100 Ways to Motivate Others

Chapter 2. Teach Self-Discipline

Discipline is remembering what you want.

—David Campbell, Founder, Saks Fifth Avenue

The myth that nearly everyone believes is that we “have” self-discipline. It’s something in us, like a genetic gift, that we either have or we don’t.

The truth is that we can all “have” self-discipline. The question is really whether or not we learn to develop and use self-discipline.

Here’s another way to realize it: Self-discipline is like a language. Any child can learn a language. (All children do learn a language, actually.) Any 90-year-old can also learn a new language. If you are 9 or 90 and you’re lost in the rain in Juarez, it works when you use some Spanish to find your way to warmth and safety. It works.

In this ...