Discipline Yourself to Success

The word discipline is not a word many people like to hear yet it is the very thing that determines the success or failure of our efforts. The amount of discipline we have will determines whether or not we reach our goals and dreams or settle for less. Any area that has lack of it, will never prosper; not health, not finances and not your relationship with your creator or your family. What it boils down to is that the greatest drawback keeping people from having success is their inability to discipline themselves. Oh! They desire with all their heart to have success and do the right thing, but after a few short weeks or even days of trying, they often find themselves right back where they started and no better off. Sound familiar? That is because people try to do things instead of learning how to do them. The word discipline means; to learn or to teach. You must teach yourself how to have success in the areas you currently do not and you must understand that you cannot gain success with your present knowledge or habits. If you could you would, therefore you must learn and grow in wisdom and experience in those areas. The following are a few tips that will help you learn.

1. Study those who are successful in the areas you are not.

Find out what they do and how they do it. Hang out with them. Learn what habits they have, know what they know and if need be, pick their brain. Be upfront and tell them that you admire the discipline they have in that area and you desire to have it in your life; ask them how they do it, people love to talk about themselves and their successes.

2. Watch who you associate with

We often tell our children to watch out who they hang around with because they will influence them into doing the things they do. Do you think these biblical words of wisdom should stop just because you are now an adult? Who do you fellowship with? Are they able to teach you effective habits? If you want to be healthy, do you hang with like minds? If you want to be financially independent do you associate with people who are financially independent or at least on their way? If you want to be closer to God, do you associate with those who seem to be closer then you?

3. Keep the task in the front of you at all times

We only do the things we are told to do or that we remember to do. You must place reminders in front of you often to keep your goals out front. Use post it notes, computer screensavers and backgrounds, place pictures of things that will remind you of your goal all around you until you can't make a move without being reminded of it. Rent movies that have characters and themes that have the same traits you are looking to acquire. Read book after book about the subject until you become an expert in it. Remember the body never goes anywhere the mind hasn't already thought about going. Be honest with yourself. I met people who complain that they never get a promotion or raise. These same people will never do anything that will improve their chances of advancement but they will spend hours learning who all the NASCAR drivers are and their stats for the year.

4. Put up guard rails to keep you on track.

When I was young I had a hard time getting up in the morning. Before the invention of the snooze alarm I was forever turning the alarm clock off and going back to sleep. The problem was I knew I would lose my job if I was late too often. So what did I do? I purchased another alarm clock and set it 10 minutes later then the one next to my bed and placed it on the other side of the room, forcing me to get out of bed when it went off. It wasn't long before I was used to getting out of bed when the alarm went off and today I am usually always up before hand. My point is that you need to do what it takes to stay on track. If you want to save money, see if you can have a percentage of your pay automatically drafted from your check and placed into an account that would be difficult to touch even if you have to let another family member have control over it. Pay your bills late all the time? Ask you bank about automatic bill pay. Want to learn the bible more but can't get in a study, start your own home group and invite people over that want to do the same. If they come, you will do it. Don't eat right? Have someone else do the shopping. If you don't have it, you cannot eat it!

5. Be consistent and do not give up

Two days on and one day off will never work. You must place yourself in a position where you will apply these principles in your life everyday. It is said that it takes 21 days to make something a habit. That is 21 straight days. Commit yourself to a 21 day life changing event. Put together a plan to do the task with a start date and a finish date 21 days later. If it is to save money make a commitment that for the next 21 pay periods you will place a certain percentage of your check into a savings account and not touch it no matter what. If it is to change the way you eat, commit to eating what you know you should for just 21 days. When the 21 days are over, ask yourself; "Can I go on?" More often then not you will be so used to doing things the "New" way you will automatically continue. Do so and do not go backwards. I just heard of a man who lost 700lbs! He went from weighing almost 900lbs down to a healthy 198. What did he do? He celebrated his success by having a hot dog and fries. That led to two and two led to three. Today he is back to weighing over 400lbs. There is a very visual bible verse that says when we return to our sin, it is like a dog returning to his own vomit. Do not return to the old lifestyle; do not even take the chance of looking back! Lastly, do not ever give up. Failures are good if you look at them as learning experiences and move on. Ok, so you found another way that doesn't work! Try something different! If you try enough times you will eventually succeed! If you quit trying, you will never succeed!