The Value of Applied Discipline

I learnt much about the practice of discipline in the military reserves. I appreciated the relevance of sticking to standard operating procedures (SOP), standards of performance, and sticking the plan. Later in my careers, I discovered that discipline involves meeting exhausting deadlines, streamlining work processes, and delivering follow up/follow through in sales and service.

In recent years, my sense of discipline extended to writing everyday, following a training regime for Ironman triathlons, working in close collaboration with strategic partners, and auditing my business processes and proposals.

Discipline involves waking up early to train when others are resting soundly at home. It includes making decisions that may be uncomfortable and unpleasant at times, however will reap a sense of achievement and accomplishment after doing it. 

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I can finally rest, or rather, train and rest adequately after four days of continuous training workshops; my voice was somewhat strained after all that teaching facilitation. I found today to be especially memorable, facilitating a workshop on core values. We focused on excellence, a value that is associated with performance and quality.

Tomorrow morning, as the tide is highest at about 8.00am, I will swim about 6-8 laps with the TriFam squad in the lagoon. We will then follow this 2.2-3K swim up with a fast 4.5K run as a brick session. I am definitely looking forward to the workout and pleasant company. Sunday will be a long ride, so that will be the first long one after IMWA. My first duathlon will be a week from Sunday; it will be a good test of my fitness for 2011. I will run the Hong Kong Marathon in a month’s time, so smart training will be my specific focus of the next 30 days.