Word of the Day
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Discipline – 1) training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character 2) a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity – Merriam Webster
What do you think of when you hear the word discipline? Do you know what it really means? Do you think you posses it? I have to constantly check up on myself, because it is human nature to not want to follow rules, and do what we want. Elliott Hulse, who I took these ideas from, gives these motivational rants a lot, and Ill refer you to his videos and page for more. But basically he talks about how people are scared by such a word like discipline; it brings up childhood memories of being scolded, and/or images of military type upbringings. Since most people seek comfort and try to avoid pain (at all costs), for most of us this word does not bring up pleasant images and/or thoughts, and thus we stick a negative association to it. I am referring to discipline in a slightly different context.
The thing is, we need discipline to keep our ego in check and to keep ourselves grounded to reality. Otherwise, we get too comfortable being in our little world, and never experience what else there is to offer. Elliott says discipline is a principle of nature, and if we all look to see how mother nature follows this rule we get a sense for what this word means. Ask yourself How does a beautiful coral reef form? A reef takes thousands of years to develop and according to The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, The Great Barrier Reef, one of the 7 Natural wonders of the World, is estimated to be close to 600,000 years old!
What about an oak tree? How does that grow into a mighty oak tree? You see the rings on the trees and some have been around for hundreds of years. Hopefully those two examples give you some perspective of the amount of time it takes. Trees grow because they first must be planted. But this only provides the seed with the opportunity and motivation to grow, how does it get there?
It is the day after day of sunlight, and year after year of rain, that make that seed into a small tree. And it is the decades of sun..rain…sun…rain that transform that tree into a great oak. It is this discipline of the sun and rain that create an environment for that seed to grow.
The sun, however, does not have feelings and emotion like people do. In order to achieve such great success in anything you must develop a mindset where you act and think like a robot, just like that sun. Whatever your goals are (you do have goals right?), we must do whatever is necessary to to get closer to them…whether we FEEL like it or not. That means, waking up when you don’t FEEL like waking up, working out when you don’t FEEL like working out, eating your vegetables even though you don’t FEEL like eating them. Because it is that discipline that keeps you on track. Now ask yourself again, do you have discipline? If you are not getting closer to your goals you are getting further away. You must become laser focused and like Elliott stays, “Make yourself motivated.” There is no “right time” the time is now!
1) Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (2006). “A “big picture” view of the Great Barrier Reef” (PDF). Reef Facts for Tour Guides. http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/12437/Reef-Facts-01.pdf. Retrieved 18 June 2007.