A life of well-being, meaning and purpose.
Continue reading “Inch By Inch”Without discipline, we are like a ship without a rudder. We may be taking lots of steps, but making no progress. The good news is that you and I don’t require tons of discipline to succeed. We can learn discipline through small steps. And small, simple daily disciplines, practiced day by day, eventually lead to the destination we desire.
“When we try to change our behavior, we strategize about our motivation and self-control. But what we should be thinking about instead is how to set up new habits. Habits persist even when we’re tired and don’t have the energy to exert self-control.” ~ Wendy Wood [Life: Wellness]
A father gave his young child a thread and directed her to break it. This she did easily.
The next day, the father wound two threads together and asked the child to break the pair. Again, she easily broke them. Continue reading “Make Success A Habit”
“People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply: by the lives they lead.” ~ James Baldwin, No Name In The Street
Once upon a time, there were 3 friends, Ron, Tom, and Oswald. (*This example is patterned after one presented by Darren Hardy in The Compound Effect. See Resources.) They grew up in the same neighborhood and remained good friends through school and later after they began their careers. They made about the same income. All three were married and were raising families. Continue reading “Your Super Power”
“There’s something magical about repeating the same positive habits every single day.” ~ SJ Scott
What do you do before breakfast? Hyrum Smith calls the early morning hours the “magic hours”, a block of uninterrupted time when you can concentrate on things beyond the normal urgency and routine of the day. Brian Tracy refers to this time as the Golden Hours — the first hours of the day which set the tone for the rest of the day. Continue reading “What To Do Before Breakfast”
“The amateur focuses on outcomes and expects immediate results. The professional plays the long game and prioritizes the process, perfecting it for years with no immediate payoff.” ~ Ozan Varol
“We decided to use the approach that we’re not going to focus on the outcome. We were just going to focus on the process of what it took to play the best football you could play, which was to focus on that particular play as if it had a history and life of its own. Don’t look at the scoreboard, don’t look at any external factors, just all your focus and all your concentration, all your effort, all your toughness, all your discipline to execute went into that particular play. Regardless of what happened on that play, success or failure, you would move on to the next play and have the same focus to do that on the next play, and you’d then do that for 60 minutes in a game and then you’d be able to live with the results regardless of what those results were.” ~ Nick Saban [Elmasry]
Nick Saban is considered by many people to be the most successful coach in college football. He has a lifetime record of 218 wins, 62 losses (and 1 tie). He is tied with the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant for most NCAA championships. [Wikipedia] Saban credits much of his success to the fact that he and his teams follow what he calls “The Process.” Continue reading “Effort or Results?”
“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.” ~ Joshua Becker
“I had seen successful people let go of very good things that were not the best things to them.” ~ Dr. Henry Cloud
In the book 9 Things You Simply Must Do To Succeed In Love And Life, Dr. Henry Cloud identifies one of the 9 Things as “pull the tooth”. If you’ve ever had a toothache, you know that temporary measures to hide or mask the pain do not work for long. You may be able to forget about it for a short time, but the pain always returns. Until you deal with the source of the pain, the problem keeps coming back. Continue reading “Enemy Of The Best”
“The most meaningful thing you can do is make a promise to yourself and keep it. You start to feel like you can trust yourself and rely on yourself.” ~ Phil Stutz
Do you want to build your self-discipline? Do you want to build trust in yourself and your ability to do what you say you will do? Do you want to practice the virtue of Integrity? These are valuable steps on the path to lifetime growth.
One way to practice these steps is to instill a daily habit. Make it something that is good for you and makes you feel good about yourself. And once you start, do it every day until it becomes second nature. Discipline improves with practice. Continue reading “Make a Commitment”
Self-regulation (or willpower) is one of the most important strengths to develop. [Miller 91] In fact, developing other strengths often depends on our practicing them when we don’t really want to. In other words, by using willpower. Continue reading “Small Simple Daily Disciplines”
Ready? On your mark. Get set. GO . . . consistently!
Consistent action is the key to growth.
“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.” ~ John C. Maxwell
Remember the fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare? The hare sped way out in front, then decided to stop for a bite to eat. The tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. When the hare saw that the tortoise was gaining on him, he took off again, far outdistancing the tortoise. He got so far ahead, in fact, that he decided he had time for a nap. Meanwhile, the tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. You know what happened — eventually, the tortoise passed the hare, who was otherwise engaged, and won the race. Continue reading “Steady Wins The Race”