THE ART OF DISCIPLINE

There is an art to becoming a disciplined person and achieving your
highest
goals and visions.  Many have learned this art and have walked the
pathway
to becoming excellent in the things they do and achieve.  In this, it is
no
mystery or rocket science.



1) Set a Goal for the Knowing-and-Doing Expertise that you want.  What
is
the discipline that you want to learn?  Early in life I wanted to learn
how
to write.  At first it felt overwhelming and frightful and experiences
of
'writer's block' threatened to undermine my goal.  But I stayed with it
through the uncertainty and doubts.



2) Focus Your Attention on your Desired Discipline.  What kept me going
was
my focus on my ultimate objective.  That's why a strong compelling why
as in
"Why is it important?" informs and activates your focus and attention. 
How
strong is your focus?  How well are you able to deal with the things
that
disrupt your focus?  Are you monitoring your discipline as you are
learning
it?   What is the quality of your focus?  Do you need to use the
Neuro-Semantic "genius" or "flow" pattern to create your own optimal
state
of focus?



3) Make a Robust Decision for your Discipline.  If you have not made the
decision yet, make sure that you make a robust decision that you will
become
a discipline of that area that you want to become excellent in.  Once I
learned about modeling, I made a decision to model resilience.  I didn't
know it would take me four years to do that.  I thought maybe a month or
two.  It was my decision, and a decision that I made public, that kept
me
going.  I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and I wanted to
demonstrate to others that I could complete the project.



4) Act today in a Proactive Way that initiates the Momentum.  If you
never
take the initiative to start, you will never get started.  So get
started
today.  Seize the day!  Use the 80/20 principle to get the most value
out of
what you do.  Given that 20% of what you do will generate 80% of the
value,
identify that 20% and then zoom in on it making it your commitment and
lifestyle.  Nearly everybody knows that the hardest part of any change
or
resolution is getting started.  We also know that the more we wait and
prepare, the more we will wait and prepare and we may never get started.
  So
get started!  Do it today.  Do it because ...

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting
started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small,
manageable
tasks, and then starting on the first one."  Mark Twain



Once you have started, then feed the momentum with effort and nurture
the
effort with sustainability, make it your life-style.  Momentum is built
by
one small step, one small push, one small action after another.  Count
every
small action.  Say to yourself, "It counts."   No matter how small and
insignificant, "It counts!  I have started.  The journey has begun."



5) Resist all Excuses.  Excuses are seductive and tempting and if you
don't
know the common excuses that will seduce you away from your discipline,
you
won't be able to mount a resistance.  What distracts you from your
discipline?  What excuses do you commonly use?  What tricks you to say,
"Well just this one time."?  Whatever it is, decide that you will not
live a
life that honors excuses more than your goals.  Decide to blow out all
excuses so that you are left excuse-less so that you just have to go
after
your desired outcomes and be true to yourself.



6) Talk up and Positively Frame Your Discipline.  What can you say to
yourself and to others about choosing to live a disciplined life?

           Discipline in my choice for how to focus and act that
achieves
the greatest success.

           Discipline is my being true to my values, choices, and
potentials.

           Discipline is the habit which allows me to manage my focus
on
what's truly important.

           Discipline is my strategic means for overcoming obstacles in
my
way.

           Discipline indicates the degree of control I can now
exercise in
my life.

           Discipline reveals my integrity; that I do what I say I will
do.



7) Update your Modal Operators.  In life experience, we get into certain
modes of operating and these operational modes show up in how we talk.
Linguistically these are called "modal operators."  The verbs describing
possibility are "can, able, possible."  The words for choice are
"choose,
decide, select, pick."  Those for desire are "want, wish, hope, yearn."
Those for necessity are "need, ought, should, must, have to."

           Use necessity words and you will feel helpless, powerless,
and
like a victim.  "I have to read."  "I should write a report."  "I must
go to
the gym."

           Use possibility words and you will feel hopeful and
optimistic.
"I can go to the gym."  "I am able to write the report."  "It's possible
for
me to eat healthy foods."

           Use desire words and you will feel capable and empowered. 
"I
want to work out."  "I yearn to run after work."

           Use choice words and you will feel hopeful and empowered. 
"I
choose to read for an hour each day."  "I have decide to finish cleaning
the
garage."



