up and do your duty." He anticipates every single counterargument his brain might throw at him:

"But it's nicer here..."

"But we have to sleep sometime..."

This reads like the internal dialogue of someone who knows this battle intimately. He's likely not theorizing about the struggle to get out of bed—he seems to be documenting his actual morning experience. He even acknowledges that yes, staying under the blankets is nicer. He doesn't deny the pleasure of warmth and comfort.

What Marcus appears to have created is a pre-emptive argument against his own resistance. This doesn't read like philosophy for its own sake. This looks like a man building a tactical response system for a problem he faces regularly.

The Most Disciplined People Probably Don't Rely on Discipline Alone

Here's what's revealing about reading Marcus this way: even one of the most disciplined people in Western philosophy seems to have needed tactics, not just willpower.

His morning routine likely wasn't "be disciplined enough to get up." It appears to have been:

Recognize the resistance ("it's nicer here")

Redirect to purpose ("what I was born for")

Use comparative thinking ("look at the plants and bees")

Deploy logic ("you've had enough sleep")

Connect to self-love ("you don't love yourself enough")

That's not pure discipline. That's a system.

Marcus seems to have known something that modern behavioral science has confirmed: motivation is unreliable, but systems work. He probably couldn't count on feeling motivated every morning, so he appears to have built a reusable argument structure he could deploy when his bed felt too comfortable and his duties felt too heavy.

Why This Matters for the Rest of Us

If Marcus Aurelius—philosopher, emperor, Stoic exemplar—likely struggled to get out of bed, then our own struggles aren't character flaws. They're human nature.

The lesson isn't "be more like Marcus and power through." The lesson is "be more like Marcus and build better systems."

He didn't seem to shame himself for wanting to stay in bed. He didn't appear to rely on motivation or willpower alone. He seems to have built a repeatable mental framework that acknowledged the appeal of comfort while redirecting to purpose. He gave himself better reasons to get up than to stay down.

That's probably not superhuman discipline. That's smart self-knowledge applied consistently.

The Modern Version

We don't need to invoke our duty to the Roman Empire (though you're welcome to try). But we can learn from Marcus's apparent approach:

Don't fight the desire for comfort—acknowledge it and redirect it. "Yes, this is comfortable, AND I have things that matter to me today."

Build your argument in advance. Marcus seems to have pre-decided what he'd tell himself rather than waiting until he was groggy and warm to figure out why he should get up.

Connect to something bigger than the moment. Whether it's nature, purpose, self-love, or "what you were born for"—link the immediate action to a larger meaning.

The emperor who wrote about the shortness of life and the importance of each day likely still struggled to leave his warm bed on cold mornings. But he didn't let that struggle define him. He appears to have built a system to work with his human nature instead of against it.

That's not weakness. That's wisdom.

And maybe that's the real reason his words still resonate 2,000 years later—not because he was superhuman, but because he was probably honest about being human.

Tomorrow You applies this same principle—combining ancient wisdom about human nature with what behavioral science can now tell us about building systems that actually work. Because if Marcus needed more than willpower, the rest of us probably do too.