Leadership discipline means staying consistent with what works—even when it’s hard.
I’m not being flippant with this title. This is a real lesson from my life that any leader can use to improve performance and build consistency.
I’m 58 as of this writing… ooof. Aches and pains come with the territory. So does arthritis. Most people can deal with it. I’m not most people.
Twenty-plus years of Navy SEAL operations, FBI SWAT work, and combat with the 75th Ranger Regiment left me with injuries that are already becoming a real problem—especially in my wrists and elbow. I know that because a doctor looked at my X-rays and said one sentence I won’t forget:
“These are going to be a problem for you.”
He was right. The pain can be so bad I can’t sleep. Advil helps, but I’m not living on Advil. And I’m generally opposed to pills for pain because I got hooked on pain killers after major injuries twenty years ago. I will never put myself in that position again.
The problem wasn’t arthritis—it was consistency
So what do you do when you can’t ignore the problem and you refuse the easy button?
I’m a believer in cold and heat exposure. Ice baths help. Saunas help. Diet and exercise help. Inflammation stays down. It all helped… but it wasn’t enough.
So I kept searching.
One day I took a hot yoga class. I liked it. After several classes, the pain in my wrists and elbow seriously diminished. So I kept doing it.
After a few months, I felt like a new man.
And then I did what most people do.
I stopped.
The pain was gone, after all. Why keep committing to hot yoga when ice baths and saunas felt easier? Hot yoga is hard. Sixty to ninety minutes of hard. You already know what happened next.
What changed my pain (and what I did wrong)
The pain came back full force.
So I went back to hot yoga—and the pain subsided again. Over the years I’ve repeated the same pattern: I slack off on the things that work (especially the hardest one), and eventually I’m forced to return because the consequences show up.
That’s the whole point.
Leadership lesson: don’t stop doing the hard thing
This isn’t really a pain story. It’s a leadership story.
Leaders find areas for improvement. When the answer isn’t obvious, they search. They test. They adjust. They ask questions. Greatness doesn’t stop until the answer is found.
But here’s what separates good from great:
It doesn’t end when you find the answer.
You have to commit to the answer for the long haul.
The tendency—especially for high performers—is complacency when things are going well. We forget the work that got us there. We stop doing the hard things consistently. And then we’re shocked when the “problem” returns.
3 ways to build leadership discipline that lasts
- Name the hard thing you keep negotiating with.
If it’s uncomfortable, time-consuming, or ego-bruising, your brain will bargain. - Lock it to a schedule, not a mood.
Motivation is unreliable. A calendar is not. - Track the early warning signs.
For me, it’s pain. For leaders it’s missed deadlines, rising conflict, sloppy communication, and “surprises” that aren’t actually surprises.
The Ice Cold Leader takeaway
If you want to be a great leader, act like you have arthritis that will stay with you forever and punish you when you ignore it.
Search relentlessly for the solution—then stay consistent with it long after it starts working.
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Errol Doebler is a former Navy SEAL platoon commander, FBI terrorism investigator, and founder of his leadership consulting company, Ice Cold Leader. He can be contacted at Hello@Icecoldleader.com.
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