In my last post, we (and I really mean we, not the collective we) launched a full out academic war on defining work ethic and I feel confident that my initial thoughts on the definition along with your comments lead us to something that really works.  Simply put, we defined work ethic as, “The discipline of living values on the job.”

Here’s the tough part, at least for this guy.  Do you really have the discipline to live your values and have a positive work ethic on a monthly, daily, and even hourly basis?  My assumption, speaking from personal experience is no.

Unless you’re this guy.

Discipline is a hard thing to wrestle with.  There are so many things we could be doing that it can be overwhelming sometimes.  Do I check my twitter feed? Call a prospective client, check e-mail, write a blog post, or develop a new training program? We all face an onslaught of tasks and decisions that involve discipline daily.  It’s also a hard concept because it usually has a negative connotation.  Discipline is NOT doing what I WANT to do in this moment for a long term payoff.  This is completely counter-intuitive to the way our society runs.

So, how do we discipline our daily lives to live the values of work ethic?

Here’s a few simple ideas to start with and I’d encourage everyone to add their top thoughts to the list…

• Discipline Your Schedule-  Jim Collins, in my mind the most prolific business thinker ever, holds such a disciplined daily schedule that he carries a stop watch in his pocket and charts his time on an excel sheet to make sure that he is living true to the priorities he values.  While we don’t all need to carry an extra watch, what about shutting off e-mail, facebook, twitter and just focusing for the first hour of every day on what we value most?  Knowing priorities is a good 1^st step.

• Discipline Your Relationships-  No, this isn’t giving the people you care for tough love, it’s making sure that you share your priorities with people who will hold you 100% accountable for those priorities.  Openly share your goals and challenge close co-workers and friends to hold you accountable for meeting them.  It will eventually manifest itself into holding yourself accountable.

• Discipline Your Gratitude-  Something we all can easily forget is to say thanks to those that help us and show appreciation and willingness to serve.  To live a life of constant appreciation, we need to discipline ourselves to show it more than we get it.  Use any opportunity to show someone how much you appreciate them or simply give them a smile.  Get up and talk to someone vs. texting/sending an e-mail.  It’s not tough to show people you’re here to serve.

How do you discipline yourself to live with great work ethic?  If we want to change others, we need to start with ourselves.

Matt Smith is the President of the Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative. Contact him via e-mail, or check out www.theagame.com. The Bring Your A Game to Work Initiative is a national workplace initiative aiming to rebuild work ethic in young people. Youth can earn mastery level certification to prove that they are work ready, and the adults who teach them, manage them, and care about them can help get them there.