Discipline

The Dream

Do you have a dream life or goal you picture in your head? But whether its friends, family, or social media, it can slowly deteriorates out of your mind because “its not possible for me.” Or do you have trouble staying consistent working towards that goal? This is where the art of discipline needs to be applied to your lfe.

Discipline - Why

Happiness, success, and fulfillment stem from focus and self-control. Which can be hard to believe with the lure of fast food on every corner, the immense thought to hit snooze, or to make a quick buck comes. But in fact, studies have shown with discipline and self control we accomplish more of our long term goals.

Lew Caralla, the strength and conditioning coach for Rice, speaks a lot about success and winning. You chase something you think you deserve until you get it. It doesn’t matter what happens. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t believe in you, it doesn’t matter if you get fired or laid off. You just go until you get it. Because the only thing guaranteed if you don’t chase it, is losing.

It’s important to remember that your emotions and motivation are closely linked together. And as we know, emotions are temporary. Therefore, this will not sustain creatures of habit to reach your goals. You need something much stronger than just pure motivation, Discipline.

It allows you to overcome the temptations to which the average person falls victim to. It helps you overcome living in a world of whats easiest for you. Because often times the easy thing isn’t the best thing.

In fact, people with higher levels of discipline and self control spend less time debating whether to abandon oneself in behaviors and activities that do not match your values and goals.

• side note - which is why its important to keep a direct chief aim (long term goal) closer than further away in life

This then allows you to take a step towards controlling what goes on in your life and going onto the path of your choosing instead of stepping outside everyday and life controlling you.

Discipline is a tool to get through the days when we don’t feel like doing the thing we know has been the key ingredient to our success. Because we have those days we don’t seem to have the mindset nor energy to do the deed we need to stay discipline, but this is just a test that success often throws in front of us to see if we really want what we want.

Because in reality, the discipline is the heart of all success. And we see this in the greatest athletes of all time: Kobe, Jordan, Brady. But if you look even closer to the people around you, you will notice someone around you with immense discipline in their life and success stacking up for them.

Discipline - How

The application of discipline can be tough for some in the beginning. Its building a new habit which can be hard. But the first and most important is to have a definite chief aim. Check out this weeks podcast to learn what that is.

Once you have that chief aim implemented in your mind, make sure to keep it close. Close enough that you start to make your daily decisions based upon that goal. This is extremely important for your discipline. This will allow you to apply discipline without motivation because you know what the goal is at all times.

Eventually, after enough practice of using your definite chief aim as a decision maker, it’ll become a part of your subconscious, the part of the mind that we are not fully aware of and have control. This subconscious will communicate to your conscious mind on the right decisions to make each day according to your chief aim. Which in part, instills discipline in your life.

It becomes a routine. Routine is the daily discipline that is needed for success. Did you know its better to do 5 push ups a day than 100 push ups one day each month when you’re motivated to do it. Thats because your subconscious mind has more of a routine of believing you are a healthy individual. Therefore, your daily decisions will become healthier across the board.

Its not always pretty and perfect and there are plenty of days you’ll mess up or miss. But it is extremely important to get back on top of things as fast as possible. Its not that big of a problem if you miss a day or two. It becomes a problem when the undisciplined days begin to stack and start to snowball.

Lastly, Discipline falls within your thoughts during the task. Discipline your thoughts. Stop thinking too much. Don’t go into the past and don’t go into the future. Stay in the present. Because only then is it possible for the mind to be free, the capacity is free, and you can immerse completely into what you are doing. This means you have arrived. You can work towards your goals to your best ability when you are fully present.

If you want more information on instilling discipline in your life, you can check out this article on Forbes describing 9 powerful ways to cultivate Extreme Self-Discipline.

Podcast of the Week - Laws of Success - A definite Chief Aim