Don’t be deceived. Self-discipline is not just about ourselves. We often think of self-discipline as it relates to diet, exercise, or other personal goals. But as a leader, our self-discipline effects those we are called to lead as well.

People don’t follow us because of what we can do. They follow us because of WHO WE ARE.

Yes, we must become technically competent at our jobs. But more importantly, we must have the self-discipline to do what needs to be done to become the Leader of Character we are called to be. 

Self-discipline is defined as “doing what needs to be done even when you don’t feel like doing it.”  

Honestly, sometimes we don’t feel like doing the things we know we should be doing. This is especially true when we are talking about areas of our lives that impact our character. Without self-discipline we will never become the Leader of Character our teams and our families need.

Four Ways to Exercise Self-Discipline

There are a lot of places where self-discipline is critical. Too often we focus on things that are just personal goals.  However, here are four ways to exercise self-discipline that also effects the people we lead.

1. Composure

Let’s face it. Leadership can be irritating. A self-disciplined leader is a leader who demonstrates patience even when she is irritated. She is able to demonstrate restraint when her emotions make her want to raise her voice or get personal with her comments. It takes self-discpline to remain calm and be the cool headed person in the room when we are frustrated by other people or the circumstances we face.

2. Focus

A leader who can not keep his eyes on the greater goals of his team or his family lacks self-discipline. Some of us set goals but become distracted by less important things. Therefore, the goals we claimed to be important, become secondary. The lack of self-discipline by the leader, pulls everyone’s attention away from what is truly important.  Everyone begins to major in the minor things, and the goals are never achieved.

3. Excellence

A leader who consistently settles for good enough lacks self-discipline. We must be willing to push beyond good and strive for what is best. We may be tired, or we are doing something we don’t enjoy. But, do we give our best anyway? It takes self-discipline to expect the best out of ourselves and to give our best in all circumstances. It also takes self-discipline to expect the same thing out of the people we lead.

4. Practice

We don’t get good at anything without practice. Malcolm Gladwell points out, in his book Outliers, that to become truly great at something it takes 10,000 hours of practice. That is a lot of time spent practicing one thing! That much practice takes a lot of self-discipline. To achieve excellence, we must practice. We must practice the skills we need to have to do our jobs well, and we must practice the Habits of Character we need to develop to be a Leader of Character.

The Bottom Line

To be a Leader of Character, we must have the self-discipline to maintain our composure, stay focused on what is important, expect excellence from ourselves and others, and practice, practice, practice.

Duty is a Habit of Character we define as: 

Taking action based on our assigned tasks and our moral obligations.

We have certain moral obligations when we are called to lead teams at work or at home. Nobody writes these moral obligations down for us and none of them are easy to accomplish. That is why they take self-discipline.

If a leader is able to keep her composure, focus on what is important, strive for excellence in herself and then in her team, and then practice those things in the small moments and the big moments, she is well on her way to becoming the Leader of Character her work team and her home team will want to follow.

Question:

When else is self-discipline critical for leaders?

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