When I was in high school, playing on the indoor volleyball team, my coach would take us out to a park where there was a sand volleyball court. Since I had learned to play on sand, I always thought that was awesome.
But some of the things he made us do were painful.
He had us squat down and hold the position for hours (ok, probably minutes). It was horrible. Our legs would burn.
He would have us play a game where we had to leap as high as we could in the sand, and another where we had to run sprints in the sand.
They were all silly exercises. Plus, he had us run up and down stadiums. And lots of work inside the gym.
He knew something we didn’t fully grasp.
That preparing for a game isn’t about just playing the game. Preparing for the game requires us to develop stamina. And stamina requires discipline.
My soccer coaches in high school knew the same thing. We had to run miles every day before the coaches would bring out any balls. Running… And I was a goalie!
What a waste!
But the difference was that, in the last moments of the game, we weren’t exhausted. We still had the wherewithal to compete and win.
If you want to win in life it likely won’t be much of a competition in the first moments of your professional life. It won’t be in the first minutes of your marriage. It won’t be in the first minutes of raising a child.
The real challenge happens in the last chapters of your job, career, marriage and when those kids step into the final chapters in your home – that’s when you can’t run out of gas.
You need to be prepared. You will need stamina. And to get that, you’ll need discipline.
That’s why we teach you to be generous.
That’s why we teach you to be kind and forgiving.
That’s why we teach you to work hard.
That’s why we teach you to share.
That’s why we teach you to help those who are hurting or voiceless.
That’s why we teach you to go the extra mile.
Because those things, while not the game, will be the lessons and strategies that help you win the game. And you’ll need to learn those deeply so you’re not even thinking about it.
We want those things to be second nature to you. And that means practice.
And that means discipline.
No one likes it. But no one succeeds without it.