The Art of Discipline

Discipline - My favourite topic and an Outperform core value! Like many others words, discipline gets diluted across different mediums and platforms because we are told that it’s something we cannot achieve success without. But what actually is it? How do we utilise it to help us gain success? Having spent over a decade of my life dedicated to one sport, i believe I qualify to explain just this. I have lived and breathed discipline for a lot of my life and demonstrated that when used in the correct way, it’s an absolute game changer. Once you learn how discipline works for you, it will automatically force greater habits and  greater results. If you want to separate yourself from others, discipline is the fastest way to do it and is without a doubt the biggest factor in winning or losing. 

So what is it? Discipline is defined as the capability to control your behaviour. It has many different meanings depending on which context it is used in. However the majority of descriptions involve controlling behaviours and following rules. When we read this, we automatically have a feeling towards those words. But from a personal performance standpoint, it involves making a decision to do what is right for you, all the time. You need to follow YOUR personal rules. Doing this enables you to take serving and governing yourself to a completely new place. It enables you to have total self awareness as well as rules by which you can operate, to make sure you do what is right for you. Time and time again i hear my clients saying that they need to be more disciplined, however it is not just something that you can switch on and off. Like anything that you want to be good at, you need to train yourself! You need to steadily progress into being disciplined otherwise you will no doubt quit before you start seeing results. You cannot go from being a couch potato to setting yourself the rule of doing 10 gym sessions a week. Progressive discipline is the best way to install habits, traits and habitual routines. 

When i was swimming i was moved into a national squad at age 13. I was younger than anyone and probably too young to be there, however my coach believed it was the right decision for me. When i moved up, i was expected to do 6 sessions a week when everyone else was doing 10. This irritated me greatly but my coach explained that it was all i needed to do in order to progress this season. After one year in the squad i then progressed to 7 sessions, then the next year 8 and so on until i was doing 10 sessions a week. Each year of my swimming career tested and developed my discipline further, as the more sessions that I attended the more I had to sacrifice. This allowed me to get better year on year because i developed the ability to block everything out and truly believed that nothing else mattered apart from my training. That is when you know discipline is embedded because nothing will stop you doing what you need to do. That’s when you know, no one operates at the same level as you! It’s habitual and part of you. It’s day in day out relentless activity, no matter how you’re feeling. 

So how do you develop this level of discipline? It can’t be learnt on a course, it takes years of practice and relentless implementation and application. 

I have summarised discipline into three  key areas, which can be applied to anything, and if you work on these continuously for the next few years and progressively over ten years (like i did) you will outperform everyone. However, as soon as you stop and fail to display these actions in a non controlled way e.g if its not a planned rest day, then you will undo everything and will essentially have to start again.

1- Activity level:

Most people think you have to go all out from day one. This is a terrible mistake.  Day one is getting into the mind frame of where you are and how you’re going to build from that. Don’t build too quickly, this needs to be controlled otherwise you will become overwhelmed, confused and demotivated. You need to plan manageable steps to do things one at a time and progress your activity, just as my swimming example demonstrated. If it takes you ten years to build a business that’s fine! The average life span these days is 90 years of age, so if you’re 30 now and it takes ten years to achieve your ambitions, you’ll still have 50 years left to enjoy it! Relax! Becoming an overnight success takes 10 years!

2- Expectation management. 

When i was swimming i always wanted to be as fast as the swimmers that were 5 or more years older than i was. My coach would often have to manage my expectation of myself. Just like with your activity level, if you expect to go from earning ￡20,000 a year to becoming a millionaire the next, you will become demotivated and quit as soon as things don’t go to plan. Manage your expectations and set yourself realistic time frames to achieve things by. Don’t set yourself up to fail before you’ve even started.

3- Relentless application

I’m not talking about short term application here, no change your life in 30 days bullshit that we often see people advertising. Discipline is not a short term thing. Whatever your activity level is and the time frame in which to achieve your results,  you need to put in the effort everyday for as long as you can and for as long as is necessary; this is what will separate you from others. To be relentless you need to be aware of why you’re doing what you’re doing and not let anyone or anything deter you from the necessary actions.  

Applying these key areas when working towards your goals will enable to you to progress to where you want to be. You cannot fail with relentless implementation and application! Don’t show up to be average, outperform everyone to live your best life.

For further information on becoming disciplined book a discovery call today. Outperform coaching offers a range of different platforms that enable you to be accountable no matter where you are in the world. With KPIs, calls and check ins, my clients all keep control of their activity levels, their expectations and their daily application! To see how i can help you too, book a call now!

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