Monday, May 23, 2016

Discipline

Discipline.  The Creator Of Achievement.


"Discipline is the bridge between GOALS and ACCOMPLISHMENTS."...Jim Rohn

This is such an important word to grasp the complete meaning of early in life.  I am absolutely convinced that you can be the most well intentioned person in the world.  You can have the best idea's and dreams. You can have charisma dripping from every pore in your body. You can have creativity and imagination in abundance. You can be bursting with energy and optimism. You can have all these wonderful attributes...but without self discipline you will still fall way short of your goals. The all important character trait of discipline has everything to do with a person realizing their biggest dreams.  It is the creator of achievement.

Without applying discipline to our lives we tend to let things slide. A little bit here, and a little bit there. And there within lies the problem.  The "little bit here" and the "little bit there" all adds up. Outside of a really horrendous life decision being made that can alter your life in an instant, a person failing to reach their personal or professional goals can usually be traced back to the moments when they "should have"...but didn't.  You could be a college student, for example, who has an important exam coming up and instead of studying like you "should have," you decided to go to the big game.  When you take that exam and don't do as well as you could have done there is nobody to blame except yourself.  If that type of poor judgement and lack of self control is repeated throughout your academic career, this can be a problem.

There is nothing I have ever achieved that wasn't the direct result of utilizing self discipline.  On the flip side most of my life's failings, with the advantage of hindsight being the great teacher that it is, were the direct result of not utilizing self discipline or self control. Having personal responsibility and accountability requires a high degree of self discipline.  They go hand and hand like peanut butter and jelly.

Talk to ANY successful person about what it took for them to reach the level of success they enjoy, and you will most likely come away with a lesson on how to properly set priorities...and more importantly...see them through.  They use words like sacrifice. They delayed the instant gratification that was before them many many times because they were focused on the bigger vision/goal that was lying in the distance.  That takes discipline.  Everybody wants to go to the big game.  Not everybody does however.  Some want the A+ on the exam instead. Discipline. 

Being able to say NO to others is an important skill to learn.  Being able to say NO to yourself is absolutely vital to your success.  This was perfectly demonstrated using young children in the famous Stanford Marshmallow Test.    

Until next time...

#YouMatterTremendously
#GoldenRuleLifeStrategy
#LiveYourLifeWithPurpose

The Stanford Marshmallow Test video.