Discipline

In a meeting this morning, I thought about discipline and how important this trait is.

As an investor and trader, I am pretty disciplined. I always cut my losses and trade my plan. I have to learn how to unlearn everything I have ascertained from my engineering / corporate career because those lessons defeat one as an investor. Things like the need to be right, the ability to manipulate situations and crises - they just don't work in the markets.

What happens to me on an almost daily basis is that I take what I learn about psychological barriers and behavior from trading and apply it to the workplace.

This morning was no different. I realized that discipline is important in every career path. Engineering, accounting, lifeguarding...whatever. One must be disciplined in following the rigor necessary to do a good job. For engineers, they must follow the disciplined plan / process that has been developed to create a quality product that customers want. Shortcuts only create problems - BIG ones. A lifeguard must be disciplined enough to constantly be paying attentiong - otherwise the mistake is also potentially very big.

Funny thing though. When is the last time you heard the word DISCIPLINE at work in this context? It seems to me that discipline is perhaps taken for granted a little too much. Food for thought...