I have a confession to make: I have always struggled with discipline.
In marketing and entrepreneurship, discipline is often presented as the key to success, the one thing you have to master. But I’ve always had a complicated relationship with that word. As a creative person, it feels a bit stiff and restrictive, more like something I’m supposed to force myself into than something that actually helps me move forward.
But here is the truth: I’ve managed to get some meaningful things done. I’ve built projects, met deadlines, and worked through the hard stuff. It wasn’t because I forced myself to be a « disciplined » robot. It was because I paid attention to my inner child and leaned into something more playful: Devotion.
Discipline vs. Devotion
If discipline is a strict boss, devotion is a true friend.
True friends get it when you need to reschedule because you’re sick. They laugh at your misadventures and accept both your quick messages and long chats as ways to stay connected.
Your creative work, your goals, your dreams, they do better with that same mix of care and flexibility. Devotion lets you rest so you can come back stronger. It doesn’t make you fight yourself; it invites you to fall in love with the process.
Redefining Consistency
I’m all about breaking conventional norms. So let’s stop abandoning consistency and start redefining it. When we stop beating ourselves up for not being “disciplined enough,” we can put that energy back into our work and projects. Devotion reminds us that there isn’t just one way to get things done, there are a million and one ways.
For me, it started back in high school and university. The best advice I ever got was to study smart, not hard. Find ways to get through all your courses, even if you only have 24 hours before an exam. Learn which classes are essential to attend and which you can skip to protect your energy. It wasn’t a perfect system, and it definitely wasn’t “disciplined” in the traditional sense. But it taught me something important: to work with what I had. I stopped trying to force myself into study habits that didn’t fit and started trusting my own rhythm.
What Devotion Looks Like in Practice
- Exploring different workflows: Finding a rhythm that actually fits your brain.
- Celebrating micro-wins: Honoring progress, no matter how small.
- The Plan B bridge: Getting creative when Plan A inevitably falls apart.
- Radical self-kindness: Working with your human ups and downs, not against them.
- The power of “let’s try it”: Making experimentation your favorite way to solve problems.
A Love Letter to the Non-Linear Baddie
To anyone who’s ever felt ashamed for not being “disciplined enough”, I get it.
Maybe you’ve been told your unique way of doing things is “wrong.” Maybe you’ve hidden your messy, non-linear process, thinking it makes you less capable. Maybe you’ve tried forcing yourself into a productivity system that felt restrictive and unnatural.
It’s time to stop the shame spiral. We don’t need perfect execution of someone else’s routine. What we need is our own messy, imperfect, and persistent devotion to what truly matters to us.
Please, show up regularly to attend to your dreams. But let how you show up be as creative as you are.
Marketing is about connection and creativity, and you can’t create from a place of self-warfare. There’s a million and one ways to get there. Discipline wants you to follow the map; Devotion wants you to find your own path.
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