In my seminars I am frequently asked what I think is the single most important ingredient people need to be successful. Believe it or not the answer is simple. Want to know the answer I always give?
I feel self-discipline is the single most important ingredient everybody needs to achieve success and happiness in business and life.
Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your state of mind. Imagine what you could accomplish if you could simply get yourself to follow through on your best intentions no matter what. Picture yourself saying to your body, “You’re a non-smoker. Stop smoking.” Without self-discipline that desire cannot become a reality for you. But with sufficient self-discipline, it’s a done deal.
The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that when you make a conscious decision; it’s virtually guaranteed you’ll follow through on it.
Self-discipline can wipe out procrastination, disorder, and ignorance. Within the domain of problems it can solve, self-discipline is simply unmatched. Moreover, it becomes a powerful teammate when combined with other tools like passion, goal-setting, and planning.
One of my disciplines is my daily work-out and fitness regimen. I see self-discipline like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger you become. The less you train it, the weaker you become. The way to build self-discipline is analogous to using progressive weight training to build muscle. This means lifting weights that are close to your limit. Note that when you weight train, you lift weights that are within your ability to lift. You push your muscles until they fail, and then you rest.
Similarly, the basic method to build self-discipline is to tackle challenges that you can successfully accomplish but which are near your limit. This doesn’t mean trying something and failing at it every day, nor does it mean staying within your comfort zone. You will gain no strength trying to lift a weight that you cannot budge, nor will you gain strength lifting weights that are too light for you. You must start with weights/challenges that are within your current ability to lift but which are near your limit.
Progressive training means that once you succeed, you increase the challenge. If you keep working out with the same weights, you won’t get any stronger. Similarly, if you fail to challenge yourself in life, you won’t gain any more self-discipline.
Just as most people have very weak muscles compared to how strong they could become with training, most people are very weak in their level of self-discipline. It’s a mistake to try to push yourself too hard when trying to build self-discipline. If you try to transform your entire life overnight by setting dozens of new goals for yourself and expecting yourself to follow through consistently starting the very next day, you’re almost certain to fail. This is like a person going to the gym for the first time ever and packing 300 pounds on the bench press. You will only look silly.
Similarly, if you’re very undisciplined right now, you can still use what little discipline you have to build more. The more disciplined you become, the easier life gets. Challenges that were once impossible for you will eventually seem like child’s play. As you get stronger, the same weights will seem lighter and lighter.
Suppose you want to develop the ability to do 6 solid hours of work each day, since you know it will make a real difference in the success of your business. (The average real estate agent spends 37% of their time in idle socializing and Internet surfing, not to mention other vices that chew up more than 50% of their daily schedules with unproductive non-work. So there’s plenty of room for improvement.)
Perhaps you try to work a solid 6-hour day without succumbing to distractions, and you can only do it once. The next day you fail utterly. That’s OK. You did one rep of 6 hours. Two is too much for you. So cut back a bit. What duration would allow you to successfully do 5 reps (i.e. a whole week)? Could you work with concentration for one hour a day, five days in a row? If you can’t do that, cut back to 30 minutes or whatever you can do.
If you succeed (or if you feel that would be too easy), then increase the challenge (i.e. the resistance). Once you’ve mastered a week at one level, take it up a notch the next week. And continue with this progressive training until you’ve reached your goal.
By raising the bar just a little and making a little progress in the right direction each week, you stay within your capabilities and grow stronger over time. But when doing weight training, the actual work you do doesn’t mean anything. There’s no intrinsic benefit in lifting a weight up and down — the benefit comes from the muscle growth.
However, when building self-discipline, you also get the benefit of the work you’ve done along the way, so that’s even better. It’s great when your training produces something of value AND makes you stronger.
Have a great work-out!
All Star Coaching thought for today: Those that are good at making excuses are seldom good at anything else.
Go out and make this an incredible day full of self-discipline.
BF
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