You likely know the fruits of the labor that comes from possessing self discipline. You know deep-down that self discipline leads to unparalleled success. Theory is a good starting point, but what about the practical implementation of the knowledge? This is where you probably lag. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this post, is it?
Knowing and doing are on two different poles. It is easy to gain knowledge, simple enough to start treading the path towards being self disciplined, but staying on the course is unworldly. It is hard. No! Impossible, you say.
Why is it so difficult to become self disciplined? Or rather, what does it take to become self disciplined is the question that I should be concentrating today.
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I came across an elementary secret regarding self discipline that changed the course of my life. The more I became accustomed to the nuance of being disciplined, I literally fell in love with it. As it happens with love, they break-up, and then by the blessing of luck, they become one again. This is my story with self discipline. I had my tryst with it for a few years in the midst of my twenties, and now, we are back again.
Any ways, you are not here for incidents of my romantic escapades, but rather to find out the secret behind my doing. Let me warn you here that knowing the secret will give you zilch, but applying it will reward you tons of everything that you ever wish for.
Here it is: self discipline is a type of muscle. The more you work it, it gets stronger, bigger and better. If you don’t put it to work, it loses shape and becomes unfunctional.
As you are aware, muscles grow in time, muscles grow when you set it under tension, put it to test and give it time to heal between workouts. I am not going to the area of muscle building that involves proteins, shakes and other ingestions.
Self discipline too grows in a likewise fashion. You start using simple self discipline for trivial things to start with without exerting excess pressure. As it gets used to the nature of discipline, increase the load just a little bit. Give sufficient time for this muscle to grow. Give plenty of rest when needed and when fully rested, increase the weight.
To give you an example, I would probably start with drinking a glass of water in the morning. Do it day after day without missing a beat. Discipline creeps into you with your wee hours water drinking habit. Next, introduce something a little harder – say not eating chips and fries. It is hard, but after a stretch of time, not eating it becomes your nature. You don’t have to try not to eat, but you just don’t eat it. It’s like a tiger never getting hungry for grass. After this exercise, introduce something else that you wanted to do in life – say reading books. Read a couple of pages every night before you hit the sack. Go up a notch after a week or two to five pages. You get the idea, right?
As you move from one activity to another, your self discipline muscle is gaining in stature and in strength. It challenges you to do things that you have always wanted – getting fitter, going back to school or being a part of a band. There is no limit to what you can achieve after you have conquered discipline. There is nothing more satisfying and exhilarating than being your own master, and doing what you want, and not falling prey to temptations.