Then there is the Maslow must.  Do you know that one?  "A muscian must
make
music; a poet must write; what a person can do, he must do."  That's a
self-actualization must, it is a being-value must.  It is not the must
of
pressure, it is the must of potentiality.  Today know that one, "I must
write, I would be less of who I can be and will be if I don't write."
Finally, there is this from the Dalai Lama:

"A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads
to
suffering."



Video Review: Jordan Peterson's interview with Anthony Robbins

There's lots of interesting and insightful things in this interview and
there are some sad things. On the sad side is the fact that Tony
mentions
some sources (books, people), but in spite of using numerous NLP terms
and
processes never mentions NLP once.  On an interview like this, he could
help
send thousands of people to NLP, but he does not.  That's what a
self-centered guru does.



Sad also is the fact that Tony speaks about matching and pacing and he
fails
to do so throughout the nearly 2 hours!   He does not match or pace
Peterson's posture or voice or tempo.  And he interrupts a lot : and
Peterson's only defense is to pace Tony, at least to some extent!



For that, Tony needs to go back and take NLP 101 again!  See for
yourself:

 DISCIPLINE IS DISCIPLE-ING

 

If the word discipline arose from the Latin word for pupil, then no wonder
it is so closely related to another word, a word that is much more positive-
disciple.   That's how I ended the last article.  And because both words-
discipline/ disciple- are so intimately connected, when you are disciplined,
you are a disciple.  The only question is, "You are a disciple to what or to
whom?"  That brings me to Jim Collins' quotation in Good to Great.

"There is no effectiveness without discipline, and there is no discipline
without character."

 

Ah, character!  It was the actor Michael J. Fox who said, "Discipline is
just doing the same thing the right way whether anyone's watching or not."
That's another description of character.  And that implies something
critical about discipline-it arises from, and is dependent upon, being
self-referent rather than other-referent.  If you are always referring to
others  and you are always carrying about what others think, say, and do,
then you are living your life to please them, to be on their good side, to
not upset them, etc.  Do that and you probably will not even know what you
want, what you believe in, what you value.

 

Character refers to deeply knowing and living from your own authority-to be
the author of your own life.  This is the inner discipline that is required
in order to achieve outer discipline.  In fact, without this piece, all of
your effort for outer discipline will indeed feel hard and forced.  It is
when you live from out of your inner beliefs and values, live from the
inside-out, that you can begin to develop the kind of discipline that will
carry you through in achieving your goals.

 

Perhaps this is what Aristotle meant when he said, "Through self-discipline
comes freedom" - namely the freedom to truly be yourself.  And it was the
famous Anonymous who wrote, "Your level of success is determined by your
level of discipline and perseverance."  The bottom line: discipline comes
from your inside world.  It comes from you being true to you-to your
capacities, talents, and potentials.  Now you have the character to persist,
to commit, and to be resilient.

 

So, name your discipline.  What discipline (course of study) do you want to
give yourself to?  What discipline (course of action) would you like to
become a disciple?  I am a disciple of my own well-being which means health,
energy, vitality, and fitness.  I have been for a long time.  Accordingly, I
have read and studied in that area, and that led to writing books in that
area (Games Fit and Slim People Play), as well as training manuals (The
Neuro-Semantics of Health, Unleashing Vitality).  It led me to get into
running in my mid-20s as well as other sports: cross-country skiing,
mountain climbing, racquetball, etc.  Today I go to the gym five days a week
and Geraldine and I hike mountain trails.

Going to the gym for me is at the same time a disciplined way of life (a
lifestyle) and a commitment to my understandings, beliefs, values, and
decisions.  Given that, I never think of it as hard or unpleasant.  It's
actually the opposite-I look forward to it, I revel when I feel a good
healthy exhaustion at the end, I anticipate learning new techniques, I
delight in being able to reach some new goals that I set for myself.  So
yes, I have become a disciple of the gym.

 

The bottom line is that discipline requires character and your character
enables you to become a disciplined person, a disciple.  When your course of
study (knowledge) becomes a course of action (implementation), then you have
closed the knowing-doing gap.  You have used a basic mind-to-muscle process
so that what you know, you do.  This explains why for any disciplined
person, there's no idea of pain or punishment in it at all.  Instead it is
integrity and integration.  It is the freedom of being your best self.

