Developing Discipline

by Hannah Alexander, Administrative Support

A recent article on elephantjournal.com asks: When Did Discipline Become a Bad Word? When, indeed? A timely question when tiger mothers are making headlines alongside entrepreneurs.


Nationally, interest in small business has increased of late, which means that one can find entire sections of newspapers devoted to “Entrepreneurship” and “Small Business”, while in other parts of the newspaper fierce debate rages over how much discipline a parents exercise with their children. These two issues have a common thread: Discipline. Like it or not, discipline is necessary in both parenting and running a business.

Self-discipline is a key skill for entrepreneurs. Not in the beating-with-a-stick sense, but in the sense that you can make yourself work on your business plan when it’s a beautiful day outside, or refrain from buying billboard advertising when you really need Yellow Pages advertising.

When running a business, even when in the exploratory stages of starting an enterprise, the discipline it takes to honor commitments, combined with the ability to complete your least-favorite tasks in as timely a fashion as your favorite tasks, will serve you very well, long into the future.

You can explore what skills and talents you need to be a successful business owner with West Company in the Building a Better Business series of workshops happening now through June 2nd in Fort Bragg, running May 27th through July 28th in Ukiah. For more information call 969-7571, or, you can register online here for Fort Bragg, click here to register for Ukiah.