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Self-Discipline

In one of the Financial Peace University vidoes, Dave Ramsey mentioned an interesting quote.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Hebrews 12:11

When working through my own self-improvement goals, I am realizing more and more that self-discipline is the key to unlocking all of the future possibilities that can exist for me.

Through most of what I listen to or read about self-improvement, self-discipline is one of the constant themes that is interwoven into all of the stories and content.

The second part that struck me about this was that it was from the Bible.

This struck because (in case you didn’t know) the Bible is really old.

Jim Rohn says “Beware of anyone who says they have a new fundamental, that is like someone saying they manufacture antiques.”

When I see a theme in all of the books and tapes, I look for the common themes that are the oldest.  If one thing runs through a lot of different content and is really old, that probably means I need to pay attention.

Self-discipline is definitely one of those few fundamentals that flows through all of the material, both old and new.

I haven’t figured out how to build the self-discipline needed to be successful (I sure am trying though, so if you know a short cut send me an email), but I do know that I am working at it and that it will be worth it.

What are you doing to improve your self-discipline?  What area of your life could most use some self-discipline?

Pick one area in particular and try and take a small step forward.  Try and take this step for 30 consecutive days and look at the results.  You will be amazed.

Make it a great day.

2 thoughts on “Self-Discipline

  1. Jake,

    Awesome post! I have been through Dave Ramsey’s FPU and it is a tremendous program. I also listen to him regularly on the radio. He speaks of self-discipline often and although many times it relates to financial matters, it spills over into all areas of our lives.

    It is a constant struggle, but I think one of the keys is as Steven Covey says, “Keep the end in mind.” Self discipline is not usually pleasant, but it does lead to bigger and better things is we can stay the course.

  2. I have found that many people attempt to build self discipline in chunks that are too big. The average person can only mentally handle a limited number of changes at a time. I agree with your start small approach.

    You can’t flip a switch and become self-disciplined. It is like a muscle so you need to practice to get stronger. If you find that you are getting off-track, find a more simplistic in-road and try again. For example, back when I was working the corporate life, I had a report that I needed to do on a weekly basis. I could not stand doing the report and I did not have a very good attitude about it. Procrastination did not work.

    So, I set an alarm on my computer for a specific time of day and worked on that report for 15 minutes each day. I found that I could easily motivate myself for 15 minutes and over the course of the week, the report got done.

    Self-discipline can also be derailed by perfectionism. I had a client that had set a goal to post on her blog 3 times a week. She knew consistency in posting to the blog was important for its success. She had a lot of knowledge, so content was not really a problem, but she still was not getting the job done. When we looked closer, we found that she would start a post and then get paralyzed before hitting “publish” because she was unsure and wanted to make sure her post was “perfect.” We came up with some measuring sticks she could use to evaluate her posts. If they met the requirements, she had an easier time of hitting that “publish” button.

    If you are interested, I shared some other thoughts on self-discipline in a post that I linked to this comment.
    To your success!
    Stephanie
    Productive & Organized – We’ll help you find your way! tm

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