Darren Hardy, mentor, speaker, and author shared the following story: In Isaiah Thomas' first season with the Boston Celtics in 2016, he met legend Kobe Bryant, in his last season with Los Angeles Lakers. "Isaiah had a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask a question to Kobe Bryant."
He asked Kobe Bryant, “How did you lock in your whole career, eliminate distractions, eliminate everything that could take your focus away from your ultimate goal?”
Kobe replied, “without thinking or blinking”. “You know how a lion, when he’s hunting for food, there’s probably a hundred thousand little insects crawling all over him. It’s all over his body, his eyes. The lion never lets these pesky distractions take his eyes off the prize, his food. Because if he takes his eyes off his food, he might not eat for six months, and his pride might starve to death.”
Kobe continued, “for the media, the outsiders, they are saying, I can’t do this. They’re not in the gym with me at 4am. They’re not with me when I’m putting in the work, so I don’t listen to anything they say. No matter how bad or good it is, I’m focused on one prize and that is being the best player to ever play the game, and winning a championship for my team.”
Isaiah, "what he said shook me. After that conversation, everything changed for me. My focus changed and my energy was different after that conversation.”
Isaiah Thomas is “five nine, a hundred and eighty-five pounds. He went from averaging 16.4 points per game with a 22% shooting percentage to over 30 points per game and a 43% shooting percentage the very next year.”
Kobe was saying, “As you are running the race for your life’s success, your goal, your family don’t let name callers, bugs in your face, expressions of jealousy derail you and stop you from winning. Stay focused on the race and do not let anyone or anything (bugs all over your body) stop you!” (Kobe Bryant coached Isaiah Thomas in texts, telephone calls and watching game videos together helping him become a better player. Kobe helped other players too!)
Discipline teaches work ethics:
It’s all involved with discipline.
The discipline of preparation:
I have two friends that are Firemen. They have their fire equipment at the ready, so within minutes they are ready for a fire. They practice for fires in gear with their air pack to be ready within 90 seconds. Once you develop discipline it becomes part of you, a positive good habit.
No matter if the firefighters are exhausted after extinguishing a large fire, the hoses are loaded back onto the apparatus the same way…every time. They need to know where everything is at when the tones drop at 3 am.
Perfect. True discipline gives you the freedom to do your best and be your best self, allowing yourself to achieve success. For example: cleaning up after yourself and keeping your work place organized.
As you journey through life there will be many obstacles, boulders, and distractions in your way. Name them and they will lose power! There will be pain and suffering along the way. These events will make you stronger and help you to learn and grow.
Kobe Bryant said, “I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” (His “relentless work ethic.”) Kobe began work at 4am every morning. That’s discipline.
Daily Discipline:
In our lives, we need to be disciplined in both our mind and in our body to keep free of mental clutter and /or physical clutter.
Just like you brush your teeth twice a day to cut down on bacteria that feed over your body and we bathe every day. This is all about our daily discipline.
Part of discipline is teaching our kids to wash their hands and dry them after using the bathroom. Harvard Medical School says, “In studies, washing hands with soap and water for 30 seconds --bacterial counts drop by close to 99.9%. They also say, “It takes about 20 seconds to dry your hands well if you're using paper or cloth towels. It’s all about training and discipline!”
How to teach discipline to children! “The do it now moto”:
Instead of being bored lazy children give them chores and teach them discipline.
As a young child I learned the value of hard work from my parents, Robert J Frank, the first college graduate of his family who then went on to become a surgeon. Dad first worked as a waiter at a restaurant near the University of Virginia to pay for college. Later he was an assistant to his Professor of Physics teaching classes at the university. My Momma, Romayne Leader Frank, worked as a lifeguard and model to put her through college at the University of Michigan. After marrying Dad, she finished her education at the University of Virginia earning a teacher’s degree. Later Momma worked at Sears and Roebucks as a sales person and on the side wrote political speeches for politicians at $50 a speech to pay for Dad’s residency and internship in medicine. A married woman in those days was not allowed to teach school.
As I was growing up my Dad’s patients were fisherman and farmers who paid for Dad’s services with fish and vegetables. Money was hard to come by. We always had a garden in the back yard growing vegetables and learned to till the soil with rakes, plant seeds, pull weeds, and pick the crops for meals. As a child every week, my parents gave me a “list of chores” to do, kitchen clean up, mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes, and taking care of my younger siblings. My parents said as a member of this family you will do these chores “now”! There were no excuses. The work had to be done immediately!
“Earning things instead of being given them.”
Age appropriate chores help build discipline and can allow the child to realize a sense of accomplishment.
What did I learn from the discipline of doing these chores? “Their do it now” principle!
Whether it was washing dishes, mowing the lawn, taking care of my siblings, doing a homework assignment that was due in a week- my parents’ motto was “Do it now!” Do not wait! You will be busy later.
These chores gave me the discipline for my future. When I went to college and was given an assignment due a few days after, I would do the assignment immediately! Later when something needed immediate attention, like a door knob would be falling off, I would immediately repair it! Whatever needed to be done I would do it “immediately”, remembering my parents’ motto, “Do it now!” These chores taught me to be responsible, accountable, respectful to others, and appreciative of any kindness given.
How did I thank my parents for teaching me to be disciplined and responsible?
By sharing their life lessons with others, by writing articles, and radio shows sharing their life lessons with others.
