We call some people "self disciplined"
and others we call
"undisciplined." And what's
fascinating is that one person can be
disciplined at one thing but not at
another. I know an extremely successful
businesswoman who has run two
different billion-dollar businesses. If
you saw her in her business environment,
you would say she was disciplined.
However, this same woman
has had an extreme weight problem for
as long as I've known her, and so far
she hasn't had discipline in that area
of her life, even though she would
identify it as an area of tremendous
concern to her.
How can this happen? How can a
brilliant person so strong and disciplined
in one area of his or her life be
so undisciplined and unsuccessful in
another?
The answer is deceptively simple.
Discipline always involves the act of
reaching a goal, and it also reflects the
level of commitment that is attached to
the goal. Furthermore, our various personal
commitments will be ranked in
the order we consciously, or more likely
unconsciously, believe fit with our
life priorities.
When goals are set halfheartedly
and they don't reflect our top life priorities,
there should be no surprise
when we display low discipline and
we fail.
The vast majority of us have no
grasp of what our top life priorities are.
And because we aren't conscious of
them, we tend to move them around
very fluidly. That's why weight may
seem like a high priority on Monday
but be lowered to a secondary importance
below taste enjoyment by Friday.
Likewise, fidelity might seem like the
highest priority until temptation
comes in our path.
In general we allow ourselves to get
in the habit of setting goals for which
we are not truly committed, and then
we beat ourselves up when we fail at
achieving them. There is a huge difference
between even a 99% commitment
and a 100% commitment. Choosing to be disciplined about
something means committing 100% to
reaching the objective.
My great friend Wayne Dyer (author
of The Secrets to Manifesting Your
Destiny) is a wonderful example of
what it means to be "truly disciplined."
There was a time when
Wayne had run eight miles every day
for 21 years in a row without missing a
day! That's over 7,665 days straight
running eight miles a day with no
exceptions! I don't know about you,
but I'd be overwhelmed with the
thought of attempting that. And yet to
Wayne, it was a part of his day — every
day — without exception. Now I think
Wayne would admit he isn't disciplined
at everything. But what allowed
him to be so disciplined at this?
He simply made running the most,
or certainly one of the most, important
activities in his day, every day. The
great thing about this is that you simply
don't allow anything to get in the
way of the most important objectives
in your day. Everything else takes a
lower priority. All of a sudden reaching
the objective becomes easy. You
become — disciplined.
In the case of Wayne, I'm sure that
over the 21-year period there were literally millions of things that he could
have used as an excuse not to run one
of those days. But, because it was one
of his top priorities, nothing got in the
way of Wayne's running. He ran when
he had a fever, he ran in place on long
flights, and during bad weather he
would run up and down the halls of
his hotel. That's discipline!
Here's a fun, potentially life-changing
game I'd encourage you to play.
Pick out an area of your life that you've
had weak discipline in in the past. Set
an objective relating to this area. Now,
set that objective as your life's top priority
— or at least put it in the very top
few. Then set a minimum time that you
will stay committed to this objective.
I'd recommend a minimum of a month,
but for this game you could even
choose a week. If you can be disciplined
for one week, you can be disciplined
for as long as you choose.
Now, this is going to mean reprioritizing
your time from your normal
weekly schedule, but you'll do it –
Why? Because it's your top priority!
While doing this, you're going to
experience an interesting phenomenon.
In the past, when you have set
halfhearted objectives, your brilliant
mind would start figuring out how to
get around the objective to get you
back to your comfort zone. However,
now you'll find when it's your top priority,
your mind works only on achieving
the objective and taking you where
you really want to go.
During this trial period I suggest you
keep a priority journal. Each time you
fail to meet your objective, write down
what activity or activities took a higher
priority. It will prove to be interesting
to see what you allow as an excuse
to knock your objective from its top
position.
You will realize that failing to meet
your objectives, regardless of what
they are, is a choice, because something
else has been given higher priority.
If you fail, it is because you choose
to fail – It's as simple as that!
Have fun with this! That's what life
is all about! I'd love to hear the results
of your discipline experiment. Please
email me at vicc@nightingale.com and
tell me your results.
