In between the business methodologies of Total Quality Management to Business Process Reengineering (BPR), from Six Sigma to Lean Sigma, don't lose sight of some good “Old Words;” service, trust, respect, loyalty, diligence, fairness, and integrity will serve you well in your career. Those “Old Words” should never be overlooked in our quest for the latest and greatest technological business tool or management book.

On a personal basis, there are so many wonderful traits we should all strive for. Again, they will be “Old Words” we have used for centuries: thoughtful, humble, generous, flexible, decisive, trustworthy, enthusiastic, and determined. If you look at the picture accompanying this article you see countless words that will serve you well. But, when I am asked which trait is the most important, I choose discipline.

There are many other factors involved in becoming successful, such as ... commitment, study, preparation, passion, practice, attitude, persistence, character and integrity ... but to make it all come together and work, you have to have discipline. Discipline forces you to get up when you don't feel like it or put in the extra time and effort when everyone else has called it quits. Discipline is the glue that holds it all together and what separates the good from the great.

Personal development expert, Jim Rohn, once said, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” Billionaire, Warren Buffet, said, “We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.” I love both those statements. Here are a few more quotes you should give some thought to, when it comes to the importance of discipline:

“Discipline is the fuel to achievement.”
“Discipline, not desire, determines your destiny.”
“Excellence is a journey. Discipline is the vehicle.”
“The more disciplined you become the easier life gets.”
“Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.”
“Discipline is the one thing necessary to achieve any goal worth having.”

But, my favorite quote on discipline, which really explains it all, is this one: “Discipline is doing what you know has to be done, even when you don’t want to do it.” There are going to be times that you just don’t feel like it … you want to do something else. You could be feeling sick, exhausted, frustrated, stressed out or not wanting to get out of bed; wishing you could pull the covers over your head and let the day go by. Those are the critical days, the telling days, the deciding days, that will determine if you will be successful or not.

Remember what the quote said, What has to be done.” The choice is yours … “suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.” Without the discipline to do it, everything else is commentary… just powerful meaningless words.