Discpline - foundation of all success - part 2

laxman

Acquiring discipline is process. Just telling anyone to be disciplined is not enough . This concept can be broken down into smaller concepts, which makes it easier to learn. There are ten concepts or attributes of discipline which, if acquired, will make taking the right actions at the right time and in the right way as easy as breathing oxygen.

Passion: This is what drives you; what makes you wake up everyday with expectation and hope. Passion propels you forward by enthusing you with a vibrant sense of awareness and conviction. If you can establish what brings out these feelings of vibrant expectation and self worth in you, then you will have found your passion in life. It's easier to be disciplined towards a cause that you are passionate about. If you can find what drives you, discipline will follow almost effortlessly.

Vision: Passion alone will however not 'take' you there. If you don't know where you are going, you may as well save your energy and passion and stay where you are. Disciplined people have a vision of where they want to be at a particular point in time. They never lose sight of where they are going. Having a clear vision helps you maximise your energy and passion. It enables you to take massive, determined action and bring it to bear on specific goals.

Goals. They are like rails; without them our efforts at progress will be derailed. Discipline is the vehicle that moves you from the point of setting goals to attaining those goals. But goals have to be set first for them to be realized. If there is a justification for discipline, then it is goals. The fruits of discipline are evident in the number of goals attained.

Consistency. To be disciplined one day and sloppy the next is a terrible waste of time and energy. We must stay the cause of discipline until our desires or goals are attained. To do the right thing one day and then fail to accomplish the following day's tasks sets you back three steps. To succeed, you must consistently do what must be done until your objective is realized.

Faithful. To succeed or not to succeed depends on the actions you take – not the words you speak; or the words you hear. Your success is dependent on you. You must be faithful first and foremost to yourself by ensuring that what must be done is done. Discipline requires that you be faithful and trustworthy enough to perform daily tasks comprehensively. Do not pretend that you will succeed when you know very well you have neglected to follow through with the plan. Be faithful; stick to the plan!

Timeliness. Let's face it! A day has only 24 hours – and your body demands that a good part of that time be spent in rest. It is therefore important to ensure that tasks are performed at the right time, everyday. If you allow tasks to accumulate by dint of not doing them at the right time, you are setting yourself up for failure. You must be disciplined enough to drop whatever it is you are doing and accomplish what must be done, when it needs to be done. Disciplined people do not postpone tasks; for they know that to do so will delay their success – and, according to William Shakespeare, 'in delay, there is no plenty'.

Eliminate 'noise'. 'Noise' here refers to irrelevant tasks, people, places and actions that do not feed into your goal. These are distractions that so often get in the way of your success. Noise is the number one enemy of discipline. If you let yourself to be distracted, you will find it very difficult to maintain discipline on a day to day basis. To maintain discipline, you must learn to filter away this 'noise' by only entertaining thoughts, people, tasks, actions and places that feed into your success.

Assertiveness. You eliminate 'noise' by being assertive – that is, by refusing to allow anyone or anything intimidate you to the extent that you fail to do the right thing at the right time. Learn to say 'no' to anyone or anything that Posted: 05/03/2007

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