Strategic Discipline Blog

Who do you admire most?  This is a question I frequently ask candidates in interviews.  I urge you to consider this question in your interviewing process if you aren’t already using it. 

Darren Hardy’s The Compound Effect reveals his great admiration for his father.  His disciplined, hardnosed approach to teaching Darren what was important came for a sports background of coaching.  He wanted to get the most out of his student athlete’s and especially his children. 

There are many people that I admire.    Several are within the circle of my clients.  Mike, an executive team member who runs 50-70 miles a week.  Kevin [Shown here after a recent finish in a triathlon] who follows a difficult ritual of training for each of his events.  Ari, one of my clients in New York who recently began training again for a triathlon after having been away for several years due to marriage and the birth of his daughter.  Fred who has a personal trainer with whom he keeps a ritual practice of meeting with several times each week.

All of these people are particularly good at being disciplined. They have established rituals that they follow to meet the goals and priorities they've set whether it's in business or with their personal health.  

Closer to home, I admire my son Joshua who frequently fills us in at the dinner table about the grueling track and cross country practices he endures during these seasons.  My youngest son Noah practices routinely with his bass.  From the time he started until now he’s shown tremendous growth, and I frequently am amazed that I can actually tell what song he is playing despite the fact a bass carries what I believe is the least amount of the melody.

Finally I admire my wife.  Her discipline is legendary.  From the ritual she performs each year to get our boys ready for school, day to day monitoring of their grades and extracurricular activities to the resolve she shows for staying in shape by walking and working out each week.  She is perhaps the person I admire most for her dedication and discipline.  That’s not counting everything she does with our home and how she helps my business making me accountable for financial decisions. 

Who do you admire?  What does it say about you?   Is it time you reviewed who you admire so you have a standard to live up to?