What do you think is holding you back?
Lack of money.
Lack of support.
Your introverted personality.
Your disadvantaged upbringing.
Your busy life and family responsibilities.
There are so many reasons we can give ourselves for why we are not where we want to be or can never get to where we hope to achieve.
Are you more comfortable with your excuses or with breakthrough?
I used to tell myself similar versions of some of the above excuses and for years it gave me comfort. Perhaps I felt that i was doing all that I could, given my circumstances. But then I took an honest look at myself:
- I had gained weight
- I wasn’t thrilled about the work I did
- I was constantly tired
- Many of my new-year goals remained unachieved
- I was packing more disappointment into my mind from unachieved dreams.
Something had to change, but first, I had to believe a different story.
I started reminding myself that I am qualified and equipped for my dreams. I needed the discipline to make it happen, so I did something radical: I got up every weekday at 4 a.m. (read The 4 a.m. Mindset) to work on my dream and I still do this.
Take yourself seriously.
I realized that I cannot be disappointed with others for not sharing my dream or taking me seriously. It was not their dream, but mine! The most important thing would be for me to take myself seriously and I had to consciously practice that habit through discipline.
How to gain discipline.
Do not attempt discipline in every area of your life at once. Find a place or area and gain weeks of discipline in it. Once you master that, move to another.
For me, I started with the time that I wake in the mornings and began the 4 a.m. routine. It was a radical place to start, but a jump start to healthy habits.
After weeks of the 4 a.m. routine, I began to expand to a more rigorous exercise plan.
After those habits and disciplines were programmed to my life, I began another big step of focus, my diet. I started reading about health and choosing new healthier food options and dietary lifestyle. Most recently, I finally took the personal challenge of no longer eating meat and finding other plant-based protein sources. It has been weeks and I am growing in this new discipline.
These are my own personal disciplines that I am using to continually grow. What are yours? Think about areas of your life that you have neglected discipline and write a plan of which areas you will focus on, one by one.
Tenacious You
Wanting to grow my real estate business, I knew that If I had proven to myself my commitment through discipline, I would naturally take myself more seriously and have greater confidence in my mission.
Well, it worked!
No one can take away your story. Even if you lack the skills, talent or resources to accomplish your mission from where you stand, by improving the disciplines in your life at least 2 things will happen:
- You will have peace knowing that you put in work to grow yourself personally in preparation.
- You have an irrefutable journey that you have undergone.
For the second point. When you input disciplines in your life, you have shown yourself how you can overcome difficulty by breaking habits or starting ones that you never thought you can do. Somewhere in your brain, you are now telling yourself that you can accomplish new things, those dreams you once thought were far fetched!
You believe in yourself,
Your attitude changes,
You are ready to make it happen!
People often start with goal setting towards an external objective or mission and struggle along the way with personal doubt, fear and other negative self-talk. Start with the biggest obstacle first: You.
Make transformation happen!
