If there is one thing in life that is worth getting excited about, it is your ability to make yourself do the necessary things to achieve a desired result. You notice I said MAKE yourself do the necessary things. For that's what you MUST do to achieve a desired result. In this lesson we will discuss why I believe Discipline is Necessary for Progress in your life.
You CAN teach yourself simple disciplines like hanging a towel after a shower rather than throwing it on the floor or hanging your clothes neatly each night rather than laying them around the bedroom. Each act takes the same amount of time and effort. One result is positive and the other result is negative. One act grows your self-esteem and the other tears it down. Once you begin doing small things like the above, you can be on your way to bigger and better things that can really make a difference in your life.
Back in 1989, I had the opportunity to be associated with the Cherry Hill, NJ Babe Ruth Baseball Team that won the National Championship. The tournament started with several thousand teams across the United States. The coaches that brought the National Title to Cherry Hill fielded in my opinion THE most disciplined team in the country. There were many teams in the tournament that had more talent, but none were as well disciplined and totally prepared to play like the group of 15-year-olds from Cherry Hill, NJ. I believe that they practiced longer and harder and displayed complete discipline at all 15 games, in their quest to go 15-0 and win it all. These were all average kids from average households, who DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO to achieve their desired results.
The process of developing discipline all starts with writing down your desires. Then, outline what actions you must take each and every day to achieve those desires. Then get to work and JUST DO IT!
All of your BIG dreams will more often than not, require a lot of time for you to achieve them. After all, they are big, and not small. Small things can be done in an instant; big things take time. It may take years, or even decades to finally achieve them. You have to go step-by-step from here to there. You have to make yourself, from what you are today to what you will be at the completion of your goal.
This goes for EVERY single profession, sport or hobby. It even applies to goals like losing a lot of weight, or mastering your emotions. Whatever it is, and no matter what subject matter is involved, if it's BIG, then it's going to take time, patience and discipline. There are no shortcuts when it comes to achieving big goals. You just can't wake up one day and automatically be a professional baseball player, top chef, or a movie star? In order to reach those levels, you must perform a series of disciplines day-after-day, month-after-month, and year-after-year.
If you want to be a major league short-stop, you have to take one ground ball after another, whether it's raining, snowing, or even dark outside. You have to discipline yourself to do it. If you want to be a chef, you have to practice, over and over, making all types of dishes. Or if it's stardom that you're after, then your discipline will be learning part after part, whether you feel like it or not. That's what discipline is all about.
Along your journey you are sure to find many obstacles and reasons to quit. This is nature's way to test us and see how bad we really want to achieve something. Your "will" is tested often to see whether you have what it takes to CONTINUE being disciplined even when IT APPEARS that you're not getting anywhere. What if you've been fielding ground balls night-after-night, yet no scouts are calling? What if you've practiced preparing the same dish to perfection, yet that 5 star restaurant is still not interested in you? And what if you've become a fine-tuned actor, but you're still waiting tables and not receiving that one lucky break?
Most, given THE APPEARANCE that they're not getting anywhere, will quit. But don't let this be YOU!
Realize that the few who continue practicing their disciplines and hone their skills; who continue to fine tune in order to achieve excellence; will often get to experience the unexpected. The short-stop will bump into the Manager of the Phillies at the grocery store. The chef will find out that his cousin, who he hasn't spoken to in 10 years, is friends with the Head Chef at the Four Seasons. Or perhaps the actor will miraculously wait on Tom Hank's table.
Nature is your Senior Partner on the journey to your personal BIG BREAK. Stay disciplined and never quit; that's your part. Then let Nature take care of the rest!