Teaching the Discipline of Hard Work:
Meredith Lynn MacRae, actress, credits her parents’ singer/actor, Gordon MacRae and actress, Sheila MacRae “with instilling a proper work ethic in her and for keeping her feet on the ground.”
She said, “We lived in a modest home in the San Fernando Valley instead of the fashionable Beverly Hills, which the family could have afforded. Mom and Dad didn’t want us to feel superior to the other kids. I had to earn the things I wanted, all the way from dolls to party gowns, by doing chores around the house and taking care of my younger sister and brothers. Lots of kids in my circle automatically got a car when they were 16. Not me. Dad said he would get me a car when I got straight A’s two years in a row in school. I slaved away and finally made it. I got the car with the warning that if I didn’t continue with straight A’s, it would be taken away.”
Doing chores, working for the things you want, brings discipline to your life and teaches you responsibility and accountability:
The chores Meredith Lynn MacRae’s parents gave her to do, instilled “a proper work ethic” for her future. These are the most valuable lessons a parent can give you.
Experts have said, “If she or he had not been spoiled to death, he or she might have turned out differently!”
Chores taught Meredith Lynn MacRae and me to be willing to work hard to make our futures a certainty.
Do you remember the friends you had in high school who were given a car with no expectations of responsibility vs those friends who had to work for their car?
I'm sure you noticed the same difference that I did, regarding the level of care and appreciation they had for their vehicles.
When my kids were that age and a classmate was given a car, they got in trouble. The kids that had to work for the car appreciated it!
When you don't earn the things you want, you don't appreciate them.
Doing chores as a child teaches children to be accountable, responsible, and disciplined. This also builds a "proper work ethic" for their future.
Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker and author, was the tenth of twelve children. He was born in "LA," (that's lower Alabama), and raised in Yazoo City, Mississippi. His Mom had a fifth-grade education, and his father died when he was 5 years old during the Depression.
Zig said, "mom was a wise woman. We were all hard workers, because we had three milk cows and a large garden, and we survived despite all the difficulties." As a child Zig Ziglar's chore was to weed their big garden. When he told his Mom, he was done weeding the garden she would check to see how it was done. His Mother said, "For someone else's boy the job was done alright but for my boy you can do a better job!" He went and weeded that garden again and she rechecked it!
Ziglar said, "We all experienced a wonderful childhood."
Ziglar said: "Well, first of all, my mother was a very wise woman, despite her limited education. She taught us with (one) sentence sermonettes. She taught us, 'Tell the truth/Tell it ever/Cost us what it will/For he who hides the wrong he did/Does the wrong thing still,' and 'When a task is once begun/You leave it not until it's done/And be a matter great or small/You do it well or not at all.' "Ziglar agreed that this was poetry. "She was a very wise, very disciplined, very loving lady, and those Biblical principles, that is what they are, is what we were raised on."
Dr. John Maxwell, #1 leadership guru, coach, and one of my mentors says, as a child he was given a list of chores to do at the beginning of the week.
If he had not finished his chores, he would not be allowed to go to the restaurant or the movies with his family during the weekends. Instead he would stay at home and finish his chores. He learned after that to do his chores on time.
What is the greatest gift you can give your children?
The greatest gift you can give your children is to teach them a good work ethic by giving them chores to do to earn the things they want and need.
Chores taught us how to work hard, to be accountable, responsible, and respectful, giving us a good foundation for our future.
What’s the secret to the “Surefire Way to Reach your Potential”?
Discipline with laser-like focus!
What new discipline will you start today?
Take the one-day challenge!
Below are five suggestions: Try one of them!
1) You have a large pile of papers on your desk. Put the papers in order, file the informational documents in the right folders, and pay the bills according to the due dates on them.
2) Right after cooking dinner, put the pots and pans in the sink to soak with soap and warm water. This way you can clean up quickly and easily after you eat.
3) Eat one scoop of ice cream instead of two.
4) Stop smoking cigarettes for one day.
5) As you run out of certain foods in your refrigerator, write down each food needed on a pad of paper. Then take your list to the grocery store.
Remember discipline is following through on some goal you have and not finding excuses to not finish the task. Don’t procrastinate. To be disciplined you have to take the first step. Don’t just talk about it. Do it. Take your first step. Then take your second step and follow through till you complete what you started.
It’s all about "Choosing Discipline"!
Coach Nick Saban’s “Nothing Speech”
“If you wake up in the morning and you feel entitled, what would that get you?'"
“The crowd and his cohosts roared back, "NOTHING!”
“Saban started to feel a bit of his Monday morning meeting energy.” "If you think somebody owes you something, what would you get? " "NOTHING!" "If you lose your discipline and your work ethic, what would that get you?
"NOTHING!"
"If you fail to prepare and pay attention to detail, what would that get you?"
"NOTHING1"
"So, nothing is more important than staying focused on being the best you can be no matter what you choose to do. “ Saban continued, making the point that expectations and reputations when the job was half finished amounted to nothing.”
Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM is an Amazon.com Best Selling Author, speaker, business owner, teacher, concert artist, and parent. She helps businesses and organizations "Tune Up their Business". Her observations show you the blue prints necessary to improve and keep your business successful. Her latest book "Leadership On A Shoestring Budget" is available everywhere books are sold.
Contact Madeline Frank for your next live or zoom speaking engagement at mfrankviola@gmail.com
