The idea that disciplined people are always positive go-getters who never take a day off is a big misconception. They still have self-doubt somedays and feel lazy other days like everyone else. The difference is the disciplined don’t allow fear, doubt, or fatigue to immobilize them. They’re always moving forward toward their goals.
Sometimes, we look at someone driven and hardworking and ask, “Where do you get the energy to accomplish so much?” However, if we want to know the secret to their success, what we should be asking is, “How did you become so disciplined?”
Inspiration and motivation will come and go. If you’re willing to dream, but not work, you might as well go back to sleep. You’ll never see your dream fulfilled without establishing it first in your mind and then following it through with your actions. Keep your eyes on the goal and your mind on the game plan. Any negative thought that gets in the way must be taken captive.
If you’re willing to dream, but not work, you might as well go back to sleep.
A professor at Durham University cites research in her book that clocks inner speech at an average pace of 4,000 words per minute. That means the speech floating around in your head is ten times faster than verbal speech. Wow! That’s either a really good pep-talk or a really bad bashing. We must be incredibly careful about what we think because that’s what we’ll become. In our minds, we birth the vision for who we want to be, and there we also battle to fulfill that vision. I wonder how many people never reach their full potential because they gave up the fight too easily.
Take exercise, for example. How many of us retreat or ease up at the first pulse of pain? We don’t like to feel uncomfortable. And yet, the very thing we try to avoid is what pushes us past our imagined limitations.
Eliud Kipchoge, the best marathoner in history, said, “If you don’t rule your mind, your mind will rule you.” On hard runs, my mind gives up long before my body does. In my mind, sirens scream at me to stop and slow down. I must tell myself to relax and keep going—I’m almost there.
It’s time to get comfortable at feeling uncomfortable. We’re capable of so much more than our minds can conceive. Take authority over the voices telling you to quit. You’re so much stronger than you know.
{Excerpt from Trailblazing Your Teen Years: Successful Habits to LAUNCH out of the norms, LEAD ahead of the pack, and LAND into your destiny}
Noah Halloran 