Sunday, November 26, 2023

Discipline Is Power


They told him, "you need discipline." He replied, "thanks. Where do I get it?"

Literature and history are replete with examples of failed discipline. You know Aesop's story of The Tortoise and the Hare and the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, the latter who flew too close to the sun, melting his wings. Young readers learn how Pinocchio strayed and wound up a donkey on Pleasure Island. Only time will tell whether those who lived in the arc of Jeffrey Epstein will suffer from lack of discipline. 

In Spiderman, we hear the classic line from Peter Parker's uncle, "with great power comes great responsibility." 

We choose a path, illustrated by Ryan Holiday's "Discipline Is Destiny."

“Where the road diverged lay a beautiful goddess who offered him every temptation he could imagine. Adorned in finery, she promised him a life of ease. She swore he’d never taste want or unhappiness or fear or pain. Follow her, she said, and his every desire would be fulfilled.
On the other path stood a sterner goddess in a pure white robe. She made a quieter call. She promised no rewards except those that came as a result of hard work. It would be a long journey, she said. There would be sacrifice. There would be scary moments. But it was a journey fit for a god. It would make him the person his ancestors meant him to be.”

Discipline impacts influence or persuasion. The Greeks included ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion) to appeal to others. 

Discipline appears in our habits. It reflects how we think, how we communicate, and especially how we act. 

Disciplined people may delay gratification. They do what they don't what to do now with the expectation that it will allow them to do what they want, when they want at a future point. 

Disciplined people invest time instead of spending it. Alabama football coach Nick Saban describes it as "choice versus feeling."
 

Saban also explains discipline as "what you're willing to accept." 


In coachspeak, that defines "you get what you accept." Success demands "playing harder for longer" piggybacked upon skill, strategy, and physicality. All require discipline. 

I think discipline exists at an equilibrium or 'steady state'. In a given team ecosystem there is a level of inputs and results. The hope is that more or better discipline results in better outputs. 

Discipline doesn't come with guarantees. Bill Walsh's book title defines the hope, The Score Takes Care of Itself. His discipline embodied imposing a Standard of Excellence across an entire organization. 


Lagniappe. Success is a system of self-belief translated into actions. 

 

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