24/1/19 Inspired Discipline…
There’s a lot of talk about motivation. It can be misleading. There’s such an emphasis on it that you’d think that unless you’re being motivated by a Guru, a seminar, or podcast, that you stand no chance at all of achieving what you set out to do.
Now, it’s a fine thing to be human and to be moved in life to do something. The experience of accomplishment is rare enough in many lives. But it’s something that’s easily rectified.
In spite of the above paragraph, I’m a huge believer in the power of motivation. And it doesn’t matter where it comes from. But with the proliferation of good motivational sources today, there is a tendency to rely on what’s going on outside our lives for the kind of spur to do what we need to do. While they’re a good kickstart to getting something done, we need something substantial, from within, to see it through.
That’s where discipline comes in. And there’s a frisson of apprehension around the word ‘discipline’, isn’t there? It conjures up the image of self-denial, of hairshirts and hardship.
But discipline doesn’t have to be something endured endlessly as a penance.
Discipline is a decision. It’s the epitome of freedom, the freedom to be able to decide, make a decision that will influence our lives in one direction, or another.
It only takes one second to affect a decision to do something we’ve been putting off and off and off. And then we’re into the action, the implementation. The thing is getting done, and there we are, occupied in the execution of the idea, by which time we’re so engrossed in what we’re doing that there’s no way we’re going to let anything interfere with our progress. So by this time we don’t need discipline, we just need the time and the freedom to complete what we’re doing.
That’s how discipline is our greatest freedom; it’s just a decision, a momentary acknowledgement of what we need to do and to get started on it. And STARTING is a major factor; once we’re started on something, we’re on the road, taking the steps, travelling the journey. Then we just keep on taking the steps, one at a time, varying the pace and the stride as the terrain and circumstances suggest.
It would seem, if we regard discipline in that light, we can learn to use discipline as a motivator, can’t we?
There’s a lot of talk about motivation. It can be misleading. There’s such an emphasis on it that you’d think that unless you’re being motivated by a Guru, a seminar, or podcast, that you stand no chance at all of achieving what you set out to do.
Now, it’s a fine thing to be human and to be moved in life to do something. The experience of accomplishment is rare enough in many lives. But it’s something that’s easily rectified.
In spite of the above paragraph, I’m a huge believer in the power of motivation. And it doesn’t matter where it comes from. But with the proliferation of good motivational sources today, there is a tendency to rely on what’s going on outside our lives for the kind of spur to do what we need to do. While they’re a good kickstart to getting something done, we need something substantial, from within, to see it through.
That’s where discipline comes in. And there’s a frisson of apprehension around the word ‘discipline’, isn’t there? It conjures up the image of self-denial, of hairshirts and hardship.
But discipline doesn’t have to be something endured endlessly as a penance.
Discipline is a decision. It’s the epitome of freedom, the freedom to be able to decide, make a decision that will influence our lives in one direction, or another.
It only takes one second to affect a decision to do something we’ve been putting off and off and off. And then we’re into the action, the implementation. The thing is getting done, and there we are, occupied in the execution of the idea, by which time we’re so engrossed in what we’re doing that there’s no way we’re going to let anything interfere with our progress. So by this time we don’t need discipline, we just need the time and the freedom to complete what we’re doing.
That’s how discipline is our greatest freedom; it’s just a decision, a momentary acknowledgement of what we need to do and to get started on it. And STARTING is a major factor; once we’re started on something, we’re on the road, taking the steps, travelling the journey. Then we just keep on taking the steps, one at a time, varying the pace and the stride as the terrain and circumstances suggest.
It would seem, if we regard discipline in that light, we can learn to use discipline as a motivator, can’t we?
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