I think part of the discipline problem is the solipsism of our times.
In an army, your environment provides discipline and (often) fosters motivation for (for example) fitness. A fitness class reduces the need to discipline & self motivation to getting yourself to the class. After that, the environment takes care of itself. Self discipline and self motivation is a problematic subset of discipline and we're not really wired to run on it exclusively.
This is part of why you need a partner to start a startup. Having discipline and motivation together is easier than alone. It's why I don't think online education can replace institutional education (though I think it can make it much better) as the default mode. It's why even in one-on-one sports like tennis or boxing young athletes are on "teams."
When in college, I saw my friends, who were once in the military, power through learning at time frustratingly difficult subjects. It didn't take long to see that their consistent efforts yielded progress in excess of what the rest of us "self-motivators" were making. I don't know why that came as a surprise. After all, my Dad, who was a staff sergeant, raised three boys by himself-our mother died when we were 3, 2, 6 mos-while running an architecture firm.
Some may say we need a holistic approach in how we get ourselves to do what can be unpleasant but also life and career enhancing tasks; I think that makes things more complicated than they need to be. The times when I've applied the disciplined approach to work have been my most productive. Other people's mileage may vary.
> Having discipline and motivation together is easier than alone. It's why I don't think online education can replace institutional education (though I think it can make it much better) as the default mode. It's why even in one-on-one sports like tennis or boxing young athletes are on "teams."
I'm very passionate about this!
I think people completely misunderstand what online education is going to be like. Currently, it tends to be approached from a "Just like school but in the cloud" POV.
That's like saying online music is "a record store but in the cloud"- it's not! There's streaming and remixes and downloads and all sorts of interesting things that are enabled by the new model that simply weren't present before.
Similarly, "online education" isn't about sitting through video lectures and then doing tests. It's about reaching out to real people, building real relationships, working on real projects. It's simply self-directed learning, with the guidance, help and support of peers.
There are a lot of things you can learn to do online, and a huge part of it is getting into the right communities, building relationships with the right people, etc.
In an army, your environment provides discipline and (often) fosters motivation for (for example) fitness. A fitness class reduces the need to discipline & self motivation to getting yourself to the class. After that, the environment takes care of itself. Self discipline and self motivation is a problematic subset of discipline and we're not really wired to run on it exclusively.
This is part of why you need a partner to start a startup. Having discipline and motivation together is easier than alone. It's why I don't think online education can replace institutional education (though I think it can make it much better) as the default mode. It's why even in one-on-one sports like tennis or boxing young athletes are on "teams."