Last week I came at you with Momentum and how it might work for you, this week I want to touch on discipline as its cohort. Maybe even predecessor! Mainly because if you can not maintain the minimum amount of self discipline to do the minimum necessary to achieve the least bit of momentum you will not go far at all.
I am not referring to discipline in the direction that some might go, that of punishment or consequence. What I am speaking of is one’s ability to understand that the mind of the human is ultimately LAZY. If left alone will absolutely develop the attitude, “why if I don’t have to”. The most unsuccessful people have this mantra. I understand this completely, life is far to easy now a days. It does not take much effort to have a house, be clothed and eat. For some their parents are still doing it, but I not writing them, I am writing you.
Make great efforts to understand that you have an industrious brain and a lazy brain. As a species we are not different this way. Realize that not seeing, doing and having is all a process of the lazy brain. Remarkably, if someone has done it you can too! ?Even more remarkably, if it hasn’t been done and you can dream it you can do it! These are the greatest gifts bestowed upon us, imagination, creativity, ability and insight. All unique to the human being. Only you can build what you dream. Take that dream and apply your gifts and watch things unfold.
Starting with insight take a good look at your self and ask, “Does my life run me or do I run my life?” If life is dealing you cards you don’t like you need to become the dealer. If life is delivering peanuts you need to become the peanut magnate. You have the ability to use your insight to scrutinize the outcomes in your day and determine if it was the result of a conscience act on your part or an haphazard event that just came you way.
Discipline is therefore conducting yourself in such a way that haphazard events are the least part of your life and what you see instead is well designed, well thought out and poorly executed ideas about your dreams manifesting real tangible results that you can manipulate, manage and improve. Discipline is believing that there is value in applying your gifts to an effort inside of you industrious mind that will improve your everyday life and cause you to want more.
Discipline starts with losing the victim mentality and realizing, “I can change this situation in which I find myself “. You do have to accept where you are at this very moment but you do not have to accept it again tomorrow. Where you find yourself right now is the result of all of the choices you have made to date. If you are not wise, you chose not to be. If you are not skilled, you chose not to be. If you are not confident, you chose not to be. If you are lazy, you chose to be. If you are capable, you chose to be. If you are going to ……, you are choosing to be!
Discipline works by practicing, training and failure. Like riding the momentum bike, it’s not about crashing; it’s about getting up and back on. This is discipline, understanding the value of continuing. Value is the core of your belief system, if you do not value it enough it will fade. Believe in yourself, make choices that create different outcomes tomorrow. In a nut shell discipline is the act of choosing different ways of doing life that produce different outcomes. Thereby learning the cause and effect of actions and how to better apply the effort next time. Once you see that life is a choice and currently it is the choices you make and making different choices gives you different outcomes. Keep doing this until you get the outcome you seek! Simple as that.
Go and be great,
Greg