It is not a surprise to see in our day to day life that people who have quality of disciple from childhood days, are able to overcome many obstacles in their life and career and attain that position of dignity and success, which a common man is unable to achieve. This is all because of Discipline. But it is a general principle of life that if we want better and long lasting rewards, we must be willing to put extra efforts, stretch our limits, be consistent in our activities and be in tune with the times. Discipline is not developed in a day or two, but it requires continuous efforts, sacrifices of the routine activities which are going outside the discipline boundaries, calmness of mind, avoiding laziness and continuous motivation and working in the direction of goal.
Nowadays, people are judged more because of their of the soft skills rather than the technical skills. Technical skills are found in abundance but soft skills such as team work, communication skills, personality grooming, integrity, honesty etc. are skills which help the organizations grow, both in monetary terms and reputation and image building. It normally happens that some employees have extraordinary technical skills but they are lacking in working in teams and coordinating better with colleagues and since they can’t cope up with people, their overall performance is hampered and important promotion and appraisal opportunities go for a toss . Discipline helps to overcome such problems, as such persons are always in continuous improvement mode, they observe their shortcomings, skills which need to be developed and work on it till the time they achieve perfection.
A undisciplined person is generally late in interviews, meetings, important occasions, functions and other events and irritates others with his casual approach as he is not serious about the work or agenda. These people waste their own time and also other’s time and do not give valuable benefit to the company and society in general, unless they try to improve their habits and are determined to change for betterment. A disciplined man is generally respected by the company and society as he meets up to the expectation of all people he comes in contact, relatives, business associates, colleagues and superiors in the company. He is polite in nature and helpful to all and because of his personality and positive nature, there is no clash of ego with people and he is able to achieve success in all his undertakings.
A disciplined persons takes no chances and makes foolproof plans and because of his disciplined attitude, is able to take big challenges on his path of success and which finally leads him to achieve extraordinary success. A person, to cultivate habit of discipline in himself should be able to work or undertake tasks considering the long term view and not get entangled in the short term problems of current nature. This strategic nature helps to differentiate what is important and what is not from the long term perspective. Early morning exercise to keep body and mind fit, going office in time, correct and fair practices in dealings with people with whom come across (office colleagues, friends, Managers, Superiors, Directors), undertaking the work and completion in timely manner, attending to queries promptly, addressing to feedback from people in an appropriate manner. He avoids laziness, as laziness and procrastination is the enemy of success in any venture. For example : If a persons knows that after 1 week their is meeting with the Manager, he will accordingly prepare for the meeting, making presentations, brainstorming to raise important point during the meeting considering the agenda of the meeting. This preparedness shows the disciplined approach of a person, indicating whatever the future circumstance may be, I am prepared to face it having done my homework and being mentally prepared. Thus instead of preparing for the meeting one day before in the eleventh hour or not preparing at all, he does the preparation for the meeting well in advance so that he can give his best in the meeting, instead of casual and negligent approach.
Discipline is highly useful in case of students as they can prepare the subjects systematically, thoroughly and face the examination with confidence. Similarly, a professional who is disciplined, is preferred by his clients as he does his work on time, communicates objectively and in unbiased way, does his work in systematic and correct manner and has positive traits because of which he can retain the clients. Nobody likes a professional who is lacking in soft skills. Knowing the subject matter is important, however it is equally important how you present it to your client, how to receive feedback and accordingly reply and suggest a course of future action or remedy to the problems of your client. The client nowadays want qualitative solutions to their problems, not just cost saving, a remedy which will help them in the long run, which will streamline their whole systems and procedures, reduce chances of errors or frauds, they want that their staff are given some inputs and training on how to work on improved and updated systems and how to have an edge over others and these solution should be provided in a presentable, simplified and user friendly manner. There is fierce competition in the market and only those professionals who have qualities such as patience, sincerity, timely updating of knowledge, dedication and discipline will be able to survive in the long run.
Discipline is not a born skill, those who don’t possess this skill, it can be learnt through proper training, practice and over a period of time a person can master this skill. It demands hard work and lot of sacrifice, as human tendency is that we are not accustomed to work hard unless there is dire necessity, but as it is said that “no gains without pains” If we want rich rewards, we must be hell bent to work in this direction to achieve that position which we had always desired. Life is a series of ups and downs, during the down phases, we must keep the burning desire in us that we will keep on trying until we achieve our goal, what ever may be the circumstances. Self Development books are a great source of inspiration to give us support and direction at bad times and also to inculcate habit of discipline. Great successful personalities in the society are also source of inspiration for all.
Conclusion: Indeed, discipline is a boon to the person who has learnt and practiced it in his life. Not only he gains a lot of benefit from it, but also, others follow his footsteps which lead to extraordinary success. A person should give up bad habits like lethargy, backbiting, cheating, manipulating and unfair dealing with people, unnecessary quarrelling, wasting valuable time on mobile, gossiping etc. and should make it a point that he follows the path of discipline with 100% dedication and there is no doubt about his attaining long lasting success with peace of mind.
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Very good article. Corporate offices can display this in their notice boards.