Many of the most impressive entrepreneurs and creatives in our community exhibit a high degree of self-discipline and so we asked some of them to share their backstories of how they developed their self-discipline.

August Behl

Where does anything come from? Discipline is one of those old values, like love and joy, fossilized in amber across from a bunch of bones like locker-room classmates, all fighting over one another to be discovered, rattling hollow noises that echo through the hallways of time, that’ve been kicking and kicked around since God created Cain and a woman; like compassion, like death, since He blew dust and love into being, across space and breath. Discipline more picked on through annals than the rest, picked for the team last but most valuable: we’ve malformed it in our pitiful free will, into an abject, hopeless desire, holding faster to apathy inconsistently. Now it’s a bullshit karmic fire, on the tidy walls of capital. Sitting still, burning nothing. An artifice of the spectacle, for us to ridicule while we go to bed. Tucked in by its light, never sleeping. Forget the fact that it, a decaying photograph, is the same visage that carried Christ squarely across the desert, on all fours in another frame unreachable now not by dream nor by nightmare. Read More>>

Rosalía Noriega

From a very young age, my mother would tell us that discipline will lead you to your goal, but before reaching it, you will question yourself, you will have fear, but your self-evaluation of discipline will take you where you decide. Read More>>

Po

My self-discipline comes from me learning at a very young age about the negative effects of bad decisions. My mother and family let me know what was right as far back as I can remember, and I tried my best to always keep those lessons close to my heart. I have always been a person that held strong in my beliefs, and I was unmoved by peer pressure and following the crowd, I always wanted to stand out instead of blend in. Self-discipline breeds results that are repeatable, and allows me to forecast my future to a certain extent. Read More>>

Nickie Nou

My self-discipline comes from two place: My upbringing and my vision. Growing up in a Haitian household, discipline wasn’t optional; it was a way of life. I watched my mother show up every single day, no matter how tired she was, no matter how hard things got. That kind of resilience rubbed off on me early. Read More>>

Yuka Omori

I think my self-discipline comes from my parents in early childhood and studying ballet.

Going to ballet school is like going to the army! Ballerinas need to be strong physically and mentally. Read More>>

Ky Stewart

My self discipline comes from developing small routines and committing to showing up for myself every day even on the days I don’t feel like it. It’s less about motivation and more about keeping promises to myself, knowing that consistency is what actually builds confidence over time. Read More>>

Tera Chantelle

Honestly, my self-discipline comes from being deeply committed to my purpose. Celibacy for me isn’t just physical — it’s spiritual and energetic. I realized early on that giving ones body away will distract me from becoming my highest self. I wanted to see what would happen if I took all that sacred energy and poured it back into myself — into my creativity, my healing, and my goals. Read More>>

Russ ‘Hoz’ Hosmer

My self-discipline stems from a lifetime of experiences that have shaped and tested my resolve. As a former athlete, national champion, and world-class competitive bodybuilder, I learned early on that success is not a matter of chance — it’s the result of consistent effort, focus, and unwavering commitment. These early lessons in discipline laid the foundation for everything that followed. Read More>>

Audra Milos

Seeing patient people wait and do the work, and seeing the work and waiting actually pay off. Sometimes good things take time and work, and you need to be willing to do that if you want to earn the reward. Wanting it NOW and not even doing the required work or required waiting isn’t going to get you want you want sooner. I’m not settling for a breadcrumb just because it’s all that’s available at the moment; I’ll wait a week and get the full loaf of bread, ya know? Read More>>

Amanda Benson

How you do one thing, is how you do everything.

Self discipline is a perishable skill. It’s a muscle that needs to be worked, and trained. For me, I just got to a point in my life where I felt that I was consistently telling myself little lies and it was holding me back. “I’ll start tomorrow”… and then tomorrow came and I still didn’t do what I told myself I was going to do. At some point you have to decide to keep the promises you’ve made to yourself. And it takes practice. Because willpower will fade, but discipline is what will push you towards your goals regardless if you feel like it or not. Read More>>

Valeriia Kalinina

My self-discipline comes from self-respect and honesty — I try to recognize my weak spots without judging myself, and just keep moving forward. For an artist, this is especially important, because inspiration doesn’t come every day, but the work still has to be done. Without self-discipline, talent can remain just potential. Read More>>

Madison Broussard

Hi, I’m Madison Broussard. I am a certified professional makeup artist and special effects artist. I do it all from glam, bridal, special effects, bodypainting, even men’s grooming. I specialize in TV and film makeup.
I graduated and am certified from L Makeup Institute in Texas. I am a young Texas based artist. I’ve worked on films, plays, commercial shoots, and even with celebrity clients like Jay Barnett and Alycia Baumgardener.
I started taking clients while I was enrolled in makeup school and even got my first assistant special effects makeup artist role for a film in January 2025. Read More>>

Melanie Smith

Photography has been a fundamental piece of my life since childhood. My father always had photos hanging around the house of far away places. Being stuck in a town of 1200 people and no stoplights, those photos made me see the beauty in the world beyond where I was at. When I was 10 my mom bought me my first digital camera and I have never gone back. I have a camera on my person at any given point and finding and capturing the beauty of everything that exists is my true passion. Moving from nature to portrait photography was one of the best progressions of my life. Read More>>

Windham Loopesko

I am developing a utility scale solar project in Hutchinson County (northern Texas Panhandle) around land that has been in our family since 1901. I’ve convinced three of my neighbors to join me in this project. We currently have ~14,500 acres under lease. While our original intention was to develop the solar project (i.e., get the leases, file the interconnection applications, do the environmental and engineering studies, obtain surface use waivers from mineral rights owners, etc.) for sale, we are now focusing on convincing a data center to locate on our site. As one of our landowners has an additional ~30,000 acres he would be willing to make available, we could have a >70 square mile parcel if a data center operator wants a REALLY big data center (north of 5 gigawatts?). Read More>>