 

I would not be my best self if I didn't read 2 to 3 hours every day (well,
except when I'm engaged in doing a training).  Reading extensively activates
my mind and my creativity so that I can write, and write a lot.  When people
ask how I can write 2 or 3 articles every week, plus manuals and books, I
usually look at them as if they have asked a really weird question.  For me
it's like asking "How can you breathe in and out all day; isn't that tiring
on your heart and lungs?"  I write first of all so that I can learn, and
then secondly, to share ideas and insights with others.  As some of you have
noticed, I never run out of things to write!  I find the 'discipline' of
reading and writing exciting.  How could it not be?  I'm a disciple to
reading and writing.  And when you are a disciple, you have a new degree of
freedom as you are liberated from 'work.'  Now everything is play and fun.
Now you will never again "work" a day in your life again.   So, what are you
a disciple of?

 

 

 

 

For More, see-

              Inside-Out (2022).  It is a PDF book on the Shop.


 

Also, the 2024 Neurons book is now available:

Neurons Volumes <https://www.neurosemantics.com/neurons-meta-reflections/> 

 

 Discipline: The Personality

Factor You Love to Hate series #1

 

DISCIPLINE ARE NOT US

 

Some years ago, upon entering the breakfast restaurant of the hotel we were
staying in, I headed first for the coffee machine.  That's where I overheard
some of the participants from our competency based training talking as they
ate breakfast. They were at a table on the other side from the coffee
station which was out of sight.  I could not see them, but I could hear
them.  One was apparently explaining why the discipline of the training was
so rigorous.  "Well, that's because Michael is such a disciplined person
himself, he reads 30 minutes every single day, writes 30 minutes and
exercises 30 minutes."   To that one of the participants said, "Wow!"
"'Wow?' I thought, but that's hardly what I would call discipline."

 

Later when I reflected on that short conversation, I realized something
about myself, namely, I almost never use the word discipline to describe the
activity of doing what needs to be done.  Instead I just call that
life-style.  Yet that's not the first or last time someone said that about
me. More recently, when the subject of taking medicine came up, I mentioned
that I had been taking tamoxifen as an anti-cancer drug.  "For how long?" I
said for four-and-a-half years.  The person, who was a health coach asked,
"How many times have you forgotten to take it?"  I said "None, not a single
time did I missed taking it.  I always take it.  It's just what I do."  She
said, "You're really very disciplined."  Again I thought, "Why would I not
take my medicine?"

 

Now with 2025 just beginning, and many people will begin with some New Year
Resolutions, I thought it would be good to write about discipline, or
perhaps more accurately and appealingly, consistent life-style activities.
After all, if setting new goals in the new year is a way to become more
effective, more goal-oriented, and to live more purposefully-then the key
will be to get yourself to do what you intend to do.  After you design a
Well-Formed Outcome so that your goals are smart, realistic, and actionable,
the next secret ingredient for them to transform your life is for you to
develop the discipline to be consistent and regular in what you do.

 

The Success Factor You Love To Hate -that was the subject of the ISNS
Wisdoms this past November.  About that success factor I wrote that
discipline is something which you desperately need but which you probably do
not want.  How about you?  To you want discipline?  Would you attend a
training on "How to Become a Highly Disciplined Person"?  Many, peryhaps
most people, would not.  Yet most know that they need it, they just do not
want it.  And why not?

 

A lot of people do not want "discipline" because for them it implies all
sorts of unpleasant and negative meanings.  It implies-

           Being controlled, being forced to do what you don't want to do.

           Being treated like a child again and forced to eat your
vegetables, make your bed, and do your homework.

           Losing the freedom to not do what the discipline requires.

           Forfeiting options, alternatives, and losing the right to be
spontaneous.

           Having to do what is hard, painful, and unpleasant.

           Being punished for a mistake or bad behavior: sent to the
Principal's office, loss of privileges, etc.   "Son, I'm going to discipline
you; no internet for two weeks."

 

Wow!  If discipline means that to a person, no wonder it is thought of and
felt as an imposition, a prison, and the last thing in the world that you
would ever want to do!  If you have associated discipline with punishment,
pain, doing what's hard, etc., of course you will not want it.  You will not
strive for it!  You will not set a goal to become a disciplined person.
But, of course, that is a misunderstanding of discipline.  It does not truly
define or describe what discipline is.  What does the word discipline
actually mean and refer to?

           Discipline is simply "a course of action."

           Discipline can refer to "a course of study:" the discipline of
psychology, math, geometry, etc.

           Discipline is a planned way of operating.

           Discipline is a strategic way to achieve something of value.

           Discipline is a regimen for succeeding in a particular area.

