Discipline: The Overlooked, Key To Achieving Anything

Here’s an excellent post from Bogdan Juncewicz [email protected].

In the summer of 2012, professional trainer, Rob, had an opportunity to see discipline like he had never seen before.

He had just been hired to train the USA basketball team.

During his first interaction with Kobe, they talked about what was possible by the end of the summer. In the end, Rob gave Kobe his number & told him to call him anytime, if he wanted to do some extra conditioning work.

2 days later at 4:15 am, Kobe gave him a call.

‘’Rob, I hope I’m not disturbing anything right?’’

‘’No, what’s up Kobe?’’ Rob replied.

‘’Just wondering if you could just help me out with some conditioning work,’’ Kobe asked.

‘’Sure, I’ll see you in the facility in a bit.”

This phone conversation happened at 4.15 am.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Rob walked into the training facility expecting to meet Kobe there to start the conditioning. However, Kobe was already there.

He saw Kobe there – alone – completely dripping in sweat already deep into his conditioning. It wasn’t even 5 am yet.

After about 2 hours of conditioning work together – 7 am – Rob went back to his hotel to get some quick rest before the actual day’s practice began. During that time, Kobe went to the court to practice his shooting.

11 am. Rob arrived back at the facility to meet the rest of the USA basketball team. They were talking and chatting waiting for training to begin; except 1 player; Kobe. On the far side of the facility, he was there shooting hoops.

‘’Good work this morning’’ Rob said to Kobe.

‘’Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it’’ Kobe replied.

‘’So when did you finish?’’

‘’Finish what?’’ Kobe replied.

‘’Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?’’ Rob asked Kobe.

‘’Oh, just now. I wanted 800… so yeah, just now.’’

Rob was shocked. Kobe was drenched with sweat before 5 am, worked with Rob on conditioning for 2 hours, then made 800 shots over 4 hours until 11 am.

Most impressive of all, this was all PRE-training. Meaning… the actual training was only about to begin & Kobe was gonna be there.

He did all that – 6, almost 7 hours of hard frickin’ work – before the official training with the team had even begun; that’s work ethic. That’s commitment. That’s world-class discipline.

Kobe – Kobe Bryant – at age 34, had already won 5 NBA championships, 2 NBA Finals & 2 Olympic Gold Medals.

WHAT THIS MEANS: ARE YOU WORKING OR FAKING IT?

The question for you… are you doing the same? Are you working as hard as you believe you should to achieve your dreams? Are you focused? Committed?

Yes, Kobe may have had the physical advantage of height – 1.98 meters – but so do many others – yet they never achieve what Kobe achieved.

It’s because his physical advantages aren’t what gives him the edge… rather, it’s his skill – developed through back-breaking discipline & work – that really gives him that edge!

It wasn’t talent that made him extraordinary. It wasn’t his natural born gifts. It was his work. His discipline and astounding work ethic; that’s what made him one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

And that’s what world-class skill & achievement requires; you’ve got to be disciplined & put in the work.

No amount of wishful thinking can replace the work required!

Positive thinking may make you feel good, but without the discipline & work, dreams will simply remain dreams.

For some reason, we have actually been persuaded to believe that the ‘secret’ to success is to simply think about what we want. Yet, latest research – as well as the study of the world’s most successful people – continues to show us that few things can be further from the truth.

Nothing significant is ever achieved overnight; it requires discipline & work. And, the highest levels of achievement (at anything) require a disproportionate ‘allocation’ of your time.

In fact, the very things we value most in life, never come without discipline.

THE FINAL CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING

The key is to align your actions (how hard you work or train) with your ambitions (how lofty your ambitions are). The key question here is:

Are you actions & ambitions aligned?

If you want to become a trillionaire, yet you’re working 3 hours a day, you’re not striking that alignment between actions & ambitions. It’s because that height of success requires massive work ethic, focus, sacrifice & discipline.

Meanwhile, if your ambitions are simply to make a comfortable living, travel the world & sightsee, & you’re working few hours a day, that’s great. Your actions & ambitions are aligned & you’ll be happy.

And remember; there is no right or wrong with this.

Different people want different things.

It’s all about aligning what we want(ambitions) with the required actions.

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