The good discipline is self-discipline; otherwise, it is imposition – an order from someone else. In other words: discipline is not imposed; one is gifted with it.Can discipline be taught and learned? Of course, as any skill can.
The Dalai Lama once said that true discipline is not imposed. It can only come from within ourselves. Self-discipline is self-esteem, and love cannot be imposed; it is a choice, or evenmore, it is surrender, and that is how RaimonSamso understands the nature of discipline.
To him, there are two kinds of disciplines: internal and external. The first has to do with the attentive observation of thoughts, beliefs and feelings. The second has to do with behaviors, habits and actions. To have discipline, you first have to be disciplined. As always, being comes before doing.To behave in a determined way, first you have to be someone who corresponds with that behavior, internally.
Metaphors help us to understand, and Samso offers one that will help you visualise discipline as a skill that can be harnessed and trained. The same as if you went to gym or to the track. When you understand that discipline is a muscle that expands with use, and that elevates your life as it grows, you will not stop training it to develop it at your leisure.
Daniel Goldstein puts it aptly: “I believe that self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.”But be careful, muscles also need rest. Training demands a time for recovery. “If you exhaust your discipline, you are forcing the machine of will. You abandon inspiration and enter transpiration, what before was pleasure becomes effort.”
You no longer generate energy, but rather expend it, and that weakens you. You go from power to force.
Let us say that, every day, you wake up with a reserve of mental and physical energy, and every decision you make spends part of that total available balance.
When, at mid-morning, you exhaust your daily reserve, you end up making either bad decisions, or spending more time that would otherwise be required to make those decisions (or simply postponing them).
To not waste that energy, you must convert as many decisions into programmedroutines or habits in which you can delegate the decision-making process. Thatway, you are not “clawing after” the results that you are seeking, but rather “geton” a habit, and that habit takes you there.
Perhaps, the only way to recharge your energy is by love, the strongest force in the universe. This takes us to the next universal principle:
“Everything by devotion, nothing by obligation.” Do not force yourself to do anything.
If, at any time, you find yourself forcing yourself to do something… you are going all wrong about it. If your strategy is based on forcing your will, you are playing against yourself. Samson’s “unlimited discipline method,” the source of energy comes from passion. The fatigue from the imposed discipline occurs when we enter in the mode of attrition, “force of will.”
Good discipline which is self-esteem in action may tire your body and mind, but it will never exhaust your spirit. They are different things. Every task requires that you rest at some point, but when it is well oriented, it does not demand quitting or abandoning it. When you understand this, you understand how life operates: this life philosophy does not entail using strength, but rather being guided by inner power.
Can you be disciplined in all you do? No, of course not, only in that which youare passionate about, that which is your priority, that which you love. “Being disciplined in what you detest is masochism, a sad self-flagellation.” That is why many personal development authors insist on the importance of dedicating your life to that which you love to do. Why? Because they know you will never be disciplined in that which you do not love!
All these decisions become programmed micro-routines, mini-habits, and make you free up time to center on other, more relevant, things. By simplifying your decisions, they are already made, and you can focus on priorities.
That is how people of high-performance act and, despite it appearing boring at first, when you try it; you will regret not having started automating your trivial decisions before. Moreover, it is not an automatic life, dehumanised nor robotic.Changing decisions for habits and mini-habits will lead to a full a satisfactory life. John Maxwell believes that “You will never change your life unless you change something you do every day.”
THE BANE OF DISCIPLINE
We as humans have an‘Achilles Heel,’ a weakness that sabotages a standard of superior results. Identifying it and avoiding should be our task.
Additionally, any self-respecting superhero has antagonistic peers at their level: super villains, or immensely vile individuals. But do not get angry at them, they are not there as an obstacle, but rather to help. They are a subconscious resource that we use to make our hallucinations of uniqueness fail. No one is special, not even superheroes. “You know where you come from, and must remember that you can return there (or to a worse place) in a flash.”
Super villains, obstacles, and resistances to discipline are there to test you. They are a way for you to measure how much you want what it is you want. If you really want to achieve something, none of them will be an impediment for you.But if you give up, you did not want it enough, and it would be best to give it to someone who appreciates it more. Now, if you defeat your opponents, you are not really defeating them, but rather triumphing over yourself. You recover your life and its meaning. Discipline is the reminder of what you want. Robin Sharma observes that: “Leaders are those that do what others are not willing to do, even though they may not like it. They have the discipline required to do what they know is important and right, instead of what is easy and fun.”
And these are the enemies, the bane of discipline: Procrastination, Low Self-esteem, Impatience, Sloth, Fear, Excuses, etc.
Do you recognize them? Sometimes they present themselves with a mask of surreal reasoning. All these excuses are cured with the antidote of discipline. A good dose of discipline while fasting, before breakfast, and everything will be necessary to achieve our life goals.
When the excuse comes, you are already working, and your door has a sign that reads: “Do not disturb, I am building an incredible life.” And the excuse will have to go somewhere else with its sad tune.
When you postpone your action, it is often because you do not know how things will go. Act anyway. Start, and then God will have the final say.If you do not achieve what you wish, it is not the fault of the obstacles, but that of the lack of commitment.
BY CAPTAIN SAM ADDAIH RTD.
