Kwai Chang Caine: We are taught discipline.
Master Po: The purpose of discipline is to live more fully. Not less.
Discipline is a key element in effective training. Discipline is also a sort of ‘chicken and egg’ kind of thing. Are you able to go out on a three hour training run because you have discipline; or does going on three hour training runs build discipline? Discipline build discipline. I believe however that discipline starts with motivation. If you have the right motivation then everything else will follow. Motivation allows you to be fully engaged. Full engagement forces you to develop the discipline. Discipline allows you to live and train with intensity. Simplicity can glue all of this together and drive results. And results fuel motivation. Full circle.
Typically we talk about training as a way to develop strength or endurance or some other physical element, but even more critical than this is the development of mental toughness. Anyone can work some and get physically tough, but if you want to become ‘as hard as coffin nails’ then you need to become mentally tough and that only comes through unrelenting self-discipline.
Your conviction for tough training must be unassailable; it must become a code of conduct that is unbreakable and character defining. It is not for the faint of heart. It requires you to walk a path that is very isolated and often times very lonely.
If you are serious about training then your discipline must extend to any and all elements that affect it. Your actual routines, your schedules, nutrition, rest. How you handle injury or setbacks. How you manage travel and work and family commitments. If you have discipline in the little things; like how you lace up your shoes, then discipline in big things will naturally be easier. This is about relentlessly proving yourself every single day without exception and without fail. Just today for example I had an outstanding lapse of discipline. I was all set to go on a training ride to work this morning. I had prepped my bike last night. All of my riding clothes were laid out. Water bottles ready to go. When the appointed hour came…. I saw that it had just stopped raining so everything was still damp. It was still dark but I could tell the skies were heavily overcast. The forecast was bleak. So I bailed, and drove the jeep to work instead. It didn’t rain until much later; and after that it cleared up nicely. I wimped out because of the threat of rain, and missed another much needed training opportunity.
Discipline is also often about not doing things as much as it is about doing things. There are times when you will need to give up something or even many things in order to make this journey. Television, junk food, alcohol; are just a few simple culprits that often bar us from realizing our potential. Harder impediments to handle may include: jobs, relationships, and even attitudes. There will almost always be temptations that surround you, constantly trying to look for openings in your discipline in which to attack. And these attacks are often times subtle and insidious. A bowl of ice cream here, a missed workout there… On the journey to excellence it doesn’t take too many of these to put you into a death spiral. If you aren’t on this path then it doesn’t matter, and you aren’t going to hurt my feelings any. If you are this path then be diligent.
Without discipline, no matter how good you are, you are nothing! One day, and I might not be around, you’re going to meet a tough guy who takes your best shot. He’ll keep coming because he’s tough. Don’t get discouraged. That’s where the discipline comes in.
– Mike Tyson