Discipline is a quality that I admire in people. It is the ability to follow through with something
in an effort to achieve your goal even if you really don’t want to do it or
it’s painful to do. I believe it is an important quality for anyone that wants
to be successful but I think it is especially important for a dyslexic student
like me. Like many dyslexic kids, school
isn’t easy for me. I often find myself doing homework for 6 or 7 hours at
night. It’s not that I want to work late
into the night, but I have to if I want to do well. I also find that I have to
work over the weekend on assignments that are due the following week. It’s not
always easy to be disciplined to work when I don’t feel like it, but I have to
keep reminding myself to keep my eye on the goal.
Like most dyslexics, I struggled to learn to read. I started Orton Gillingham tutoring two days a
week after my first grade teacher told my mom, during an end of the year
conference, that I cried when I had to read out loud. While many people have
free time after school, I continue to tutor twice a week. It takes discipline
to practice what doesn’t come easily. It’s just a way of life for me. John
Irving, writer of the World According to
Garp seems to understand the importance of discipline in his life. He said,
“I believe that my life as a writer consists of one-eighth talent and
seven-eighths discipline.” John Irving found out that he was dyslexic when his
younger son was diagnosed. He refers to the fact that “More than a half, maybe
as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn’t say I
have a talent that’s special. It strikes me that I have an unusual kind of
stamina.” I know the effort that it takes me to write a 300 word blog, I can only
imagine the amount of discipline it takes for a dyslexic to write a book. I
believe that discipline and perseverance are key qualities that a dyslexic must
possess to be successful. It takes discipline to work when you don’t feel like
it and perseverance to keep trying when you fail.
