1+1 Newsletter

During my six years as an executive coach, I’ve met a lot of smart leaders. Across the two dozen Fortune 500 companies I’ve partnered with, I’ve met executives who’ve attended Ivy League schools, led billion-dollar enterprises, and been recognized before Congress. And yet as I consider which ones were actually the most effective in their roles, their effectiveness had little to do with their resumes.

One of my favorite movies growing up was Back to the Future. I loved seeing Marty McFly—the scrappy, unappreciated underdog—go back in time, beat up the bad guy, and shred a guitar to the tune of Johnny B. Goode.

Discipline isn’t about overpowering your will by sheer force. That’s unsustainable. Instead, it’s about designing an environment and task list that dramatically reduces the friction needed to be effective.

Discipline isn’t about overpowering will by sheer force; that’s unsustainable. It’s about thoughtfully designing habits that can ultimately run on autopilot so you can save your finite self-discipline for other tasks.