 


How about that for five reframes on discipline?  Which one do you like best?
Yet there is another one that I think reframes it even better.  Given that
the word discipline comes from the Latin words, disciplina, disciplulus
(pupil), discipline refers to not only "a course of study," but the person
doing the 'studying'- hence, the disciple.  The disciplined person is a
disciple to the information and activity.  You could be a disciple of
coaching, of Neuro-Semantics, of NLP, of psychology, of self-actualization,
of personal development, etc.  What or who would you like a to be a
'disciple?'

 

For me, since discipline is life-style, I am a disciple of learning, of
modeling excellence, of my own well-being (health) and fitness, of
unleashing human potentials, of the human mystery of 'thinking,' etc.  How
about you?  What are you a disciple of?  Some are disciples of 'the path of
least resistance.'  Some are disciples of goofing off, avoiding
responsibility, the superficiality of 'retail therapy,' of living solely for
immediate pleasure, etc.  Where would you like to direct your discipleship
to in 2025? 

 

 

                                                                       

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

 EXPERTISE

A FUNCTION OF FOCUSING

 

"If people know how hard I work to gain mastery,

it wouldn't seem wonderful at all."

Michaelangelo

 


The person who has probably most emphasized the relationship between focus
and expertise is Csikszentmihalyi and his work on the phenomena of flow.
For him, to get into the flow zone meant a special kind of thinking, a
special kind of attention, what he described as a near-total concentration
on the task at hand.  In searching for words for this state, he called it an
altered state, a hypnotic state, and a state of absorption.  In this state
of focus, you would be doing no multi-tasking because of the intensity of
your focus.

 

This focus state would also be a state of mental clarity in each and every
stage.  First mental clarity about your goals, then about your actions in
reaching your goals, then about your problem-solving and decision-making as
you identified the specifics for reaching your goal.  For Csikszentmihalyi
this mental clarity was something you had to work for in terms of your
thinking skills and abilities.  It does not come to the mentally or
physically lazy.

 

Speaking about the effort it takes, it was Csikszentmihalyi who came up with
the two axes, challenge and competence.  When a person unites both in a
singular action, she enters the flow zone.  If there is ability to perform
and the focus is entirely there, then one will easily get bored and enter
into the drone zone.  If there is the ability to take on the next level of
challenge, but only to do that, then one enters into the panic zone of
anxiety and stress. 

 

For the excellence of the flow zone, you have synergize both challenge and
competence.  In Neuro-Semantics we do that with the Meta-Coaches and the
Trainers by using deliberate practice-constantly adding a bit more challenge
to whatever level of performance a person can achieve.  Doing that keeps you
in the flow zone-always learning, always getting a bit better, always moving
toward excellence.

 

Now to do that, welcome the next level of challenge even if it scares you.
By doing that you can transform your fears into a challenge.  The amazing
thing is that when you frame it as a challenge, your fear becomes a compass
for you.  And eventually you can learn to enjoy the risk as you look forward
to the challenge as the next to step up to.  As you keep doing this, you'll
experientially discover that risks are always relative.   What is a 'risk"
at one time, becomes 'nothing' at a later time.  The more your skills and
competence increase, the less your sense of risk.   You'll also discover in
your experience that risk is actually needed if you are to stay in the flow
zone.  

 

Whatever you are currently doing to become more skillfully competent, how
much of a sense of risk do you feel?  If none, then you're playing things
too safe.  And you are probably selling yourself short.  If it is too much,
you are in danger of getting overwhelmed and too anxious and giving up.  So
aim for a moderate amount of risk-perhaps 5% more  challenge.  Push yourself
to reach beyond your current level of skill.   You will need to find the
sweet spot for yourself as we all do.  If you are a coach or trainer, sit
for assessment!  Scary?  Good.  It's good because when you don't know what's
going to happen, you pay more attention.

 

To find the synergy between challenge and competence, you also need the
right attitude.  You need a mind-set that allows you to stay flexible so you
can adapt.  The risk of acting is not about "success or failure," it is
about learning, improving, discovering new insights.  The motto in Silicon
Valley has been, "Fail early, fail often, fail forward."  And that's the
attitude-failure is a tool for progress.  No wonder experts themselves often
say that the

path to being exceptional begins when you decide to be responsible for your
actions no matter the situation.  Notice the response you get, if it is not
what you want, learn from the experience, and go for it again.  Maybe, just
maybe, that's what Michaelangelo meant in his quotation at the beginning of
this article.

 

 

WANT MORE?

              See Secrets of Personal Mastery (1997)

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA