How Can Aspiring Entrepreneurs Develop Discipline?

[LinuxMicrosoftMCSA]

Hi,
I just saw a youtube video of someone saying that school can teach self-discipline. I'm trying to become an entrepreneur myself. I think that school can be good for some people and bad for others. I know that famous people would not have become famous if they didnt have discipline. I'm not very detail-oriented (one of the reasons why I stopped going to college). I think for me, in my case, I should go the work experience route to learn discipline I'm just wondering of the other ways to learn it for becoming an entrepreneur.

 

[fresh_42]

This is my opinion. I do not have knowledge of studies supporting it.

The wish to learn discipline implies the lack of it. The cause of its absence is a part of personality. To correct this, strong emotions are necessary, since you cannot change behavior by rationalism. The only strong emotions are anger, fear and love. Love doesn't last, nor does anger. Thus fear is the only left possibility. Unfortunately this is the opposite of what it needs to become an entrepreneur.

Summary: If you have to ask, you lack the properties of achieving the goal.

 

[Klystron]

Ask yourself how you measure success as an entrepreneur.

Several successful entrepreneurs who I have worked with or read about modeled their careers on successful predecessors. Consider the work of Abraham Maslow. While many contemporaries studied and reported on abnormal dysfunctional traits, Maslow concentrated research on successful dynamic persons; developing a hierarchy of needs applicable to many people in realistic situations.

 

[Choppy]

There are a lot of ways that one can learn self-discipline. But you might want to ask yourself what you're really after here.

I'm not sure the most successful entrepreneurs start out with a goal of becoming an "entrepreneur." They start out with an idea for a business and channel their energy into making that business grow and succeed. They set SMART goals. The self discipline often arises out of necessity.

 

[Helios]

The entrepreneur sees what no one else sees. He sees that void in the marketplace and imagines how to fill it. It's not introspective, it's the opposite.

 

[berkeman]

I just saw a youtube video of someone saying that school can teach self-discipline.

I had pretty good discipline in some areas of my life before undergrad (like high schools sports), but undergrad definitely forced me to adopt a much higher level of learning and intellectual discipline if I wanted to achieve the goals I'd set for myself.

You can read more about my undergrad experience in my Mentor Biography (see the stickie thread at the top of the General Discussion forum), but the short version is that I did very well in high school without having to study much at all. Once I got to undergrad, I got my behind kicked because I hadn't learned good study habits yet, and spent the rest of undergrad working my way up to a very good final GPA and a scholarship for grad school. One of the things I had to do early on in that effort was to give up partying during the semesters (not during the breaks), and I set goals of studying about 40 hours a week outside of class and doing lots of extra practice problems in order to finally do well in my courses and learn as much as I should be able to.

I'm trying to become an entrepreneur myself.

Part of becoming a "Goal-Oriented Achiever" (a term coined by HP's Lance Mills many years ago during the times that he was recruiting me) is to set aggressive but achievable intermediate goals that can lead you to your harder goals. A couple of my aggressive intermediate goals after graduating were to come up with a very valuable patent that earned a lot of money for me or my employer, and to start a company or work for a small startup and help it grow into a strong full-size company. I've done both, and feel good about my accomplishments so far.

The startups that I was focused on (starting or working for) were very technically-oriented. The only reason you could start one was because you had a very strong, proven technical background, and had a strong detailed Business Plan. The only reason you would get hired at such a company (like I was), is because you had the proven skills to contribute from day one, and had shown that you were willing to work long hours and were self-motivated to do great things for the company.

Now, in recent times there have been some very successful non-technical startups like Facebook that were started without a proven technical track record or Business Plan, but who knows if that will become the new norm for startup companies...

I think for me, in my case, I should go the work experience route to learn discipline I'm just wondering of the other ways to learn it for becoming an entrepreneur.

Well, if that work experience will result in the attributes I mention above, then that may be okay. Otherwise, it may be best for you to go to school and commit yourself to graduating in the top couple of percent of your class. It will take a lot of hard work, but IMO, that's the best way to be sure you are being honest with yourself and in setting the end goals that you are for yourself.

