The Legacy of Discipline

 

Discipline has taken a major backseat in contemporary society, superseded by talent, celebrity and quick fame. Reality TV can instantly catapult people from obscurity to fame overnight, and for a season they are celebrated in the spotlight.

Yet what I love watching the most is the ‘Where are they now?’ - those late night catchup sneaky peeks into the lives of those who hit the big time. One thing though that stands out to me again and again, is how one thing separates the wheat from the chaff.

Discipline.

The systematic method of obtaining obedience, and of training by instruction and practice.

After years of closely observing those who rise above the brevity of fame and manage to leave a consistent mark on the planet, I can safely say that discipline is the one factor that seems to have a major bearing on where they end up.

Without discipline, many become one hit wonders, fading swiftly in their career and path of choice.

However those who pursue discipline with dogged determination tend to excel and shine in the long term, their skill, deftness, potency and versatility clearly on show. It's no wonder we gasp in awe at virtuosos no matter their industry or profession. Because somehow we sense the gravity of dedication they’ve invested into their calling.

We revel in their art and triumph, all the while aware there must have been hours of discipline, practice, drudging repetition sometimes sheer pain in brining their purpose to birth. We wonder if we could ever show that level of investment, and sadly, many of us shy away from the effort required.

Which is why we celebrate these sage disciplined masters. We understand their sacrifice and innately sense how much dying to self it takes.

When it comes to designing a life of legacy, we too need to decide whether to invest in discipline and dying to self.

The African proverb: “He who refuses to obey cannot command,” is a reminder that legitimately leading others is not a right but a privilege that must be earned through first becoming an adherent to the very demands we make on others, especially when it comes to self and life discipline.

This is the central meaning of a second African proverb: “Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off”.

It simply means that disaster follows the disobedient and undisciplined and anyone else in their sphere will also suffers the consequences of their refusal to listen, learn and adhere to laws of life.

The fact is discipline is the way of life. Anyone growing up without restraint ultimately brings pain wherever they go.

Legacy assumes discipline, expressed by a set of values that a leader desires their children, staff, community and society to adhere to and that they live by example, modeling the same.

Insight Inspiration

We live in a world where many in leadership do not have a clear set of values or principles, making it very difficult for those they lead to follow any example. Let live and ‘do you’ is the mantra du jour, yet history shows that we humans “learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.” ― Malcolm Gladwell.

Purposeful legacy building needs to go beyond supplying wealth, power money, things and empty words.

It has to be deeply inset in sharing and living in obedience to and disciplined by an inner set of values - exemplifying and practicing them - from the home to the workplace - the spaces and places where those values are most treasured and where legacies are passed on.

Discipline involves role modeling, the process of a leader clarifying and then living a set of values and then encouraging the same of those they lead. Not demanding, but leading by example.

The reality is that true discipline has to be modeled, not just commanded or forced.

How are you modelling discipline in your life? What more could you be doing to live in discipline, sharing values that are worth being followed?

Are you pushing your discipline and agenda on others? Or are you living it out as an example?

Think on it.

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About Dr Gladys Mwiti

The Legacy Insights series is authored by Dr Gladys Mwiti, an internationally recognised trauma psychologist who has served two electoral terms as Member of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS); is Co-Chair for the Lausanne Congress Mental Health and Trauma desk, Global Board Member for Langham Partnership Board, is the current Chairperson of the Kenya Psychological Association (KPA); Interim Chairperson of the Kenya Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; member of ChildFund Kenya Board of Directors, immediate past member of the Board of Trustees for the Kenya Methodist University (KEMU); member of the American Psychological Association (APA); and immediate past Chair of Council, Cooperative University College in Kenya.

She was the lead psychologist overseeing a team of highly trained trauma counselors providing crisis intervention during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the US Embassy bombing in 1998, the Gujarat (India) earthquake in 2001 and violent aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections. She was also lead coordinator post the Westgate Mall terror attack in Nairobi, overseeing the training of over 400 psychologists and counselors as well as managing the massive intervention and therapist supervision that reached over 2,500 survivors of the terror attack. Her current client list includes the US Embassy, USAID, Coca Cola, IBM, British High Commission, Syngenta, Google and Mastercard, amongst many others.

Visit her website: https://oasisafrica.co.ke/

 
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