Life lessons
Chapter 14: Sometimes you have to give up one thing to get another
“Life does not always give us everything,
to achieve higher things like dreams and goals we always want,
sometimes we need to sacrifice other things.”- Aysa Angel
Another key to open the door to success
Motivation, goal setting,
and hard work will get you far.
Add to that discipline,
and you’ll go even further.
Every successful person I know has said that
discipline is the key to getting things done.
Without it, you will only succeed to a certain extent.
There are many people who think that
disciplined people are always rigid and inflexible.
But in fact,
discipline is one of the most positive attributes a person can possess.
I like Webster’s definition:
“Discipline is the practice that helps us correct ourselves,
shape us, strengthen us,
or make us more perfect.”
When you voluntarily apply self-discipline,
you will find that you are in control of your own actions and thoughts.
It is you who can decide what you will do,
how and when you will accomplish the goals you have set.
Philosopher Erich Fromm once said that,
Without discipline,
our lives become wobbly and unfocused.
If our actions are according to our moods and whims,
all that is nothing more than a pastime.
He also said that we will never excel
if we do not do it with a high sense of self-discipline.
What are you willing to give up?
“Every time you say YES to one goal,
you are saying NO to many other things as well.”- Sybil Stanton
Three examples of giving up transient desires:
1. My college students are mostly adults.
In addition to having to work 40 hours a week,
they also attend school 4 hours a week,
and have to spend dozens of hours more doing homework and reading materials.
It’s their choice because they want to be successful.
They accept to give up entertainment games,
give up idle hours every weekend to accumulate more knowledge and experience.
It is the desire to learn
and seek career advancement opportunities that
It have helped them do those things.
2. When I was teaching psychology,
when it came to discipline,
I used saving money as an example.
After class,
a female student asked to talk to me.
She said she had a very good part-time job,
making over $100 a week,
but she spent it all.
She asked me how I can apply discipline to saving.
I asked her how she spent the money.
She replied:
“All the money I spend on shopping… and having fun.”
I asserted that she could save $40 a week by cutting back on shopping and play,
that she should cut back on going to the movies and rock concerts,
limit her purchases of designer brands,
and Don’t eat a lot of junk food.
A few days before the graduation ceremony,
she showed me her passbook.
The last line reads $4,851,
which was quite a lot for a high school student at the time,
the money she earned
because she used to deposit $40 into her account every week.
She said the experience also helped her understand that
the best things in life don’t cost us much.
3. Many years ago,
I was still a kid who always had a dream of playing basketball on a famous team.
I have a good height, have technique,
talent for sports and a burning desire.
From high school to college,
I worked on developing my fitness and necessary skills,
and played basketball whenever I got the chance.
Although I have not been selected to the team that
I have always dreamed of,
my efforts have not been in vain.
What I got was only slightly different from what I expected.
The leisure time,
the winter skiing trips,
the feasts were well worth it for the joy of playing sports,
for medals and a full scholarship to a university to study reputation.
All thanks to a highly disciplined routine
and a passion for being physically fit.
Discipline is a good habit
“Success is the sum of small efforts,
repeated day in and day out that should…” – Robert Collier
The three cases mentioned above are related to choice,
which is also related to habit formation.
That is the core of discipline:
making the right choices and forming good habits.
We accomplish great things by doing small things day in and day out.
Most people either watch what happens
or then wonder what happened.
Discipline helps us get things done when they need to be done,
not when we feel like getting them done.
This is the key to both success and happiness
because we feel real satisfaction
when we reap the results of our hard work and persistence.
“True discipline does not push behind your back;
It’s beside you to encourage you.
When you understand that discipline is self-care,
not self-punishment,
you won’t hesitate to talk about it,
but on the contrary will cultivate it.” – Sybil Stanton