Self-Discipline - The Single Most Important Prerequisite For Success

Self-discipline just doesn't sound like fun, does it? Most people equate anything to do with discipline with pain and suffering, like fingernails dragging across a chalkboard. Hearing the word discipline almost makes you want to rebel, as though you were a school kid who knows that it must mean trouble.

Recognize that self-discipline has the potential of being one of your greatest assets. It offers the ability to distinguish you from your competition. It can make all of the difference for you in every area of your life.

Your willingness to apply self-discipline to your life will separate you from the average person, as clearly as the difference between a great attitude and a terrible one. This is one of those areas in life where you have the ability to choose which side of the line you want to live on. You can live on the side that exercises self-discipline or the side that exercises immediate gratification with no thought about the long-term consequences of your actions or inactions. Which side of the line you choose on a moment-by-moment basis will have a direct effect on the quality of your life and the magnitude of your achievements. This is an area of your life just like attitude, where you have total control if you make the decision to exercise it.

Self-discipline is about making a decision or choice to deny yourself pleasure at the moment in trade for a better moment sometime in the future. It is a willing to listen to the voice that opts for excellence instead of settling for just being average.

You will have a higher degree of satisfaction in your life and will accomplish so much more as a human being if you learn how to discipline your decisions with a long-term perspective. As you make your decisions, you must consider the long-term consequences of the decision, that you are making that moment. Every decision you make today, to act or not, will have future ramifications.

Your ability to exercise self-discipline is dramatically increased if you have goals in your life that motivate you to be in action with an expectation that these actions will be productive in bringing about your desired results. If you have a goal to be in shape, if you have a goal to be respected by your peers, if you have a goal of personal excellence in business or in your personal life, the goal puts the immediate decision in a different framework.

It is important to realize that if you are in a business today, appearance counts. Keep in mind, however, that appearance has to do with more than the clothes you are wearing and the makeup you have on. Your daily habits that reflect self-discipline (or not) will speak volumes to other people about who you are. People are much quicker to respect, believe in, and follow someone who exercises self-discipline and delayed gratification than someone who lives just for the moment with no strong sense of commitment to greater goals and dreams.$

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