Discipline

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.