Feb

Self-Discipline - the missing link

Filed Under Goals, Motivation, Procrastination, Self-Discipline

Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another.” – George Washington

Self-Discipline divides boys from men, self-discipline enables you to achieve seemingly impossible goals, self-disciplines alone can move mountains!

Such a simple thing and yet such a secret. There are millions of self-help books and many of them quite profound. Yet most of them miss the very first and basic step in personal development. That is self-discipline.

In this self-discipline series, I am going to talk about how I came to realize the need for self-discipline, why there is such a lack of discipline these days, the benefits of self-discipline, and how to build self-discipline.

How I came to realize the importance of Self-Discipline

I have literally read hundreds of books on self help, listened to countless number of hours of audio books, attended many seminars. After reading any self help book, I would get really motivated and during that time I would set quite high goals for myself. During the times I was motivated it felt like I could do anything. I would start off really strong and within a few days things would get in the way and I would quit. That would make me feel much worst because I had failed once again. Now in my mind the thought that I was a failure just got reinforced by another failure. Then I would go into depression for a while until another book came along, or another seminar came along. Now I would go through the same cycle again.
Granted I would achieve some small goals during this time but nothing substantial, nothing solid that I could look back on proudly.
Finally, I asked myself why that was. I was reading the books and could recite almost all the books to anyone but I was no better than before. Actually I was feeling worst. My failure belief kept on getting stronger and stronger.

I thought all these people who were writing these books were fraud and were after only one thing, money! You know how it is! There are a lot of people willing to support your negative views because it puts the blame on something other than themselves. People pointed out to several authors who were bankrupt and were only making money selling their books. A lot of authors were turning out to be real and genuine frauds. People who could not improve their own lives by following their advice and yet were advising others. Like an overweight doctor telling you that extra weight is not good for you. Now the advise is sound but kind of hard to believe when coming from that doctor.
Now blaming others actually made me feel better. But that was not what I was after. I was after genuine happiness where I had total control of myself and my emotions. I just wanted to be happy no matter what the circumstances.

After a lot of soul searching I realized that I was at fault and not the books. I was not doing the exercises prescribed in those books. Then I asked myself why I wasn’t doing those exercises. It seemed like I had no faith in them. I wanted to be 100% sure that those exercises would work otherwise I just wouldn’t waste my time with them. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people who think the same way. At least I was finding out more about myself. If I started following some exercises, after a while I would get so afraid that I was doing something wrong, that I was wasting my time with this when I could be using the same time to do something better, to do some exercises that actually worked. So, I would jump from one exercise to another without completing any exercise.

Now that I knew what was lacking, all I needed to do was to find a way to build my self-discipline and take over the world!

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” – Lao Tzu

Table of contents for Self-Discipline

Self-Discipline - the missing link
Why is there a lack of Self-Discipline?
How to build Self-Discipline
Examples of how to build Self-Discipline

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