Discipline Yourself To Be Successful

We are all fairly good at disciplining our kids and disciplining our pets. If we don't make them behave themselves and live and play by the rules, they will get hurt, self destruct or, at the very least, make life miserable for themselves, us and the world at large. No problem...we all know that.

However, when it comes to the problem of inflicting some self-discipline, most of us come up a little short.
Nobody is going to MAKE us be successful or happy. So it is up to us. When we accept complete responsibility for our life and take charge of our own destiny, we begin to realize that self-management is the vehicle that will take us from where we are to wherever we want to go.

Remember the old Confucian saying, "If you don't change the road you're traveling on, you'll probably end up where you're going."

There are things we can do that will make it a bit easier to discipline ourselves and gain the self-control necessary to succeed at whatever endeavor we choose.

Step #1: Set a goal. Write your goal down in a clear sentence or a short paragraph. Now you know where you are going.

Step #2: Make a plan. There is an old saying, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." You must have a plan for reaching your goal.

You need to make a step-by-step plan to get from where you are to where you want to be and to make that trip in the shortest possible amount of time. Your plan should show you every step you need to make and in the right order.

Step #3: Take the time to learn the things you need to know to reach your goal. Knowledge really is power. Sometimes knowledge comes from books and articles.

Sometimes it comes from just simply being observant of the world around us and really looking and listening.

Step #4: You must maintain your burning passion for the self-control required to reach your goal. It's easy to lose that passion when things don't go just as planned but you need to find inspiration where ever you can find it to fuel your passion.