 

[Mark44]

I'm not very detail-oriented (one of the reasons why I stopped going to college).

If the user name you chose is anything to go by, your interests lie in a computer-related field. Many disciplines in this area require considerable attention to details, so not being very detail-oriented would be a hindrance.

 

[Nik_2213]

Perchance d'you have ADHD ??
When you get your teeth into a topic, what's your attention span ?

Sadly, details do make a difference. IMHO, the trick is to have the art or wit to identify then focus upon the important ones without losing sight of the rest...

 

[nuuskur]

Military service is good for discipline.

 

[symbolipoint]

Best how to learn discipline?
Either you put in regular effort to try or you don't. PICK the first of those. Something you DO; not something you learn.

 

[256bits]

Best how to learn discipline?
Either you put in regular effort to try or you don't. PICK the first of those. Something you DO; not something you learn.

As a great philosopher once said "There is no try only do."

 

[QuantumQuest]

Hi,
I just saw a youtube video of someone saying that school can teach self-discipline. I'm trying to become an entrepreneur myself. I think that school can be good for some people and bad for others. I know that famous people would not have become famous if they didnt have discipline. I'm not very detail-oriented (one of the reasons why I stopped going to college). I think for me, in my case, I should go the work experience route to learn discipline I'm just wondering of the other ways to learn it for becoming an entrepreneur.

I think that self-discipline is neither something that can be tought - at least for the most part of it; you can only take and adopt good principles and then it's up to you, nor something that is a sole privilege of "gifted" or "talented" persons. On the other hand , at least as far I can tell, the persons that are really well disciplined are not as many as they could be. I believe that this is mainly due to lack of strong will to achieve personal goals or of setting the wrong goals and of course there is a number of other factors as well, who cover a whole spectrum of features, personality, health issues, idiosyncracies. etc. but in my opinion, except health issues, the rest play a relatively minor role compared to the first main reason.

I think that the first thing you can do, is asking yourself what is exactly that you want to achieve, in a sufficiently detailed manner - as many details will become known or clear as you proceed anyway, and give a honest and achievable answer regarding your personality and your goals. Having a strong will to achieve a specific goal is the first very essential step.

Being an entrepreneur has become fashionable and it really has great merits for those succeeding but it has also a lot of risks in various respects and levels. In any case, you can start by choosing the field / sector you want to become an entrepreneur and study information about already existing entrepreneurs / companies who already do business there. It is a well known fact that the principle that has become famous and for good reason is "start small (dream and) grow big". There is a number of other factors besides self-discipline - which is a cornerstone, like acting fast, taking risks and the existense of some lucky moments and conditions which will determine the success or failure but even in the worst case, self-discipline must be there. I regard doing some formal studies in entrepreneurship and related fields an absolutely necessary and very important step.

I won't say more about enterpreunership here as I'm not an expert and also, there is a whole lot of books and online resources written by experts and successful people that you can read but in the end of the day, successful entrepreneurship is an outcome based on principles that can be studied but the process giving the outcome has to do with people personality and efforts put for its most part.

Returning to self-discipline, I would say that it is something that penetrates and spreads over the whole spectrum of activities of a person - even the trivial daily tasks, rather than something that you develop in a partial fashion. This does not mean that you must try to "program" yourself in a dull routine but rather that you have to prepare a schedule for yourself which is in favor of your goals but leaves you enough room to live your life too but also with the sacrifices of your personal time being taken into account.

 

[ayazahmad]

Military can teach you discipline, You can teach yourself by imposing discipline guidelines.

 

[gleem]

I would think you first have to determine what you want to be disciplined about. Trying to be just disciplined (about everything) will be too overwhelming and you will become frustrated. So set the goals and those things that will be important to becoming an entrepreneur and start slowly and gradually spend more time working on them. Supposedly this approach will make it easier to stick with the endeavor which in tern will reinforce your effort.