“If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.”
—Napoleon Hill

“Amateurs practice to get it right, professional practice not to get it wrong.” Unknown

“Modern Man is the victim of the very instruments he values most. Every gain in power, every mastery of natural forces, every scientific addition to knowledge, has proved potentially dangerous, because it has not been accompanied by equal gains in self-understanding and self-discipline.” Lewis Mumford (1895 - 1990)

Discipline
The simplest and easiest definition of discipline is creation of a corporate or personal habit.

Let’s talk about a corporate habit first since it is the least understood but vitally important. My experience has taught me that small companies get to be big companies because they figure out want works and create measurable, repeatable, and predictable processes (habit) so the same behaviors are being performed daily. Most consultants who do process work usually do not look at it from a behavioral perspective. It is defining what behaviors you want an individual to perform and then putting a process in place to ensure it happens the same way each time.

This is the same a defining a company culture. A culture is understanding what makes a company successful and ensuring that knowledge is passed to the next generation. This is done through the creation of a habit; a measurable, repeatable, predictable habit. 

The same concepts that are used to create a corporate habit can be used to create a personal habit. There is one major difference. In creating a corporate habit there is accountability build into the process. If things do not work, someone is held accountable to address the issue.  This is not always true in creating a personal habit. Who holds the business owner accountable to ensure they are doing what they are supposed to do?

The biggest challenge with being disciplined is understanding the difference between an effective habit and an efficient habit. Effective is doing the right things. Efficient is doing thing right. Many of have efficient habits that are no long effective. We should always strive for effectiveness. When we create an effective habit, there will be the right amount of efficiency.  After we know we are doing the right things we should then strive to be more efficient.

Let me give you a personal example. For years I worked out regularly. I stopped because of some serious injuries. After I stopped exercising, I did not change my eating habits and I gained weight. This caused some problems with sleeping, joint problems and various others aliments. I was very efficient in my eating habits for a person who worked out three times a week. My eating habits were not very effective for my new life style.

I needed to create some new habits. I purchased a bike and ride it regularly; three times a week. I have reduced the amount of carbohydrates I eat. I go to bed at a regularly scheduled time and I track (focus on results) everything I do in relationship to my weight. I track how long I exercise, the day and time. I weight myself daily. I call my accountability coach weekly to discuss progress or lack thereof. I track this because I know what I focus on is what I attract. It also allows me to understand what is or is not working.

The same thing applies to a corporate habit. Are the employees doing the right things, performing the right action? Are all employees doing things the same way (repeatable)? Are the outcomes always the same (predictable)? Are all functions being managed for effectiveness (measurable)?

Think of disciplines as nothing more than a habit.

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