Practicing Discipline In Life

Title:
Practicing Discipline In Life

Word Count:
647

Summary:
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I believe to be the central challenge facing our clients right now, along with the rest of our society. It’s not an original concept by any means, but more and more I come to believe that it is the key to unlocking every success principle in existence...


Keywords:
goal setting, success


Article Body:
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I believe to be the central challenge facing our society today. It’s not an original concept by any means, but more and more I come to believe that it is the key to unlocking every success principle in existence.

Discipline.

Discipline may seem like an odd thing to emphasize- but I see the results of real discipline every day. I also see the results of the lack of discipline every day. Here’s what I mean:

Think about anyone who you would consider to have “made it”. You know the person- the woman who is the number one producer in your office and also has a family that loves her and is very close. Maybe you think of the guy who consistently outperforms everyone else and still has time to take numerous vacations AND train for a marathon. Perhaps you are envisioning the manager who genuinely loves developing the team and does a great job of it. Maybe you are considering your own track record right now. Whomever the example, picture clearly why they popped into your mind as an example of success. Now, if you watched that person very carefully, I guarantee you that you will see that nearly everything they do is purposeful, focused and disciplined. They are disciplined about setting goals and achieving them. They are disciplined about maintaining a great attitude, and they’re likely very disciplined about how they use their time. You’ll notice that when it’s time to work, that individual WORKS- so that when it’s time to play they can do so freely and without baggage.

On the other hand, consider the individual who perpetually seems to get the short end of the stick. You may know someone who is extremely intelligent, or is very positive and upbeat, or perhaps has a great sense of humor and everyone loves them. Everyone either knows somebody or is somebody who seems like they should be extremely successful in Life, but for some reason they just keep struggling and scraping by. If you watch that person very carefully, the underlying cause is almost always a lack of discipline- about Goals, about their Attitude, about how they use their Time, or about how they communicate- or maybe all of the above. Either way, I notice more and more that the most frequently occurring theme in the lives of truly successful men and women is the theme of discipline. As Albert Gray says in The Common Denominator of Success, they have “formed the habit of doing what unsuccessful people don’t like to do”. They are motivated by pleasing results rather than just pleasing activities. In other words, they are disciplined.

So then what I got thinking about was the question: “What is discipline?”

Well, I had heard once before that the word discipline has the same root as the word disciple. As in “a follower”. Now I didn’t want to get all super-religious or cultish on anyone, so I started thinking about what it actually means to be a disciple. I couldn’t really put my finger on it until recently when the answer was physically handed to me in church. The sermon was called “Majoring in the Minors” and the notes at the bottom read as follows:

“…a disciple is one who stays focused on what really matters, and is careful about letting other less important issues or concerns get in the way.”

Says it all, really. Again, I’m not trying to create some Cult of Personality here. I just encourage you as you begin this day, this week, this month, Your Life- stay focused on what really matters to you- at Work and in Life. Be careful about letting less important issues or concerns get in the way. I urge you…be a disciple of your own success.

BONUS : Title:
Prerequisite Qualities For Optimum Goal Setting

Word Count:
685

Summary:
The minute you set a goal, you are creating a 'mini crisis' in your mind. You're telling your mind about a journey you are considering. In simple terms you are stating where you want to be in relation to where you are. And in between these two is a chasm, a gap.


Keywords:
goal setting


Article Body:
The minute you set a goal, you are creating a 'mini crisis' in your mind. You're telling your mind about a journey you are considering. In simple terms you are stating where you want to be in relation to where you are. And in between these two is a chasm, a gap. As far as your mind is concerned, the ability to achieve your stated goal is mostly dependent on your mental qualities and skills. Selfish mind, right? Maybe not, but the point is, this is the area on which your success hinges.

So, here are the mental qualities you need to optimise your success.

a. concentration

b. emotional balance

c. imagery and

d. perspective

Lets take a look at these in detail.

a. Concentration

Concentration is a process of paying atttention to certain things to the eclusion of others. The beautiful thing about it is that it is easy to concentrate. Simple! Focus on your goal, and all the unnecessary distractions drop out of your attention span naturally. This means you do not have to worry or focus on getting rid of the distractions. I have heard it said that 'where thought is directed, energy flows'.

WORD OF CAUTION: Do not concentrate so intensely to the extent that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Focus, but e aware of what's changing around as far as your goal is concerned.

b. Emotional Balance

Emotional balance refers to how well you juggle too much effort (mental and physical) and too much relaxation. You do not want to be so focused, you experience burn-out along the way. And you do not want to take things so easy, you lose momentum!

How much are you prepared to put into those activities that help you achieve your goal, and what is hte effort required? I suppose its much helpful to exert and relax adequately, stretch anc take a break!

c. Imagery

This is one critical quality that conventional methods of goal setting gloss over. Rich imagery is central to the mental fqualities you require to optimise your success. What do I mean by 'rich imager'?

Rich imagery is made up of the qualities in your pictures, feelings and sounds. These qualities combine in different ways to enhance your images.

Here is a quick sampling of these qualities, referred to as submodalities in Neurolinguistic Programming

Submodalities for picture would be brightness, contrast and shade. Submodalities for feeling would be texture, temperature, hardness and softness. And submodalities for sound would be volume, rhythm, timbre and tone

These submodalities make the imagery you choose to use, more effective. And you can adjust them as you want, to create a more richer experience.

In goal setting, imagery is used to precreate the achieved goal in your mind. Just like a dress rehearsal. If you can see it, you can have it!

To make the most of imagery

- be aware of the sounds, pictures, and feelings

- make them as clear and as vivid as possible

- add and adjust submodalities according to your preferences. The richer the better.

- immerse yourself in the experience

d. Perspective

The world you live in is a system. One thing that you are doing right now has far reaching implications than you may be aware of. And on top of that, you are being affected by a myriad of influences you may not be aware of. What does this have to do with goal setting?

While you are going for your goal, concentrating intensely (I hope), maintaining the right emotional balance, and using imagery effectively, keep checking how your world is changing and how you are moving towards the future you are attempting to create.

It will be a disaster to try to do one good thing (setting your goals properly), only to spoil your efforts by pretending to be living in a vacuum.

There you have it folks, now you know the prerequisite qualities for optimum success in goal getting.

Now, before you expend any effort in chasing your passion and goal, do a quick check to see if you mentally have what it takes to get there.