Discipline
Your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure upon
your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of
specific, short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. You are not necessarily neat and clean, but you
do need precision. Faced with the inherent messiness of life, you want to feel in control. The routines, the timelines,
and the structure: all of these help to create this feeling of control. Lacking this theme of Discipline, others may
sometimes resent your need for order, but there need not be conflict. You must understand that not everyone feels
your urge for predictability; they have other ways of getting things done. Likewise you can help them understand and
even appreciate your need for structure. Your dislike of surprises, your impatience with errors, your routines, and
your detail orientation don't need to be misinterpreted as controlling behaviors that box people in. Rather, these
behaviors can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the
face of life's many distractions.
Student Strategies:
General
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Become energized by doing things in a precise manner.
Set up your own personal guidelines.
Establish a set routine.
Keep an orderly workplace.
Develop your own ways of gaining completion.
Don't be persuaded to do things that will take away from what you need to accomplish.
When losing focus and getting discouraged, concentrate on succeeding at short-term goals to bring up your
self-esteem and motivation.
Plan ahead to reduce the stress of last-minute work.
Understand what is important to you, whether or not it is academic, and make it a consistent part of your
life.
Try to maintain a structured lifestyle. Find a place for everything.
Develop a calendar and make things fit. Identify when and where to study, work, etc.
Maintain structure by keeping and checking an organizer regularly. Make "to-do" lists on a daily basis to
better organize your time and create some kind of routine. Check off what you do as you go through the day.
Analyze what needs to be accomplished before attempting to do it.
Maintain a calendar for the term, month, and week, and on a daily basis. Establish your priorities.
Reward yourself after reaching your goals.
Academic Life
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Schedule all assignments, exams, and papers due for the term.
Clean and organize your living space before any major assignments are due or before an examination period.
For classes in which there is minimal structure, develop your own structure and check it out with the
professor.
Don't be afraid to "color-code" tasks on your calendar and your textbooks or note. This helps you focus on
and prioritize what you are learning and doing.
Study Techniques
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Use your sense of discipline to allow yourself to work in large blocks of time.
Allow yourself time to organize your papers before starting them.
Before starting papers, talk to instructors to find out what they expect and how they grade.
When reading, highlight key terms and summarize or take notes in the margins.
When reading, connect issues and ideas to lectures and other classes.
When you come across an unfamiliar word, finish the sentence, look it up, and then re-read the sentence.
When preparing for a test, first get organized. Collect all notes, have terms defined and facts highlighted
and/or listed, and have possible questions available.
Outlining is an important way to organize your ideas.
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When preparing for finals, allot a certain amount of time to study for each test.
When working on a paper, it may be best to make an outline and break it down into parts that you can then
work on individually.
Use your discipline to stay ahead in the reading assignments, and go over your lecture notes within twelve
hours of taking them.
Class Selection
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When choosing classes, arrange them in a way that allows studying during the times that you are more
productive. (Be realistic).
Take classes that you must fulfill for GEs or your major first.
Choose professors who structure their courses and have clear expectations.
Career
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Take on a career in which you can maintain order for yourself and others.
Take part in organizing events and people.
Your organizing skills should be helpful in administrative positions.
Find jobs that require exactness.
You will be appreciated in most work settings because of your follow-through and the fact that you work
systematically.
 You can do a lot to help others become organized. This makes them become more effective and improves
their follow-through. You will be making a valuable contribution.
In many ways you are a perfectionist. While some may criticize your perfectionism, just think of all the professions in
which you wouldn't want someone who wasn't a perfectionist (e.g., airplane pilot, brain surgeon, accountant, etc.).