The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978, is Peck's best-known work, and the one that made his reputation. It is, in short, a description of the attributes that make for a fulfilled human being, based largely on his experiences as a psychiatrist and a person. Peck’s book begins with the statement "Life is difficult." Peck argues that life was never meant to be easy, and is essentially a series of problems which can either be solved or ignored. In the first section of the book, Peck talks about discipline, which he considers essential for emotional, spiritual and psychological health, and which he describes as "the means of spiritual evolution." The elements of discipline that make for such health include the ability to delay gratification, accepting responsibility for oneself and one's actions, a dedication to truth, and balancing. He described four aspects of discipline: 1. Delaying Gratification - sacrificing present comfort for future gains 2. Acceptance of Responsibility - accepting responsibility for one's own decisions 3. Dedication to the Truth - honesty; both in word and deed. 4. Balancing - handling conflicting requirements. Scott Peck talks of an important skill to prioritize between different requirements – bracketing. Peck defines discipline as the basic set of tools required to solve life’s problems. He considers these tools to include delaying gratification, assuming responsibility, dedication to the truth, and balancing. Peck argues that these are techniques of suffering that enable the pain of problems to be worked through and systematically solved, producing growth. He argues that most people avoid the pain of dealing with their problems and suggests that it is through facing the pain of problem solving that life becomes more meaningful. Delaying gratification is the process by which pain is chosen to be experienced before pleasure. Most learn this activity by the age of five. For example, a six-year-old child will prefer eating the cake first and the frosting last. Children will rather finish their homework first, so that they can play later on. However, a sizable number of adolescents seem to lack this capacity. These problematic students are totally controlled by their impulses. Such youngsters indulge in drugs, get into frequent fights, and often find themselves in confrontation with authority. Peck states that it is only through taking responsibility and accepting the fact that life has problems, that these problems can then be solved. He argues that Neurosis and character-disorder people represent two opposite disorders of responsibility. Neurotics assume too much re