An old fighter pilot saying goes “It is better to die than to look bad, but it is possible to do both.”
While I don’t agree with it, there is a bit of truth to that quote. Many of us have a bias where we don’t want to look bad. It’s the reason we take pride in our landings. It’s why we don’t want someone to climb through us in a thermal. It’s why we don’t want to come in last. It’s why we continue a takeoff rather than abort on a contest day when you’re number 3 to launch and there are 30 gliders behind you.
“I don’t want to look bad” says the voice in our head, and more often than not...we listen. When We Talk About Discipline We Are Really Talking About Ego