It’s been a long, long time since I’ve posted on my blog, embarassingly long. I apologize. Life took a strange turn in the last few months and I needed to take some time to explore myself, my situation and my hopes and plans for the future.
I felt inspired to write this blog entry today because it has been on my mind for a long while now and I think it is particularly relevant to young people today. Discipline is one of those things that older people like to criticize young people for not having enough of, but frankly, from my humble experience, most people, young or old don’t have enough discipline.
While there are a number of definitions for discipline, such as military discipline or behavioral discipline, the one I will explore in this post is the discipline that is involved in training and improving a skill.
From dictionary.com discipline: an activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training.
I’m a firm believer that discipline is something that can developed in anyone, regardless of how smart, talented, young or old one may happen to be. However, the earlier its developed the sooner one can reap the benefits.
During my long hiatus from blogging, I have been trying to develop a discipline with my creative writing. Since my goal is to be a professional film maker and screenwriter, the first step in my plan is to write a salable feature length screenplay. This is easier said than done. When I was working in Japan not too long ago, I had a similar goal, but the problem was I lacked the discipline to consistently write each and every day.
Discipline requires setting down certain constraints, which I’ve come to realize is extremely difficult for me. Especially being the Feeling, Perceiver Myers Briggs type that I am, setting constraints and boundaries is like caging my soul. Okay maybe that’s a bit extreme, but you get the idea. The predicament I find myself in is that despite being extremely challenging for me, having the discipline to write every day for a set amount of time each day is crucial to becoming a professional writer. Since writing is a skill that must be honed, putting in the necessary time is unavoidable. It’s the same with sports, music, and most other activities.
If you read the biography of any successful individual, chances are they exhibited discipline in a number of areas of their life. Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Warren Buffet, Barack Obama, these are all guys with an incredible amount of discipline. Discipline should be everyone’s best friend because it helps to produce consistent and steady improvement. And who wouldn’t want that?
While I was writing my screenplay in a cozy corner of my local bookstore, I watched a young girl, probably in high school or college, who was working on a lab report. By the time I was ready to leave, she had been sitting behind me for nearly two hours and she hadn’t made any progress on it. The screen on her computer was blank, except for the title: “Lab Report.” Every time I happened to turn around to take a short break, I noticed she was text messaging on her blackberry. If discipline were her best friend, she would have finished that report in an hour and could have spent the rest of her time talking to her buddy in person. 
Discipline is hard for everyone to develop, but it’s always worth the struggle and pain. And like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it gets. Although it may seem daunting in the beginning, it gets easier the longer you keep at it.
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