On Discipline

I announced my Reading Year a couple months ago, but really this is part of a larger strategy. I have been thinking a lot of the concept of discipline and the role it plays in our lives. I can hear my parents laughing now; for they think I’m most undisciplined. And Eliza accuses me of selective application of the concept. But I hope I’m not doing that and don’t think so.

We all seek control over our lives, to run our life rather than have events happen to us, or to just survive moment to moment. Many of us want something more. This is where discipline comes in.

I must digress for a moment on the nature of blogging. Blogging is like journal writing or letter writing or literature for the MTV generation, for those with short attention spans. I fear that as I write about discipline, for example, I am merely tackling a subject that has been covered much better somewhere else, in book form, in essay, whatever. I’m embarrassed by some of my recent posts, like the one about “starer.” It’s lame. What was a good idea in my head, never really came through in writing. I should take it down. But now that it’s reference here, I’ll leave it up as a monument to bad blogging. I promise, I’ll do better, or I’ll quit. The question is, perhaps, do I have the discipline to write regularly, and to write well.

I work in a profession, community organizing, that requires the utmost discipline for success. Much of my success in the field is due to the discipline I do have, and my shortcomings similarly from a lack. The following features are marks of a talented organizer:

• Attention to detail, even to the extreme, though not losing the forest for the trees;
• Rigorous thought, meaning the ability to think through to the logical conclusion a strategy or situation;
• Very long hours with few breaks;
• Strong commitment to accountability, in particular, to converting the art of organizing into a measureable science where possible, to attach numbers and metrics to the work and to then judge the work accordingly;
• Good political judgement, particularly an ability to separate out what one wants to be the case from what is the case.

One reason I want to increase my discipline quotient is so that I may be a more effective organizer. I see others around me, some are less disciplined, some more, but clearly a disciplined approach to the work is a hallmark of the organizer.

There is a term, I don’t know it’s exact origins (I’ll see if I can find out), revolutionary discipline. Presumably it comes from the socialist or leftist movements of the 19^th or 20^th centuries, and refers to the discipline necessary to build the movement in a hostile society. It may refer to personal discipline, in some of the ways I mention above, but it may also refer to institutional discipline, liking the movement organization to a military formation. Certainly the term has Stalinist overtones, but this is not what I intend.

The organization that I work for, a community organization, has in many ways a highly disciplined institutional culture and a substantial commitment to maintaining that culture. This is one reason we are sometimes called cultish, though this is mostly unfair and inaccurate. The staff of the organization is in some ways military-like, in that we put a premium on the individual taking bottom line responsibility for the staff in their jurisdiction, and emphasize the singularity of the power of certain managers.

Much of my motivation around the question of discipline has nothing to do with work but rather with getting the rest of my life under control. For example, I am by no means fat, but I’ve gained a lot of weight since my early 20’s. I think the turning point was 28 or so, but it’s bothered me even more in recent years. Finally, I’ve started to turn it around in the past year. I had hit 220 pounds, and then I started doing the South Beach diet. More recently, I’ve lagged on the diet some, but have been exercising a lot more. Ultimate Frisbee is my sport, and though I’m 35, I’m not out of the game yet. I’ve been playing a lot recently, and it gives me the motivation to get in shape, and the structure to keep me exercising on a regular basis.

I have tried to have the discipline to eat better and to exercise, and to some extent I am succeeding. I have stopped drinking soda almost entirely, perhaps my single biggest accomplishment. I live in Miami, and work throughout the southern US, so naturally I’ve found unsweet ice tea. True southerners drink sweet tea, but I’m from NJ, so hopefully I get a pass. I don’t eat white bread anymore, and have cut way back on pasta, though I really like it. So I’m not doing great, but enough to have lost 15 pounds down to 205. I want to get under 200, but that seems like it will be tough.

In recent weeks, I’ve been running a lot, so much so that my legs really started to hurt. I haven’t exercised since last Sunday (today’s Saturday), but I think that’s a good thing. I need to go running tomorrow. Eliza says she will go too. I’m thinking about maybe entering a half-marathon or a triathlon in 2007, to really give myself something more to shoot for. But maybe I should just play in more frisbee tournaments.

I’m also trying to get my finances in order. Trying to pay off debts, get the house-repair payments under control, etc. And I’m trying to be more disciplined about reading and writing. I have gotten a “gig”, unpaid, writing book reviews for a magazine that covers community organizing. I’m on my second review in as many issues. We’ll see if they still want me after this one. I’m not sure if I’m a good enough writer…

So what’s the point of all this? First, I’m trying to achieve discipline in mind, body, finances. Maybe I need to accept Eliza’s challenge and try to round it out. Family and friends would be a good start. I find that I’m emotionally drained often from working so hard, and neglect friends and family. Maybe I need to develop the discipline to not let this happen?

Second, I’m curious about how one develops discipline. To train the mind, I’m committing to doing more reading and writing. But that won’t be enough. I need to do more. To train the body, I’m eating better and exercising. So I’m sort of developing a plan for each area. But I probably need specific tactics or methods to keep it up. One thing I’ve done more this past year is wake up early to exercise or get into the office. Maybe I’ll list some ideas, and you can help me add to the list:

Mind

• Have a reading year. Read more.
• Do more writing, both for work and personal use. Hence the blog, in part.
• Engage more with people who are sharp, and delve deeply into issues in conversation.
• Maybe work on my Spanish?
• I wonder if I should start playing chess with Eliza more. She likes it, and it’s good training and fun.
• I’m subscribing to more magazines that are intellectually challenging, like the New Yorker and the Atlantic. Yes, they may be snobby, but they confront interesting ideas.
• Read the NY Times religiously.
• Stop watching TV.

Body

• Make sure to play ultimate frisbee at least twice a week. Use it as motivation to work out when I’m not playing or, more importantly, when I’m on the road. I should sign up for more tournaments this year.
• Keep up my South Beach diet, maybe even tighten it up some. I bet if I ate more salads, that alone would do a lot.
• Go to the gym, especially to swim and lift weights.
• Keep doing situps, like I was a month or two back. Need to get rid of the remainder of the potbelly. It’s lame, but I’ve even thought about getting one of those Ab-lounges advertised on TV. I tried one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond a few weeks back, and it seemed pretty cool. Eliza liked it too. Maybe we should agree that to watch TV for an hour, you have to spend 10 minutes working out in the Ablounge. Maybe we should get his and hers? How romantic!....

Finances

• The credit cards should all be paid off by February. I just need to keep it up…

Family/Friends

• Fortunately, I’m getting married in February, and the wedding is a perfect platform to be a better family member and friend both. I just need to continue.
• Eliza and I often get emotionally lazy at home, and don’t go out enough. We’re often physically tired too, but we need to muster up the energy to hang out with the few friends we have in Miami. Maybe our nice couch is a bad thing.