Self Discipline

Good morning Friends. I welcome you to "Zicolo today". Do you know that many people waste their life under the illusion that they are in a life battle with some people who they perceive as enemies without first realising that "the first and best victory is to conquer oneself"? Painful enough, many who fall under this category are people with great skills and talents but would rather focus all their efforts on futile battles instead of focusing on reaching their full potentials. Trust is, it is not enough to have great qualities/potentials, we must also be able to manage same. No matter how talented, skillful, educated, intelligent etc one may be, without SELF DISCIPLINE, only very little can be achieved. Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state. Imagine what you would accomplish if you could simply get yourself to follow through on your best intentions no matter what. Without self-discipline,intentions won’t become reality. The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that once you make a conscious decision, it’s virtually guaranteed you will follow through on it. Self-discipline is one of many personal development tools available to you. Of course it is not a panacea. Nevertheless, the problems which self-discipline can solve are very imperative and while there are other ways to solve these problems, self-discipline absolutely shreds them. Self-discipline can empower you to overcome an addiction, lose weight, break a bad habit etc. It can wipe out procrastination, disorderliness and ignorance. Self-discipline is a powerful teammate when combined with other tools like passion, goal-setting and planning. Self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger it becomes and the less you train it, the weaker it becomes. Just as everyone has different muscular strength, we all possess different levels of self-discipline. If you can hold your breath a few seconds, you have some self-discipline. Unfortunately not everyone has developed their discipline to the same degree. Just as it takes muscle to build muscle, it takes self-discipline to build self-discipline. Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness, fear and doubt. Self-discipline allows you to feel your individuality, your inner strength, your talent. It helps you to become a master of, rather than a slave to, your thoughts and emotions. The individual who wants to reach the top in business, career etc must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and surely to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires. You must never be satisfied with losing! You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing such that it drives you to win at the next shot. Remember, what makes a good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates. Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient with everybody else. Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions or people who make you feel small. Small people always do that, but the really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great. Take charge of ur emotion. Remember, someone who cannot control himself cannot control other. Also, the more disciplined you become, the easier life gets. Challenges that were once impossible for you will eventually seem like child’s play. May God help us all.