Discipline can mean different things to lots of people including a form of procrastination, restraint and even punishment. However, for me discipline is all about having self-control to achieve a personal goal in any area of life that gives me a lifestyle by design. So having good health, building a successful business, exploring life and having fun along the way with family and friends are all familiar and typical goals for many of us.
It’s obviously clear that success cannot be messed with and requires discipline. Failure is expendable when self-control is put into place.
So how can anyone tap into a store house of pure genius success strategies that really work and get the necessary help they need to get their act together and continue on to enjoy victory, rather than constantly going through the agony and disappointment of countless false starts.
Learning to earn, learning to succeed, learning to achieve more and be happy are aspects we are constantly being sold to by so called ‘guru’s’ of change. That’s ok if you agree being sold to rather than educated as part of the personal development set. If you like the idea of personal change education then keep reading.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher 384 BC – 322 BC, tells us we are the sum total of our actions. I couldn’t agree with him more. Surely it makes sense that every action we take produces a counter reaction thereby causing a result, sometimes a result that is not desired but always a result. So isn’t it vital to take control of our actions to deploy self-discipline, to gather the knowledge that can lead to a positive and desirable outcome and then to take those actions that lead to the goal.
I wonder how many times you have found yourself thinking about ‘what could have been’, and the ‘if only’ syndrome causing you to have lingering regrets. Years ago I used to let my thoughts creep backwards and cause un-due worry and even hurt in my life. Then one day several years ago while I was reading an article about self-growth where the writer mentioned Aristotle and his ideas on how our actions give us the results we experience on a daily basis and how important it is to form good habits I began to understand that if I applied myself to forward moving habits I could take back control of my destiny and turn my life around to a lifestyle designed specifically by me, thereby banishing those harmful lingering regrets that stifles progress and feeds low self-esteem.
So I began taking notice of my habits, what I did on a regular basis and how I actually spent my time. Today modern transformational leaders talk about keeping a written account of what you do, when you do it and the result obtained. A little bit like accounting when an accountant logs in daily income and expenditure or a diet coach purports to writing down all food intake and exercise taken. In essence it’s a record of In and Out that shows a repetitive pattern and produces a result. You only get better at it when you practice. A students passes examinations when he/she studies and completes assignments set to improve the learning curve, a gymnast attains a higher skillset when they consistently practice and a business person grows his/her business when they plan, execute and re-invest. Personal discipline for goal achievement is based upon the same principles and to discover your best and fastest route to success is to first know your desired outcome, the real outcome that is, dig deep and get to the bottom of what you really want, don’t hesitate so you allow procrastination to rear its ugly head, rather force yourself to define your dream and task yourself to go after it. Then it’s time to plan a course of action, writing down actions and results gotten then review the emerging pattern so you can make the necessary adjustments along the way to ensure reaching the first of many goals you’ll have in life.
It can be a long and challenged road to get to where you want to go, and not everyone can find the tenacity within to keep going but, I believe it’s just a matter of deciding to take the necessary action that makes all the difference to success, don’t leave anything on the table.