For years I struggled
with discipline. If it could be done tomorrow then why do it today. I put
everything off. I was a terrible procrastinator. I still have to work on it
daily. My mind still tends to lean towards putting off important things to the
next day. My problem is that I always had to “feel like” doing something in
order to do it. If my mind wasn’t up to it then I would put it off, and of
course nothing got done.
I thought for years
that in order to get anything done you had to feel like it. What I realized was
that if I just started doing it, miraculously I would feel like it, and my
thinking would change. What a revelation for me. I just had to act. It took
discipline to act and I found out that I did have self-discipline when I did act.
The late Zig Ziglar said, “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment
that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
Your discipline has to come from inside.
Other people can give you a task to complete, but if you don’t have the
discipline you won’t do it. It doesn’t matter what they say. You have to act.
You have to be disciplined. It starts with you.
Discipline is your
bridge between setting goals and accomplishing them. You can’t accomplish
anything of value without it. Once you set your mind on a specific task it’s
your discipline that allows it to be accomplished. That’s it.
Discipline is doing
what you can do by doing what needs to be done. When you procrastinate then
nothing gets done. It gets delayed. This habit only delays you from becoming
all you can be. Is that what you’re shooting for? Probably not. Most likely you
want to be all you can be at whatever your definite major purpose is.
Start with the
small disciplines. Put your clothes away, walk around the block, do your
homework, or anything else that needs to be done daily. By doing the small
disciplines they will lead to larger disciplines. The larger disciplines are
what will attract success, and it starts by doing the small ones. Lack of
discipline leads to regret and how does regret feel? Not good. In fact regret
can be utterly painful and it comes from the lack of discipline of not doing
what you can do.
What does Discipline do for you?
Discipline does many things like:
1.
It builds
confidence – How great do you feel when you get something done? When you
write a to-do list and you complete everything on it? You feel great and that’s
because you had the discipline to finish. That builds confidence and then you
want to develop more disciplines and accomplish more. Robert Kiyosaki the
author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad said it
best when he said, “Confidence comes from discipline and training.”
2.
Allows
you to grow – Setting up new disciplines accelerates the growth process. It
makes you reach as high as you can. It makes you grow. You can’t grow without
the discipline to read, write, help others, learn, and lead. This all takes
discipline. Discipline inspires growth.
3.
Expands
your knowledge – When you discipline yourself to self-education then your
knowledge base expands. You become more intelligent and thus puts you in a
position to be ready for success. The more you know the more you grow.
4.
It
motivates you – When you act you want to continue acting. That all starts
with the discipline. You will want to continue to accomplish your goals when
you have the discipline to do them. This will increase your motivation to
accomplish everything you can.
5.
You
become a good example to others – When other people see you be disciplined
they will want to model you. People will see you put the work in that’s
necessary to achieve all you can. It won’t just be lip-service. It will be
action and you will inspire others by it.
There is a danger
in looking at an undisciplined day and thinking that everything is alright.
When you spend a day lazily watching television and doing nothing that’s one
day spent without discipline. Add these days up and it becomes a month and a
year of lazy days. You are that much farther behind when you spend a day doing
nothing.
In most cases the
discipline is greater than the accomplishment. When you accomplish a major goal
what do you think about? Most likely you think about the work that went into
it, and not the goal. The discipline you showed to get up early and stay up
late to see it through is what you think about. I know for me that’s the case.
I am always proud of myself when I did what was necessary to get the job done.
It’s a great feeling.
If you don’t work
on your disciplines daily then it can lead to distraction. There are so many
distractions out there like television, the internet, or other people. It takes
daily discipline to avoid these distractions and to do what needs to be done. Miguel
De Cervantes said,” It is one thing to praise discipline, and another to submit
to it.” Submit to self-discipline and watch what happens.
Your life will
either be an example of discipline or a horrible warning of the lack of discipline.
Let your life be an example. Let others watch how you discipline yourself daily
and you will see how your life can have an impact on other people. Be
disciplined all the time. Have the self-respect to do what needs to be done. “Self-respect
is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say
no to oneself.” - Abraham Joshua Heschel.
How do you feel
when you needed to get things done and didn’t because of lack of discipline?
Then you are behind the next day and the next. Think about how good you feel
when you do get things done. You feel great. Focus on that feeling next time
you want to procrastinate.
You need to be
disciplined when things are going good and most importantly when things aren’t
going good. That’s when you need it the most like legendary football coach Vince
Lombardi said, “It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when
you're a winner, when you're number one. What you got to have is faith and
discipline when you're not a winner.” Go for the disciplines. Develop them
daily and then the magic really happens
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