ONE STEP 0001: DISCIPLINE

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Look, to-do lists are wish lists. So today we're going to talk about how do you transform wishes and hopes into reality. Today we're talking about discipline. Lao Tzu said the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Well, I'm here to tell you the rest of the journey is nothing more than a bunch of single steps too. I'm Jim Bouchard, founder of the Sensei Leader Movement. Really excited about this premiere episode of One Step. Our format is simple. We share one idea, one strategy, one thing you can do, or we all can do, to help us be more effective leaders. But we don't stop there. Now, I know you're really busy, so let's get right into it. In every episode, I'll challenge you to identify one discipline to make whatever strategy we talked about real. Now let's be sure we know what we're talking about when we're talking about disciplines. Now, in my life as a martial artist, I learned that discipline is nothing more than the development and cultivation of meaningful and purposeful habits. This means committing yourself to actionable steps, things you're going to do on a regular basis and that you'll carve into your calendar. Because you can't just put these items on a to-do list. A to-do list is really nothing more than a glorified wish list. And I really, really mean that. There's no difference between a to-do list and a wish list. It's not real until it's carved into your daily planner or put there in ink. Now there's a difference between disciplines though and one-off items. That's, that's something we need to talk about. A one-off item could be something that appears on your calendar just once. A discipline is something that appears on a regular basis. Now that can be daily, it can be weekly, it can be monthly, can be annually. I don't care. We're talking about our year-end period of reflection, our day of reflection. We're talking about something that we're carving in once a year, but it has to be there on a regular basis. That's what a discipline is. Now let's talk a little bit about difference between a strategy and a discipline too. Because we're going to share a lot of strategies and tactics and ideas to help us all become better leaders. But a strategy is still a plan. A discipline is your action. Now it's not enough just to come up with the discipline, and this is something we do at every single Sensei Leader Movement workshop. You don't leave the room— you certainly get a lot of strategies and tactics during the workshop, but you don't leave the room without disciplines, without things you can carve into your calendar. But again, like I said, that's not enough. What we need to do is analyze each discipline, and the first question you want to ask yourself is whether you can do it and whether you will do it. And I really mean that from the heart, because a lot of times people get enthusiastic and they say, "Oh yeah, you know," they come up with all these great ideas. And when I really ask them, "But are you going to do that?" Maybe, maybe not. And we all see that the excitement that happens when you go to a conference, right, or a workshop. And then I'll tell you, one of the most frustrating questions I get is, you know, what do we do after the workshop? How do we keep the energy going? And my typical response is, well, you know, that's your job. You're a leader, right? You're supposed to be able to keep that enthusiasm and you're supposed to share it. And that is one of the ways you can keep it going is by share what you learned, share what you, what you feel about that conference with other people in your organization, and that helps keep it fresh for you too. But it takes more than that. You really need to sit down and ask yourself, am I willing to commit to this? Am I willing to do it? And the action of carving it into your calendar is part of that process. But you also have to analyze each discipline based on what you can do. And this is where we really take a hard reality check. Do you have the resources you need to implement that discipline as a regular practice in your life? Now, how do you analyze this? There's 3 basic types of resources you're dealing with as a leader, or as a human being, in fact. There's emotional, spiritual, and material resources. Material— that's the easiest one to think about. For instance, if you come up with a particular discipline, you're going to do something every day. Do you have the material resources needed to do it? That means, do you have the time and do you have the money? All right, and if it's not in your budget, time, or financially, right, then your first step is probably to take, take a little bit of a step backwards and say, how do I develop that resource so that I have what I need in order to not only implement it but to keep this going? Remember, we're talking about a discipline, not a one-off, so you have to have the resources to sustain this effort. The next thing you need to ask yourself is, do you have the emotional resources? Now by that, these are still measurable resources. These are tangible resources. A lot of this has to do with the support system around you. Are your people buying into your plan if your plan affects others, right? Do you have people that support you if you're being disruptive, if you're being innovative? Do you have people that are supporting your creativity and they're going to stick with you when times are tough? And do you have basic confidence and belief in yourself? Which is really— we're going to do episodes on that— it's really based on your training and your preparation. Did you do the work necessary to be able to take this one step and carve it into your schedule and go forward with it? So that's what we talk about with emotional resources. Now spiritual resources, and I'm not talking about religion. It might be religion for you, but that has nothing to do with it really. What we're talking about with spiritual from a martial arts perspective is the intangibles, the stuff we can't readily weigh or measure. But we know they exist because we feel them, because they're true. Now, I don't want to get all spooky about this. A spiritual resource, for example, could be courage. Do you have the courage and determination necessary to implement this discipline? Other spiritual resources, and I probably— the most important one for a leader is, do you have a sense of purpose? That you're participating