Self discipline seems to have dropped out of our culture as an admirable trait. The way successful celebrities are presented in our society can fool us into believing that great success is easy - almost like a product you can buy off the shelf.
But prolonged self discipline is the reality behind the appearance. When you go to see a movie you don't see the thousands of hours of effort that went into it. The singer Eddie Cantor said it had taken him twenty years to become an overnight success.
Research shows that the single most important element in the success of people is the amount to time they spend practicing doing what they do. Innate talent may be important but not as vital as sustained effort and application - self discipline is what truly forges success in life.
Self discipline drives success. Any success in life needs the nutrition of self discipline to see the light of day.
If you want to succeed, not feeling like doing something is not a good enough reason to avoid doing it. Anyone who only does things they feel like doing is going nowhere fast; like watching TV instead of getting on with that novel or staying warm at home instead of going to the football ground to practice.
Give yourself the respect you deserve! Developing iron self discipline for success means you are giving your yourself and your goals true and proper respect. Self discipline is the active agent that drives inspiration into reality.
A disciplined person does not spend all his/her time now, in trivial pleasures, they save some for the future. Time is funny stuff. You can't put it in a box and save it for a future day, say the end of your life, and then haul it out and get extra days of life. The rule with time is that you have to invest it straight away. It multiplies and produces money in the future. You use this money to buy time from other people. For example, the money releases you from the need to work, and so that gives you a whole lot of time - much more than your original investment of time. Or, you use the money to pay someone to do your garden or your DIY, and that frees up a whole lot of time for more pleasurable things.
So the analogy is exact. Undisciplined people squander all their free time now on pleasures (eat all the jelly) and get, say, 100 units of pleasure. Disciplined people use a little of their time for pleasures (eat a little jelly now), then invest their time for the future. This multiplies many fold, and frees up vast amounts of time in the future. The net result is that they get (say) 1,000 units of pleasure in total over the years. This is their reward for being disciplined. I hope this makes sense.
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Great analogy -- our society is far too focused on immediate gratification, what's in it for me, to be focused on the benefits and pleasures of self-discipline and hard work. Factor in a chunk of complacency and you have the American society. While I am not enamored by the education system in the number one IT out-sourcing country in the world, the focus on building that system of success took focused commitment -- a self disciplined diligence while the US were 'enjoying' life. I believe it will crumble as the foundation is not solid -- another example, in my opinion, of building the mountain too quickly without detailed rigor focused on the strength in the foundation. Goes back to one of my favorite beliefs in the gifts we give children -- knowledge and wisdom. We need to refocus effort and time on hard work, perseverance and self discipline in 'getting it done' and done right.
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