On Discipline And The Power Of Routine

“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” (William Faulkner)

In my meandering explorations since I was an early teen, I've gravitated from authors and speakers such as Tony Robbins and Norman Vincent Peale to Les Brown to contemporaries such as Tim Ferriss and Eric Thomas. From the plethora of knowledge and techniques one can gain from these human performance experts, the one underlying factor I believe to be the most prevalent and easiest to implement, is discipline.

I'm sure we've also seen the infographics on how the 1% or the best in their industries spend and divide their time from the morning routines of a Jeff Bezos to the meticulous hourly control of time that Elon Musk employs. There is a scarcely anyone off any significant high performance whom does not operate within regions of control and discipline, sometimes even not consciously. A regimented approach to a day can wield many benefits least of all the active control over the direction of the tasks required in the day. By adhering to a routine we forcibly navigate and steer the pockets of time in our day towards productive conclusions. Forced routine creates discipline, discipline in turn creates consistency and anything done well enough, long enough, will yield more than incremental gains.

Discipline and routine is the fundamental backbone to long-lasting and consistent achievement. Many high performers are able to achieve incredible feats of success but as soon as there is no challenge and the well so to speak dries up, so too does the performance ethic. Goals and targets hence, serve more as short term stimulus as opposed to addressing what is the real problem. In my opinion, that problem is inadequate habits and tendencies that just do not serve an individual over time. If you look at some of the greatest teams, individuals, inventors, entrepreneurs and sportsman in history, they all have the underlying basis of consistent achievement over extended periods of time. One trick pony, flat track bullies, call them what you will but we're all at some point capable of being swept up in a movement and being the next Leicester City (Premier League Champions 2015/6 Odds at 5000-1) and Buster Douglas (Knocked out Mike Tyson, 1990 Odds at 42 to 1). What the golden mile is, are careers like Mayweather, Schumacher and any which of the Barcelona and Manchester United dynasties (to name but a handful).

It could be, a special elixir, genetic gift or cultured pattern or all of these conspiring in a magnanimous fashion to create the discipline, determination, gift and natural attributes of an unquenchable winner. More often than not, it's the 13 hour gruelling training sessions of a young Tiger Woods and similar that result in what seems to outsiders as a divine convergence. Success then is more a matter of habit and controlled and balanced determination and will, with a singular minded focus on the goal at hand. Stretch that across a few years (sometimes decades) add in a pinch of magic and you have what many of us stand in admiration of and some with victories that may stand amongst the achievements of the ages.

The work put in is there for all to see, though the map that's left behind is sometimes too gruelling for anyone to take.