“Discipline is the soul of an army, it makes small numbers.” George Washington
As the first president of the United States and serving two terms in office, I often think about George Washington. I know many people have mixed feeling about our first president and what he did for our country. One thing does ring true is that he was much disciplined. He was very regimented. He really believed in the cause. I am sure that Washington had many discouraging times, but he was a very disciplined man. I think Washington could actually envision what he wanted the end result to be.
Andrew Cayton had this to say about Washington, “Washington had a vision of a great and powerful nation that would be built on republican lines using federal power. He sought to use the national government to preserve liberty, improve infrastructure, open the western lands, promote commerce, found a permanent capital, reduce regional tensions and promote a spirit of American nationalism.”
What does discipline mean? Wikipedia says discipline is the assertion of will power over more base desires, and is usually understood to be synonymous with self control. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitute for motivation, when one uses reason to determine the best course of action that opposes one’s desires.
What does it take to be disciplined?
– Self Control
– Motivation
– Vision
– Study
– developing a system
I am sure there are several other words to describe what it takes to be disciplined.
What does it take for a great leader to learn discipline? One of the great lessons I have learned in my up and downs of being a leader is that you need to know the vision believe in the vision and have enough self control and motivation to carry out your role as a leader.
Discipline comes from knowing what you want and doing what it takes to carry out that task. Many times discipline is the force behind motivating ourselves in spite of a negative emotion. Discipline requires hard work and persistence.
One of the ways that I have gained my discipline is knowing that I have a family to take care of financially. We all have various reasons to be disciplined.
I would suggest if you are struggling with this is to write down the things that motivate you. What is it that makes you tick each day and then create a regiment that will allow you to continue motivating yourself and help you to get past the negative emotions and trying times.
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