My Pispective on Self-Discipline

(A pispective is where you write about something using 314 words)

One thing people say I'm good at is self-discipline.

'Discipline' is an interesting word. In the early Middle Ages it took on the meaning of chastisement or punishment. This sense overlaid the original meaning of teaching or learning.

The idea of being disciplined as a punishment emerged from the older idea of being given the order needed for effective instruction. In the late Middle Ages the word evolved further to give us the meaning of a particular domain of education. It took on the military connotation in the early modern period when 'training' on a mass scale became something important.

Putting the 'self' in front of 'discipline' gives us (roughly) teaching one's own person, or giving one's own person the order needed for instruction.

In this sense self discipline is the ultimate in specialization. Teaching yourself and bringing your own order to life is perhaps our purest form of expression.

But for years people would say I lacked self discipline. If they could see me now they might say how much I've changed. But I've not changed. It's just that I've stopped fighting the world.

When people don't follow the 'rules', it may not be that they need to get back in line. It may be that they have a better view of what's happening. Or that they see an entirely different situation.

It may in fact mean that they have imposed a greater tradition of learning or order on their lives. My insight from all this is I'm not so interested in everyone working as a team as I am with people getting clarity on their world view.

In the business world, too many of us take our thinking from the pages of HBR or our expensive MBA course. That just gets us in trouble. I'm looking for people who teach themselves and extend those lessons to the way they live their lives.