The 21 Laws of Leadership: How to Develop the Qualities of a Leader

Chapter 20 Self-discipline: Before becoming a leader, learn self-discipline

Self-Discipline
The first, and most important victory, is over yourself.

- Plato, philosopher
A man who has not the quality of determination can never be a man of his own...he is but a doll at the mercy of circumstances.

—John Foster, author

Great achievement comes from self-discipline

The road to the top will eventually be bumpy.Few people can be regarded as the best in their field, and even fewer are "recognized as the best of all time", and Jerry Rice (Jerry Rice) has done it.He is recognized as the "historical No. 1" of football receiving forwards, and his multiple records are the best evidence.

Anyone who knows Rice will say that he was born to play football: He has amazing physical attributes, and he has everything that every coach expects from a player.Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh said, "I don't think there's anyone in the world as physically fit as Jerry Rice." But that alone wasn't enough to make him successful.The real secret to his success is his self-discipline.He practiced non-stop, day and night, and no one in professional football had the discipline to do it.

Rice's self-discipline ability can be seen from the legendary story of his conquest of mountains.The story begins with his high school days.At the end of each practice session, Moore High School coach Charles Davis ordered his players to sprint up and down a 40-yard hill 20 times.In the hot and humid Mississippi weather, Rice was ready to give up as he finished his 11th sprint.But when he sneaked back into the players' locker room, he realized that what he had done couldn't convince himself. “Don’t give up,” he told himself, “because once you get used to giving up, you feel it’s a given.” So he went back to training, completed the sprint, and hasn’t given up since.

After turning pro, Rice conquered another hill and became famous for it.It's a rugged 2.5-mile trail in San Carlos, California.Les works out here every day.Some football stars also came here to train, but no one could catch up with him. They were all amazed at Rice's amazing endurance.But that's just part of Rice's daily training schedule.At the end of the season, when other players were fishing or vacationing, Rice was still working out, his daily workout schedule starting at 7 a.m. and continuing until noon.Someone once joked: "His body is so perfect that even sexy actresses will be eclipsed in front of him."

"What a lot of people don't understand is that Jerry sees football as an everyday thing," said NFL star linebacker Kevin Smith. Still working out. That's the difference between a good player and a great player."

Later, Rice climbed to a new peak in his career: recovered from a serious injury and returned to the game.Prior to this, he had set a record of never missing a game in 19 seasons, which also proved his self-discipline and extraordinary perseverance. On August 1997, 8, he injured his knee and it was thought he would not be able to play the following season.After all, only one player in history has ever returned from an injury like this and that was Rod Woodson, who spent four and a half months recovering.And Rice gritted his teeth and insisted, relying on Superman's self-discipline, he recovered in only three months.This speed of recovery is unprecedented, and I am afraid it will never come again.Rice returned to the game again, constantly setting records, building reputation, and helping the team win one victory after another.

what is self-discipline

Jerry Rice is arguably the best example of self-discipline.No one can achieve success or stay successful without self-discipline.No matter how talented a leader is, without self-discipline, his talent cannot be brought into full play.Self-discipline, which allows leaders to continue to climb the peak, is also the key to maintaining leadership.

If you want self-discipline to be your asset as a leader, here are a few things to consider.

1. Set the order of doing things and implement them

If a person does things based on his mood, or only for convenience, then he will never succeed; people will not respect him and follow him.Someone once said, "To get important tasks done, you need two things: a plan and not enough time." As a leader, you're usually on a tight schedule.All you need now is a plan.If you decide what is most important and can step back from other things, you will have more energy to complete the important tasks.This is the essence of self-discipline.

2. Make a self-disciplined life your goal
Learn from people with high self-discipline, such as Jerry Rice, and you will find that if you want to be successful, self-discipline cannot be a whim, but a way of life.

One of the best ways to develop self-discipline is to develop a systematic plan, especially for those areas needed for long-term growth and success.For example, because I have been writing and speaking for a long time, I read material every day and archive it for future reference.Also, I had a heart attack in December 1998, and I've been exercising every morning since then.It's not a 12-minute buzz, it's something I'll stick to for the rest of my life.

3. Challenge your excuses
If you want to cultivate a self-disciplined lifestyle, your first task is to challenge and correct the habit of making excuses.As the classic French writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld said: "Almost all the mistakes we make are more forgivable than the ways in which we try to cover them up." If you don't have a reason for not being self-disciplined, then you need to understand that they are just a bunch of excuses.If you want to be a better leader, you need to challenge these excuses.

4. Move rewards away before finishing work
The author Mike Delaney once said a wise sentence: "Any business or industry that treats idlers as well as hard workers will find more and more of the former." If If you lack self-discipline, you could be the kind of person who puts dessert before the main meal.

Here's a short story that illustrates the power of Inhibition: An elderly couple came to the campsite to set up camp, while another family later camped in a nearby camp.When the family's car stopped, a couple and three children could be seen getting out of the car.One child quickly unloaded the freezer, backpack and other items, while the other two immediately set up the tent.It took only 15 minutes for the camp to be set up.

The old couple couldn't help being shocked when they saw this scene. "Your family camping together is really efficient." The old man said to the father next door admiringly. "There's really only one rule," Dad replied, "Nobody's allowed to go to the bathroom until the camp is set up."

5. Focus on results
Whenever you focus on the work itself rather than the results and rewards, you will become discouraged.If this goes on for too long, it can become self-pitying rather than self-disciplined.The next time you're faced with a task you have to do and you want to take shortcuts instead of putting in the time and energy to do it, try changing what you focus on.Weigh it, see what is the right thing to do, and then focus on doing it well.

Self-reflection: Are you self-disciplined enough?

The writer Jackson Brown once had this metaphor: "A talent without self-discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. Even if it keeps moving, it doesn't know whether it is moving forward, backward or sideways." If If you're talented, have a lot of work to do, and don't get a lot of results, then you probably lack self-discipline.

You can look back at last week's schedule.How much time do you spend on regular activities?Are you trying to improve your abilities?Do you do sports to exercise your body?Do you save or invest some of your income?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, and you're telling yourself it's never too late to do these things, then you may need to make some effort to improve your self-discipline.

Let you have a "prescription" for self-discipline

To improve self-discipline, try the following.

1. Work out the order of doing things
Think about the two or three areas that are most important to you.Write them down, and then write down specific practices you can cultivate with self-discipline.Create a plan to make these regular things a part of your daily or weekly routine.

2. List the reasons
Take a moment to make a list of the benefits of doing the above regular things.Post these benefits where you can see them every day.Whenever you feel like giving up, just re-read this list.

3. Get rid of excuses
Write down every excuse that might make you give up.Read them out.You need to make those excuses not excuses.If one or two of the excuses seem plausible, find a way to overcome them.Don't give yourself any reason to quit halfway.Remember, only if you become a self-disciplined person, you will be able to achieve your dreams.

develop self-discipline early
There is a sentence posted on the wall of a forest nursery in Canada: "The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago, and the next best time is today."

Today, let us plant this tree of self-discipline!

(End of this chapter)