discipline...

Stan: Dad, you like to drink, so have a drink once in a while. Have two! If you devote your whole life to completely avoiding something you like, then that thing still controls your life and... and you've never learned any discipline at all.
Randy: But, maybe I'm just the kind of person who needs to have it all or nothing.
Stan: No. All or nothing is easy. But learning to drink a little bit, responsibly? That's a-disiprin. Disiprin come from within.
Randy: How did I manage to raise such a smart kid?
Stan: I've had a great teacher.
Randy: Thanks, son.
Stan: No, not you. My karate teacher. He's really smart.

'Experts' are like chimps?

from Op-Ed New York Times Article::

"The best example of the awe that an “expert” inspires is the “Dr. Fox effect.” It’s named for a pioneering series of psychology experiments in which an actor was paid to give a meaningless presentation to professional educators.

The actor was introduced as “Dr. Myron L. Fox” (no such real person existed) and was described as an eminent authority on the application of mathematics to human behavior. He then delivered a lecture on “mathematical game theory as applied to physician education” — except that by design it had no point and was completely devoid of substance. However, it was warmly delivered and full of jokes and interesting neologisms. Afterward, those in attendance were given questionnaires and asked to rate “Dr. Fox.” They were mostly impressed. “Excellent presentation, enjoyed listening,” wrote one.

...

The result? The predictions of experts were, on average, only a tiny bit better than random guesses — the equivalent of a chimpanzee throwing darts at a board.

...

Hedgehogs tend to have a focused worldview, an ideological leaning, strong convictions; foxes are more cautious, more centrist, more likely to adjust their views, more pragmatic, more prone to self-doubt, more inclined to see complexity and nuance. And it turns out that while foxes don’t give great sound-bites, they are far more likely to get things right.

...

Other studies have confirmed the general sense that expertise is overrated. In one experiment, clinical psychologists did no better than their secretaries in their diagnoses. In another, a white rat in a maze repeatedly beat groups of Yale undergraduates in understanding the optimal way to get food dropped in the maze. The students overanalyzed and saw patterns that didn’t exist, so they were beaten by the rodent."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/opinion/26Kristof.html?_r=1