Do you aspire to be successful? Most people do, regardless of their specific dreams or desires. It doesn’t matter how you define “success”—you know that it’s something you want. Everybody does.
But if success is something most people want, why are there relatively few who seem to attain it? What is stopping so many from achieving success? What are they missing?
In other words, what is a key component of success?
Discipline.
You need discipline if you want to get anything done.
You need discipline if you want to achieve something.
Achieve mastery through discipline ~
Great leaders—inventors, innovators, creators, athletes—achieve their successes through discipline. Thomas Edison’s light bulb was birthed through discipline. The Sistine Chapel would have just a bare ceiling were it not for the patient discipline of Michelangelo. Mark Spitz would not have seven Olympic gold medals to his name were it not for discipline.
What is discipline?
Thanks in part to medieval religious practices, we tend to think of discipline in negative terms, often equating it to “punishment.” However, discipline’s etymology paints a much more positive picture. The word “discipline” comes from the Latin disciplina (teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge), which in turn comes from discipulus—a word we recognize as “disciple,” someone who sits at the feet of his master and learns, drinking deeply from the master’s vast store of knowledge and accumulated life experiences. Indeed, rather than a punitive aspect, discipline is concerned instead with correction and training. It is the cultivation of character: breaking bad habits and instilling good ones, followed by training so the good habits become second nature. Admittedly, discipline is not always fun, but it is always rewarding.
Without discipline, there is chaos ~
Discipline is crucial.
An undisciplined life is characterized by chaos and disorder, laziness and a lack of direction. You will drift through life, carried about by the winds of circumstance and feelings. You’re no longer in the driver’s seat, so you feel helpless as you watch things spin out of control. A lack of discipline is a hindrance on your path to success, a burden that will weigh you down and prevent you from achieving your goals. Discipline allows you to harness the circumstances of life and use them as stepping stones rather than millstones.
Although discipline is necessary, the good news is that it can be learned. It can be cultivated. The habit of discipline can be exercised and strengthened, growing as it takes root in your life. Anyone can acquire it—it is not limited to a select few. But you have to be willing to pay the price. You have to dedicate yourself to your goal. It cannot be a half-hearted dedication. You have to make up your mind, and, having done so, not look back. He who wishes to be a disciple must be single minded. He must focus his energies on the tasks before him, if he wishes to achieve his goal. Half-hearted, double-minded disciples simply do not make the cut. Without focus, you are doomed to fail.
Discipline is training ~
Discipline is the key to becoming a master.
You cannot become a master without first going through an apprenticeship, without going through discipleship. A disciple who lacks discipline is no disciple, but rather a wannabe, one who is bound to quit when the going gets rough. Difficult times will come, temptations will arise—and those who have made discipline their habit will be the ones who survive. Discipline is what keeps you going when you feel like giving up or giving in. Discipline keeps you in your routine when you’re contemplating making an exception “just this once.” Discipline is what enables you to react in a split second when seconds count.
Discipline is indispensable.
It is one of the habits of success. Cultivate it, and it will be a faithful friend. Ignore it, and you will spend your days thinking “woulda, coulda, shoulda.”
Discipline is yours for the asking.