| Discipline is Something You Do For Someone Late in the 1988 football season, Coach Lou Holtz's Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" were leading contenders fo the National Collegiate Football Championship. The day before a crucial game on the west coast, two standout players were sent back to Notre Dame because of a rule infraction. Coach Holtz was asked later why he had sent two of his best players home a few hours before such an important game. Coach Holtz replied, "I didn't send them home...they sent themselves home. They knew what the rules were and the penalty for violating the rules. I simply enforced them." Later, when he was again asked why he took the disciplinary action against the players, Coach Holtz went directly to the heart of the matter when he said, "I never thought of discipline as something that you did TO someone, I alway thought that discipline is something you did FOR someone." Coach Holtz realized that the disciplinary action taken against the players seriously jeopardized their chances of winning the game, but he also knew much more was at stake. Teams and individuals must have discipline if either is to be successful. He was responsible for maintaining the high level of discipline needed to compete successfully at the national level, and more importantely, to help young men to acquire the the self-discipline needed to be successful, personally and professionally. Every one, every day, is faced with choices and each of us has the free will to decide what our choice will be. However, once the choice is made we cannot escape the consequences of our choices. That is the basis for the Law of Cause and Effect, sometimes referred to as "consequential behavior" The principles of consequential behavior are universal. They apply to everyone. Self-discipline is an acquired behavior learned through the efforts of the important people in our lives. Helping individuals/team members to acquire self-discipline often requires great self-discipline by those responsible for teaching it. Enforcing the consequences of undisciplined behavior is a difficult and often unpleasant task which many parents, teachers, and coaches find easier to ignore. There are, of course, consequences of ignoring enforcement...and that is creating a team or individual that is lacking in self-discipline because consequences for inappropriate behavior were able to be avoided. Helping individuals to learn self-discipline is well worth the effort...it creates better people, better organizations, better teams! It can be a demanding task, especially within a permissive society, but it helps to assure a happy and successful life, long after the individuals have established lives independent from parent, teachers and coaches. As Lou Holtz said, "Discipline is something you do for someone!" |
| COME ON YOU GUYS...LELT'S GET DISCIPLINED!!!!!!!!! Love, Shawna |
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