Another despised word nowadays is discipline.
Yet that’s a word that needs to live. And I hope we don’t lose it—either in etymology or in practice.
Its fuller definition involves much more than putting a child in a timeout or sending a teen to the principal’s office. Discipline, in its truest form, is an activity that improves a skill. Success in business requires discipline. A gold medal hockey team is disciplined in its performance.
The challenge as an author is to sell discipline when modern publishers want you to put hip twists on things. Bestselling books are ripe with quick fixes, and, although the benefits of discipline are big, they are seldom felt immediately.
“Discipline—ugh!” an editor e-mailed me recently. “That’s your grandfather’s word. Discipline connotes pain. Can’t you find a better way to say what you mean?”
I pushed back on his counsel. The word might be stodgy, even pejorative, but I’m a fan of the word myself and of the concepts behind it.
Here’s what I mean. Sure, discipline involves pain. It’s not always comfortable or convenient. But pain is inevitable in life. And every man must pick the pain he’d rather have.
You either pick the pain of DISCIPLINE.
Or you pick the pain of REGRET.
You either pick the pain of DISCIPLINE.
Or you pick the pain of REGRET.
There are no other options.
Consider the following:
· Discipline wakes a man at 6:30 a.m. to go for his 2 mile jog. It’s cold outside and dark, and he’d rather stay in bed. Sure, that’s painful.
or
· Regret lands him in the hospital at age 52 from a heart-attack.
· Discipline permits a man to let a stupid driver fly by him unimpeded on the freeway. Sure, it grates on a man’s ego. Hey—that louse needs to be taught a lesson. It takes restraint and a cool head to not floor it, swerve around that muttonhead, and flip him the bird.
or
· Regret lands both drivers in the morgue.
· Discipline installs filtering software on man’s computer. It’s inconvenient, sure, and might slow the computer. It might be embarrassing to explain why you want to safeguard your integrity like that.
or
· Regret sees a man’s self-respect disintegrate and his marriage fall apart.
Catch my drift? In this day and age of lighthearted masculinity and short-range living, it’s not popular anymore to advocate discipline. But you can’t avoid pain. You can only pick the one you want.
One pain is preemptive. The other operates in hindsight.
One pain moves a man forward. The other sets him back.
One is wise. The other is foolish.
Discipline: it’s a perfectly good word. Better than regret.
I say leave it in.
Question: What’s an example of a discipline that seems costly at the time, but in the end actually reaps big results?
10 comments:
I'm with you, Marcus. We need the word discipline. And it's interesting that our culture might see it as a 'grandfather' word given what other word comes from that root.
Plus, we need more respect for the lessons of the past, and we need to cleanse the attitude that says our grandparents' words are bad. We've thrown out a lot of babies with that old bathwater.
Hopefully the editor was indicating the word "discipline" is overused and not the concept. Hard to imagine what the editor was thinking of as an alternative. A day doesn't go by where the need for discipline doesn't come up in a multitude of ways. Exercise, healthy eating, saving money, studying, applying yourself, etc.
More often than not, our grandfathers were on to something that's timeless. This is one of those times.
Thanks Rosslyn and Kaylee.
That may have been it from the editor, that the word itself is overused.
But I think he was more saying "aim only for the benefit" in the book--and he saw discipline only as a downer, something to be avoided.
I'm with you here, too--all for keeping that baby in the bath. :)
Hmmm. Seems like if you mention the benefit, you'd want to include how the benefit was achieved. Doesn't seem like a downer to be reminded that good things don't just happen. It's more of a motivator.
Interesting post. Funny, it seems that the word "discipline" is used quite often, but I haven't heard or read the word for a very long time. And yet, every day we seem to deal with it. I think it can be used in many examples, like the exercise, saving money and studying that was mentioned here by Kaylee..all these things went through my mind as well while reading the post. These are just examples of every day things that are clearly a form of discipline.
Another one I think of, has to do with "Karma". If you're nice to other people, you will receive the same treatment, at least, that is what I believe, and what I have experienced so far. In some situations, that might take discipline, but in the longer run, I am sure that only good things will come out of this.
Hey Yuri, nice to see you around here. very nice post of you to marcus great blog entry!
I must agree to every point Yuri mentioned. You deal with decipline every day. It is like obeying rules. Some are written down, and some are 'well know' in the society, like being on time or behaving when you are eating in a restaurant!
T
I agree with Yuri's theory on karma and being nice to people. Using discipline in general seems to bring about good karma in addition to the positive results that are a direct result of the discipline.
why does the series 'My Name is Early' come to my mind...
I'm also reminded of this principle: "A man reaps what he sows..."
Great comments everybody. I love it when people come back a few days later to the posting and comment then, too. Shows some good thinking is going on.
"You either pick the pain of DISCIPLINE. Or you pick the pain of REGRET."
What a great sentiment. That resonates deeply with me.
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