Build your self discipline

You want to lose weight but you also want cheese.

You want to make an investment but you also want to go for a vacation with the girls.

You want to finish a book but you also want to watch TV.

Discipline can give you freedom, freedom from being a slave to your moods, desires and appetites. It is the ability to take action irrespective of your emotional condition. It also implies that you take action according to what you think and not depending upon what you feel. I am also aware of how easy it is for me to fall off the wagon and want to stay in bed watching Game of thrones instead of getting up and doing just what I am supposed too, as a result of this, I have learned a lot about what it means to be self-disciplined. The truth is that self-discipline is helpful. It helps to build our self-esteem and depending on where we choose to exercise self-discipline within our lives, it leaves us healthier, more learned, more self-aware, more satisfied, as well as many other warm outcomes.

It is hard to deal with life’s obstacles when you do not have self-discipline. Self-discipline requires the ability to defer immediate gratification in the service of a more purposeful goal. This is the ability to project consequences into the future—to think, plan, and live with the bigger picture in mind.

“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still. Appropriate rituals channel your emotions and life energy toward the light. Without the discipline to practice them, you will tumble constantly backward into darkness.” Lao-tzu

Make rules for yourself and stick to them. Every time you resist the temptation for easy, quick or fun your self-discipline gets a little stronger the next time around. The only person you are responsible to is yourself. Showing up and doing the best you can do: that is what self-discipline is all about.