Harness self-discipline

“IT is not enough to have great qualities, we should also have the management of them” said that most quoted of persons, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, (15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680). Reflecting a bit on his utterances, you will notice that great gifts, and attributes are part of the equation and not the whole equation. The trend nowadays is to find great talent with poor management by the possessors of the same.

You can be an exceptionally good business leader, but if you lack self-discipline you will lose all that you have worked. The same applies to success in various aspects of life; be it spiritual, marital, relational, finances, sport, music and entertainment. Being gifted or talented will not protect you from the consequences of indiscipline. A gift actually makes you more vulnerable than secure because it exposes your weaknesses in other areas to the public.

I have read of many soccer players who earn thousands of dollars/pounds weekly yet live in debt, and some even die paupers. The same with some prominent musicians who live and die in debt yet all their life they were making thousands and some millions of dollars. Where are we missing the point; self-discipline!

“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, back

wards, or sideways.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

There is no greatness without

self-discipline

“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 to everybody else.” (Henry Ward Beecher).

Great live with great self-discipline. Why talk in terms of self-discipline and not just discipline? The words say it; it is discipline at a personal level. You do not wait for someone to instil it on you, you instil it on yourself. External discipline comes when you have failed to discipline yourself. If you want to be successful in any area of your life, you need to master self-discipline.

Discipline by definition is simply committing and forcing yourself to do what you do not feel like doing. For example, you are a student, discipline entails studying when you don’t feel like studying. If you are into business, discipline will force you to put in more hours than your contemporaries to work and strategise leadership for your organisation when the watch is saying time has moved.

In simpler terms, discipline entails going against your body, emotions, and even the clock for the sake of greatness. All the great people we have studied or read about could have done some other things or possibly slept, but they realised that if they do not do it, someone will do it and they will miss on their opportunity for greatness.

H.A. Dorfman defines self-discipline in an elaborate and interesting way and his sentiments are worthy of reproduction, “Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy.

Freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear and doubt. Self-discipline allows a pitcher to feel his individuality, his inner strength, his talent. He is master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions.”

The story of Alexander Graham

Bell and Elisha Gray

“Success is actually a short race a sprint fuelled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.” (Gary Keller).

If you study a little bit of history relating to communications, you will realise that Alexander Graham Bell is said to be the inventor of the telephone, but when you read further, you will realise that there was a man called Elisha Gray who was working on a similar device, and the majority of the modern telephones borrowed from Elisha Gray’s device, but he did not get credit for that due to the fact that he was beaten by a few hours in submitting the registration for a patent for the telephone. Imagine if Alexander Graham Bell had delayed, and had not disciplined himself to work. Self-discipline can be the difference between making history and being history.

If you cannot discipline yourself, the world will discipline you.

There are many people who want to instil discipline in other people yet they have failed to discipline themselves.

This is the trend with many companies, and organisations. If we work on self-discipline we will not have problems instilling discipline in other people. The reason why some corporates are struggling with discipline issues is because of the leadership and the management itself that is not disciplined.

◆ Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro “Mai Judah”.

Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote and peak performance speaker, business strategy facilitator commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, sales, business leadership and strategy. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit”, “Keys to Effective Time Management” among other inspirational books. Follow him on social media, or WhatsApp him on +263780055512 or email greatnessclinic@gmail.com Read the full article on www.ebusinessweekly.co.zw

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Succeed in disciplining yourself