“when you see someone who appears to be a disciplined person what you’re really seeing is a person who has actually just acquired a few very key disciplines in a specific area”

There is no such thing as a disciplined person and, even if there were, why would you want to be one? The concept of a disciplined person is a myth. No one is disciplined in all things. No one. If someone looks like they are, they aren’t. If someone tells you they are, they’re not. Being a disciplined person simply isn’t a possibility or a necessity. You can’t be one, but the good news is that you don’t need to be one.

I believe that when you see someone who appears to be a disciplined person what you’re really seeing is a person who has actually just acquired a few very key disciplines in a specific area. They have figured out what the handful of foundational disciplines are that they must do in order to be the best at what they’re doing and that is all they’ve done. They’ve prioritized the disciplines they need and then have only gone after the most important ones.

Gary Keller, Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times, eBook edition (McGraw-Hill: New York & Chicago, 2009), 74.