Self-Discipline

Susan Clements

Executive Director, E-Myth Benchmark

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Mastery of oneself. What a powerful concept––to be able to command our own thoughts and actions in a way that causes us to work and play to our fullest potential. Just think about it––what if we could master ourselves?  Imagine what we could achieve! Most of us want different results at some point during our lifetime, yet we often struggle to take the actions needed to get there. It’s not that we don’t know what we need to do or even how to get it done; we simply don’t always do what’s necessary. Whether it’s contacting five new prospects a week, practicing the piano, consistently exercising, or asking three clients each week for referrals, each of us needs a measure of self-discipline to successfully accomplish our desired results.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary describes self-discipline as “correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement”. To correct or regulate our actions, we first need to recognize that what we’re doing isn’t providing us with our desired results. We then need to be disciplined enough to take corrective actions. I’m a fierce advocate for making a list of results and breaking each one into actions steps with due dates to ensure there is a clear path to achieving them. For some people this is natural; for some it’s painful, but for all of us looking to achieve different results, it’s essential!

As a business professional you want certain results for your business, and that means your business needs you to master and embody the disciplines and habits that provide those results. Your willingness and ability to focus and apply yourself within the business and to develop work and leadership disciplines that drive success is vital. Your consistent actions will provide consistent results. I suggest you start with the discipline of Work Consistency, comprised of two attributes: consistency and follow-through.

When embodied, follow-through and consistency are two leadership attributes that yield great rewards for you and your business. If you would like your business to provide you with consistent results, you need to provide it with consistent activity! If you’re not working with consistency or aren’t a dependable presence in your business, now is the time to be self-disciplined enough to commit to new habits. Being a dependable presence means both your physical and mental presence in the business are consistent. Your attitude and demeanor should reflect your intention to motivate your staff and set an example for the behaviors you would want to see from them.  Set a regular schedule and honor it. Having a regular schedule doesn’t mean you need to turn into a work robot––it simply means you need to identify what your business needs from you, as a leader, manager and professional, then consistently provide it––until you can begin to replace yourself with other people who will work to help you get results for the business. 

Think about segmenting your work in the following areas of business and self development to help you develop consistency:

• Self learning and personal leadership skill building
• Generating new leads
• Following up and closing existing leads
• Caring for your clients in a proactive way
• Holding regular team and sales meetings
• Holding regular one-on-one employee meetings
• Tending to day-to-day office duties, including finance, operations, organization
• Designing your business for growth
• Exploring tactical business development work by creating or innovating systems

Follow-through is a critical leadership discipline that reflects your commitment to your clients’ and employees’ success and pride in your profession. Lack of follow-through leaves your business vulnerable and creates distrust. If you’re not pleased with your ability to consistently follow through with your obligations and commitments, here are some tips to focus on:

• Use a robust electronic calendaring system that may be accessed by others
• Keep a to-do list that you update daily––either electronic or on paper
• Make sure your to-do list has deadlines for completion
• Break down larger items into smaller achievable actions with deadlines
• Check daily on the progress towards your action items
• Leverage others to help you get things done
• Communicate with others to ensure your expectations are in alignment with theirs
• Block your time to focus on the commitments you have made

Make self-discipline a part of your lifestyle and a foundation for personal growth by taking the time to clearly identify what you need to become disciplined in. Don’t stop with the work consistency discipline or limit self-discipline to your business life, but look for areas in your life that would benefit from being more disciplined. What do you need to do? Engage in a better diet or exercise routine? Be more rigorous with your personal budgeting? Set aside the time to meet three new people every day? Learn something different every day? Get up one hour earlier to better prepare for your day? Eliminate excuse-making from your life, and begin to develop the habits and best practices that will invite self-discipline to become the foundation on which you will expand your life. Your clients and employees will thank you––and you’ll thank yourself.

Susan Clements is Executive Director and co-owner of E-Myth Benchmark, a business coaching company serving businesses in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, and the UK.  As a business coach Susan has steered client businesses through growth initiatives, sales and marketing strategies, management restructuring, personnel issues, customer service challenges, and action plans for growth and change. Leveraging a personal and professional experience platform of business ownership and management of businesses in both the private and public sector, Susan has designed a revolutionary coach training and delivery system that tools E-Myth Benchmark coaches to actively engage in results based coaching with business owners, leaders and managers leading to greater freedom and flexibility.  E-Myth Benchmark provides E-Myth Mastery Impact™ business coaching, business management and leadership workshops, trainings and seminars.  Contact Susan at www.e-mythcoaching.com or sclements@e-mythcoaching.com.