Do you have the will to will your will? If will is even a thing. OMG, i think I already made myself cross eyed with that opening.
In any case, self discipline is what this boils down to. Self discipline is the assertion of your "will power" over base desires.
Do you ever wonder how people who seem to have iron clad willpower do it?
Like most things in life it comes down to being a skill that needs practice. The only way to begin to acquire this skill, is to do just start doooiiinnngg it; till you become better & better.
Discipline is a form of freedom. For many, discipline is a harsh word that kind of equates to lack of freedom, but if you take a moment to think about it; Stephen Covey has a quote "The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions". In the long term the undisciplined lack the ability, freedom and will power that comes with the ability to control ones life.
Self discipline involves acting according to what you know you need to do, regardless of how you feel at the moment. It often involves sacrificing the pleasure and thrill of the moment for thinking and acting according to the goals you're trying to accomplish.
Therefore it is the self discipline that drives you. It's what makes you go to the gym, when you want to sit on the couch and watch TV.
It keeps you on track with saving in your emergency fund when you know you want to spend it on the newest "toy" when you really don't need it.
Its The A.A.A's of this post. It's what drives you to be accountable, so that you keep active, and accomplish your goals!!!!
For the rest of your life work on your self discipline. Its one of those things that if you stop working on can slip back very quickly. It's self discipline that keeps me doing this blog. It's what has made me get up at 6am on a Sunday to go race. It's what keeps me out of the clubs. How could I get up to do a race or bike at all if i'm up all night drinking? ALthough, sometimes I gotta get my salsa dancing in. Know what I mean?Thank goodness I got many years of drinking, clubbing etc. in my 20's!! ;-)
This choice has resulted in my quality of life going way up. I'm by no way saying not to celebrate life. You must celebrate, for life is short but sweet for certain.
Does every day need to be spent at happy hour, at the lounge, at the club? If it is, then you must accept the affects of that type of lifestyle. You can only serve one master. It's not possible to want wellness and make choices that don't line up with that idea. If you struggle with self discipline there's no better time than the present to begin to develop it.
For those of you who are parents. Having kids is a major responsibility. Kids are kids and need to be free to be that. By you being the example of self discipline it's only going to to serve to help your kids gain the same thing. For the parents out there, I ask you this.... Would you rather your kids develop this skill sooner or later? Teach your children why you may be eating a certain way, and how it's going to benefit them as well. If you're bettering your lifestyle, why wouldn't you want the same for your kids? To think that you may provide a better foundation for your kids, should be extremely satisfying as a parent. It's ok to let the kids have some less than ideal foods here and there, but there really is no good reason for them to have it all the time. Pop tart, oreos, and goldfish. These are no ingredients for your children to being made out of. And it's no way to teach them how to make their money work for them either.
Self Knowledge
How many times have we heard this? Knowledge is power. KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!!
Discipline means behaving according to what you've decided is best, regardless of how you feel at the moment. The first step to self discipline is awareness. You want to lose those 10lbs? you need to equip yourself with the knowledge of how to do it. About those last 10lbs. Acquiring the knowledge is probably the easy part. losing those last 10lbs takes 100% more effort than it took to lose the first 20. Each subsequent step takes that much more of you. But that's where you create the awesome you want to be! The ability to learn how to push yourself into new limits.
Awareness takes introspection, self analysis, and is most effective when written down. If you're not writing, Get to it!
Commit to yourself, and your self discipline. With that, it's time to get your brain in gear, grab some courage, heart and go off to see the wizard! You will find yourself getting tested by the world around you. This is the world giving you many a chance to work on becoming better. It's at these moments that you may think to yourself am i going to cave, or am i going to rise to my decision?
I'm going to leave you with this last quote "the price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret". Take that one with you. Its a good one!
Keep the Dream Alive, Make the Dream A Reality. LIVE THE DREAM!!!!
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