in something that's bigger than yourself. You're part of something bigger than yourself. That's really what purpose is all about. Again, we're going to do some episodes specific to that. A leader is really a steward of that purpose, whether you're a leader in a small group, whether you're a leader on the front lines, or whether you're the leader of a global corporation. It's your responsibility to embody, to communicate, right, and to take care of that purpose and bring it forward to, to the people that, that you hope will engage with it as well. So it's really simple, but it's a step that needs to be done. Is whenever you create a discipline, create an action step, analyze it based on, on your available resources in those 3 areas: materially, emotionally, and spiritually. And again, if you don't have the resources necessary in any of those areas, then your first step, maybe a preparatory step, is to go back and develop those resources before you commit yourself to an ongoing discipline. Otherwise, you're just setting yourself up for failure, and that can be terribly, terribly discouraging, right? You know, we've all been there. Now, one of the questions I get is, do disciplines change over time? Well, hell yeah, they do. Absolutely. Right? You may, you may need a set of disciplines to get you from point A to point B. And then once you've achieved your goal, though, that particular discipline or those disciplines might not be what takes you to the next level. That's fine. Okay, you're not a quitter because you re-examine your disciplines. That's a necessary part of the process. Are you still doing the things that you need to do to take you to that next step, to that next level that you want to go to? And that should be an ongoing— now that in itself should be a discipline. I don't know if you've heard of our Sensei Leader Movement Challenge, but what we do every year is challenge people to take— this is the first part of the challenge and the biggest part— is to take a day of reflection, right? A sincere day of reflection. Turn off the phones, go someplace where it's quiet, and just ask yourself a couple of fundamental questions. And the two biggest ones we always ask people to think about is, who am I and who do I serve? Those are incredibly important questions for leaders. But you might want to also add, you know, what am I doing? Are the disciplines that I've done over the past year the ones I need to get me to where I want to go in the next year, the next two years, the next five years, the next 10 years? So those things need to be analyzed from time to time. And yes, sometimes they change. Now, there are certain disciplines that never change. One of them, for example, is to— any discipline that you've created in regards to leadership by compassion, or the discipline of being dedicated to that idea of leadership by compassion. Those are things, and you have to decide which of these disciplines will never ever change, which of them become principles and values that you'll defend against any cost. So basically, let's review quickly and then we'll wrap things up. We promise to keep these very short so that you can get on with your day and actually put these into motion. Just ask yourself, what can you carve in your calendar to make today's ideas reality in your life or in the life of your organization? Now, here are a couple— when we're talking about discipline itself, here are a couple of disciplines shared by members of the Sensei Leader Movement. These either come from workshops or from any number of our online resources. One of the most fundamental that I've ever heard of is to actually schedule a time to transfer items from your to-do list to your calendar. I know you have to-do lists. I have one too, even though I just pooped all over it. But, you know, the to-do list is a helpful thing, but you have to take from time to time, take those items off your to-do list, which is still a wish list, and transfer them to your calendar where they become realities. This means actually scheduling the time to get it done. And that's as true for one-offs as for ongoing disciplines. Another discipline when it comes to disciplines, and we talked about this a little bit, is to really sit down and review what you're doing. Is it the right thing to do? A lot of times we'll carve something in and it sounds like the right thing to do at the time, and it might be, you know, based on the knowledge that you have, the data that you have at the time. But over time and experience and the benefit of hindsight, you might see, yeah, you know, that's taking you in the wrong direction. Don't be afraid to take and analyze those disciplines and discard the ones that aren't working and replace them with meaningful and purposeful habits that will work. And keep remembering that definition of discipline: meaningful and purposeful habits, the cultivation and development of meaningful and purposeful habits. That's what it's all about. So if you find that a habit is not meaningful anymore, it's, it's not, it's not purposeful, or even that it's become destructive, then you want to, you want to throw that away and you want to replace it with something that's more positive. I promise to keep these right around 10 to 15 minutes so that you can listen to them easily on your lunch break. On special episodes, sometimes we'll go a little bit longer, but let's wrap this up for today. Just think about a little recap. Okay, the discipline of disciplines. Disciplines is nothing more— a discipline is the development and cultivation of meaningful and purposeful habits. That's what's going to get you ahead. These are the action steps that are going to move you ahead. Analyze them based on what you can and will do and analyze them based on the resources that you have available materially, emotionally, and spiritually. Now leadership is sharing. A leader shares. That's what it's all about here at the Sensei Leader Movement. So we want you to share your ideas. Post your disciplines in the comments and send me a private message if you'd like. Your ideas, your thoughts are going to help others become better leaders too. And that's what it's all about. To get more involved with the Sensei Leader Movement, all you need to do is come to thesenseileader.com When you subscribe, you get a free ebook edition of The Sensei Leader. I look forward to visiting with you again soon. Jim Bouchard, founder of The Sensei Leader Movement.