Chapter Three: It’s Time To Get Disciplined

I never cared much for the heavy-metal band, Black Sabbath, and I’m certain they never cared for me. Their noise always seemed to me to rival a whining child in a 4-star restaurant; why on earth are you even in my space? But we’ll get back to B.S. in a moment as I want to write about being disciplined, and it’s my guess Black Sabbath wasn’t.

There’s a quote by Chief Seattle that always struck me. “When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will; no cold can touch your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive.” That, my friends, is a disciplined approach to life, and a goal we can all aspire to. In fact, it has a lot of the rumblings of thought leadership in it. To be disciplined, often times in a world that doesn’t want you to be, is a tripwire to thought leadership. But great thought leaders don’t trip, they inspire because they know their mission is clear.

You’ll find parts of that mission in Chapter Three.

But how does this relate to Black Sabbath? It barely does unless you’re really, really attuned to the Seattle music scene where Soundgarden, the Seattle-based rock band featuring the late, great Chris Cornell, once did a cover of Black Sabbath’s Into the Void, but replaced some of the lyrics with the Chief’s great thoughts on thought leadership (and discipline).

Here’s to clarity, discipline, and purpose. But without the headbanging.