We often hear that we’re living in the information age. You have access to all kinds of content and information, and to all kinds of learning through free websites, blogs and videos. But saying we live in the information age doesn’t, unfortunately, mean we live in the age of knowledge.
That said, the truth is that we’re all very clear by now on the steps to follow to succeed in life, in business, in our finances… What’s more, we all know what needs to be done. So… why doesn’t it get done?
The truth is that if knowledge were the forerunner of success, most people would be successful. When people aren’t, despite having the knowledge they need, what we’re looking at is a failure to apply the knowledge they’ve acquired.
Knowledge is nothing on its own. Applied knowledge, however, is another matter. And that’s where discipline and consistency come in.
To put it another way, some people buy a good book by one of those excellent authors, such as Tony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within, published in Spanish as Controle su destino) or the Spanish author Francisco Alcaide (Aprendiendo de los mejores, “Learning from the Best”), and when they finish reading, they probably say: “Brilliant. Excellent content and excellent advice.”
But it’s like someone who wants to lose weight and is recommended a guide that says to exercise, cut out some foods and add others. If, after reading that advice and knowing what to do, they never put it into practice, they will rarely get results.
Constant discipline
Jim Rohn defined discipline perfectly, in essence, as our human awareness of the constant need for an action, together with a conscious act on our part to carry out that action.
If our knowledge and our carrying out of the action happen almost at the same time, we’re managing to be disciplined. If, on the other hand, a considerable time passes between the moment we have the knowledge and the moment we act, that’s called procrastination. And that is the exact opposite of discipline. In fact, it’s the antonym of success.
As Jim Rohn put it, success isn’t something we find; it’s something we attract as a result of the person we become.
Why is it so hard to put what we learn into practice?
Although we should include a psychological side of fear of risk and loss aversion, the truth is that it usually has more to do with a lack of discipline than with those factors. It’s lack of discipline that makes us afraid to do anything outside our comfort zone. Above all, lack of discipline means living permanently in a comfort zone that is very comfortable today but will bring regrets in the future, with the usual phrases: “if only I’d done it, if only I’d known”. Well, now you know, and you can start doing it.
It’s easier to turn on the television than to sit down and read a book, but the book opens up knowledge that will help you in the future. Television… depends on what you watch.
It’s easier to stay out late at a bar with friends than to go to bed early, and it’s certainly easier to get up at eleven in the morning than at seven to plan your day or do certain activities.
The problem is that easy doesn’t bring rewards. As the saying goes, “success depends on how many uncomfortable things you’re willing to do that few people are willing to do”.
Do it now. Not tomorrow, not next Monday. Start doing what you want to do now, with whatever means you have within reach. And do it as well as you know how.
See also: 5 keys to excelling at whatever you set out to do
But discipline must be a full-time habit. It’s no use being disciplined just this week. That’s where consistency in discipline comes in. Without consistency, there are no results.
And we have to be disciplined in small things as well as big ones. In other words, the discipline needed to make your bed every morning is the same discipline needed to succeed in business.
The discipline needed to be tidy at home is the same as the discipline needed to be organised at work. Whoever is untidy in their personal life is untidy in their professional life. Whoever is irritable with their family is irritable with other people too.
Discipline is needed to change bad habits or to take on a new one. It’s needed to change the way we think. It’s needed to learn any new skill, and it’s needed to succeed at work or in business.
And we can instil it in children from an early age. That’s why I always advise parents to forget messages like “taking part is what matters” or “it’s not worth finishing that, it’s too hard”. It isn’t true.
In adult life, taking part isn’t what matters. Winning is. Nobody goes to a job interview to take part. That person wants to be hired. Nobody sits down at a negotiating table thinking that taking part is what matters. They want to win the negotiation. That said, we also have to be disciplined so as not to fall apart when difficulties come. If you don’t get hired, keep looking for work. If you didn’t win the negotiation, learn the lessons and carry on.
When two people or teams compete, who gets told “never mind, taking part is what matters”? The loser. The winner hears “congratulations”.
Children and adults alike must learn to finish what they start. That’s discipline. If a child leaves a jigsaw half done today because they can’t manage it, tomorrow they’ll leave a book half read, and within a few years they’ll be giving up in the face of any difficulty life throws at them. That’s what happens to many adults.
In other words, a lack of discipline in the small things in life can take a heavy toll on the bigger, more important ones.
Ultimately, discipline means following a method. When we say an investor is disciplined, it’s because they won’t get carried away by market fluctuations. They won’t panic, and they’ll do the right thing: stick to their method.
Discipline is constantly doing small things, and doing them as well as possible, so that, without focusing on the result, there comes a time when the sum of our small actions ends up producing one.
See also: 7 lessons for success from the Navy SEAL commander who hunted down Bin Laden
Featured image: Alexas_Fotos, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
