About discipline.... do not waste a beautiful day in November - the other stuff can probably wait.

It is the beginning of November, and the weather is exceptional. It is warm, sunny, and I am considering going to the beach today, including a swim in the ocean. Beautiful perspective, but....

There is another part of me that keeps saying that there is other stuff I should be doing on a Saturday - practise music, work on a book, fix things at home, and so on. What will I choose? Shall I give in to the concept of a lazy day on the beautiful beach, so unusual at this time of the year? Or shall I stick to my schedule, ignore the beautiful weather, and work hard on my goals?

Many years ago Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher wrote about five leadership qualities. Discipline is one of them, and it is required to effectively manage. Manage other people and yourself. Yet Sun Tzu very clearly stated that any of the leadership qualities applied excessively results in negative impact. Discipline applied in excess turns into cruelty. Applying too much discipline to your children can be cruel. Applying too much discipline to the team of your subordinates at work will also be cruel. How do people react to cruelty? They get sad, demotivated, depressed, non-productive. They stay with you when then have to, but they run away at the first opportunity when they can. The same applies to myself. If I apply too much discipline to myself, I get depressed, unhappy, unwilling to do anything.

It does not mean that discipline is not required. By all means, it is! But when the sun shines on a November day, one day in the beach will likely charge my batteries with enough energy to work more effectively and efficiently the next week. And at the end of my life, I will likely remember a beautiful November day in the beach, rather than hundreds of other November days I have spent working on what I had to work on.