Whether you are an Aspiring Operator, student, athlete, or business owner, unwavering discipline is the key to success. Throughout history, the discipline of warriors has been integral to the advancement of the empires and kingdoms they served. The modern military is no different.

When you have discipline as an operator, you immediately become a more effective warrior and a greater asset to your team. You can work through discomfort, make tough choices, and maintain your weapons and equipment to the highest standards. Although all branches of the military focus on creating disciplined soldiers, sailors, and airmen, the Marine Corps stands out as the standard of mental and physical discipline for militaries around the world.

If you truly want to train like a Marine, you’ll have to go to boot camp. But you can start applying the Corps’ discipline-building techniques immediately to become a more effective and determined individual. Here are a handful of things that you can start doing today:

This might seem like a benign thing to do, but the maintenance of living quarters is critical in the life of a Marine. The Corps regards a Marine’s ability to keep his personal belongings clean and organized as a direct reflection of his discipline on the battlefield. After all, if a Marine can’t even make his bed properly, how can he be expected to maintain a clean weapon, sharp bayonet, or properly packed parachute? An incompetent warrior is a liability to his team that enemies will exploit – undisciplined Marines get their teammates killed.

The best way to start immediately building discipline is to organize your room. You might not be able to bounce a quarter off your bed right away, but taking action is the first step to success. If, at this point, if your room is a complete mess, here are a few things you can focus on to get started:

Bedsheets, Linens, and Pillows: Your bed sheets and covers should be flat, unwrinkled, and tucked underneath your mattress if possible. If you have a flat sheet on your bed instead of a fitted sheet, make 45º hospital corners at each corner of the mattress. 

Your pillows should be under the bedsheets, with the open ends of the pillowcases tucked back into themselves for a clean look.

Footwear: Boots and shoes should be neatly lined up in size-order under your bed or beside it. Tuck laces into boots and shoes for a neater appearance.

Clothes, Equipment, and Towels: All clothes should be neatly folded or hung in your closet appropriately. Creased/starched clothing, formalwear, and delicate materials should be hung to avoid wrinkling. Cotton shirts and PT clothes can be folded and stacked neatly.

Towels should either be folded if dry or neatly hung to dry if they are wet. Any additional equipment like plate carriers and weighted vests should be stored neatly somewhere or hung with their weights/plates removed.

General Cleanliness: Floors should be vacuumed and washed/mopped. Countertops should be wiped down with a wet towel or dusting cloth. Pay extra attention to clean hard-to-reach places where dust can accumulate, like the tops of door frames and ceiling fans.

Marines never sleep in. Not only does rising early help a Marine get ahead of the day by completing routine tasks early, but the concept of morning and evening “stand-to” is a time-tested military strategy (most attacks and raids happen at either dawn or dusk).

To immediately begin building your discipline, start waking up early. Not only will you be crafting mental discipline by doing something that you don’t feel like doing, but you will also unlock more hours during which you can be productive.

If you usually wake up at 0800 but start waking up at 0500 instead, you get an extra three hours every day; that’s an additional 21 hours/week, 84 hours/month, and 1008 hours (42 days) /year!

Unfortunately, there’s no OA Top-Secret Strategy for waking up early. You just have to do it. Prepare for the discomfort, count to three, and roll yourself out of bed. On the bright side, getting up is the hardest part of being an early-riser. Once you’re up and moving, you’ll feel much less tired with every passing minute. Use the morning to get ahead of menial tasks like answering emails or cleaning.

Seeking out and undergoing daily discomfort is critical to building discipline. As an operator, you will face countless challenges, obstacles, and hardships throughout your career. Your equipment will fail, teammates will get hurt, and your intel will be wrong; you must complete the mission regardless.

By subjecting yourself to small amounts of daily discomfort, you build discipline and tolerance to stress. The discomfort doesn’t have to be purely physical either. In the Marine Corps boot camp, recruits are subject to constant physical and mental stress, from push-ups to screaming drill instructors.  

Although you might not be able to find a local drill sergeant to yell at you throughout the day, here are a couple of things you can do for your daily dose of discomfort:

• Take a cold shower.
• Do an extra set/mile/lap in your workout – even when you don’t feel like it.
• Face a fear like public speaking or heights.
• Do a difficult task that you have been procrastinating on.
• Start an OA Certified Workout Program or attend an OA Crucible Event!

No matter what you do in life, being disciplined makes you a more effective, adaptable, and resilient person. After following this short guide for a few weeks, you will find that you are more willing to act in difficult situations and better able to relax under stress. If you are becoming an operator, your improved discipline will put you far ahead of the other candidates during selection.

Learn more ways to improve, stay accountable, and build discipline. Become an OA Aspiring Operator today and join our huge community of existing and future operators! You'll get instant access to exclusive podcasts, a weekly accountability group, and a huge community of driven individuals who will help you stay on the path.