Riff 946. Discretion: The Discipline Nobody Talks About

In this episode, we unpack Proverbs 16:22—"Discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it, but discipline is wasted on fools." 

Here's what I discovered this morning: everyone talks about discipline, but few ever develop discretion. 

I’ll show you why discretion is the internal leadership skill most people overlook—and how practicing it can save you from the endless cycle of correction, reaction, and regret. 

This one’s a short riff. I'll unpack it more in a future episode. 

Transcript

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All right. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. Let me read to you quickly. Something that like snagged me this morning, and those of you who have rocked with me for a long time, , you know, I, I have a random reading ritual that I do every single morning, 15 minutes of random reading and something snags me. I stop right then and there and I write about it. And this morning I never even got to any books. This morning I was reading out of Proverbs and what I try to do is, is I try to, there's 31. Uh, chapters in Proverbs. So it's kind of my daily ritual so if today is the 16th, then I read Proverbs 16 and I read this this morning, Proverbs 1622, and it reads this, discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it, but discipline is wasted on fools. And I kept coming back to this and I was like, what does that mean? Discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it, but discipline is wasted on fools. So as I always do, I have to unpack this, and this became my morning writing i'm gonna unpack this in a longer form podcast, but I want to get it out to you first because I wanna see your take on it. So discretion is underrated. It is. We talk about discipline all the time, like get up early, stick to a plan, be consistent, grind, I mean, all that stuff. Yes, the discipline part of it matters, but we never really give much thought to discretion. Discretion is quiet. It doesn't post its reps. It doesn't scream. Look at me. But discretion is so powerful. Discretion is wisdom in motion. It's the ability to hit the mental pause button and think before you act to consider the ripple effect that you cause. Before you end up making a splash. Here's what I came to realize this morning. When you lead with discretion, you don't need much discipline. Why? Because you're not constantly cleaning up a mess. You're not living. In damage control, constantly putting out fires. You're not reacting, you're responding. See, fools reject discretion. They need discipline over and over again, and sometimes they'll even manipulate it. They'll apologize, they'll cry. They promise they'll never do it again, and then they repeat it. Discretion prevents discipline corrects, which one do you wanna live by? So what does discretion look like for you? Good news is it's readily available right here, right now. How do you develop discretion? You hold your tongue instead of lashing out. Through curiosity. You ask a question. Instead of making an assumption, you pause and reflect. Before reacting emotionally, you think long before acting short. It. Discretion is not any sort of weakness. It's not indecision. It's actually strength under control. It's wisdom in real time. So let me give you a definition that I wanna apply to my life. What does it mean to be wise? Wisdom. It is applying the right knowledge at the right time for the right reasons, and that's exactly what discretion does. Discretion zooms out. It considers it's aligned, and the more you develop discretion, the quicker it gets. At first, like anything, it's gonna be a long pause, but over time. It's gonna become second nature for you. It's a trained instinct. It's not a reaction, but more so a response. So discipline is great. It is needed IT discretion. That's that internal game. That's the internal leadership. Most people never develop. We always talk about discipline, but you don't need as much discipline if you lead with discretion. So here's my challenge to you today. Be the kind of person who needs less correction because you lead with consideration. Get outta this loop. Of repeating the same mistake, hoping for a different outcome. Just choose discretion today. It's available to you. Right now, using curiosity and creativity. all you have to do is just start taking a mental knee, You're playing the long game. This is how you lead yourself. Well. Alright. Remember, as always, keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.