It seems very natural to assume that, “If I had a million dollars, I would invest in a healthy diet, join a valuable charitable club, invest more in educational material or books…”. On the other hand, it appears very normal to us when we hear of successful people having good health habits, being early risers, punctual and maybe even true to their words. In short, everything about successful people seems to have an uncanny association with success.
But there is a grey area that is not so ordinarily visible on the outside. In this grey area lie many constraints, revelations and truths. Let’s decode this area, cogently.
It feels fascinating watching the Olympic athletes getting ready to run the 4×100 m relay. And at some point, an idea creeps into our minds about the outstanding training these athletes undergo. Discipline not just about physical training, but also about their diet, the calculation of calories, the investment they make in the dieticians, personal, physical as well as mental coaches. It’s not an overstatement to say that everything they do, they do for this moment in Olympics.
The reason I deliberately mention sportsmen is that their discipline is visible and easy to comprehend. But is it also visible for people excelling in different fields?
Yes, it is! Provided you look for it!
The captain of a ship doesn’t say I will be more disciplined once I become the captain. Similarly, the manager of a Multinational Company doesn’t say I’ll be a good manager after they increase my pay or an aspiring surgeon that I’ll be more punctual after I become a surgeon. The very fact that they reach these positions is because they started with discipline from day 1.
This is the logic that seems to be right there in front of us but many of us miss to see. We are all waiting ‘to be someone’ to exercise ‘the best practice’ that we already know. On the contrary, it is this very practice that can get us to become someone!
But what can I do today, to be disciplined? What are the areas or practices to focus on when it isn’t much visible? The best starting point of the answer to this question is to note down the values and practices you admire of the people working in your domain or simply the qualities of the people you admire.
These values are what you are secretly aspiring to inculcate. You would like to have an organized home or workplace once you get that house or place of work of your dreams? Along with the levelled lawn and an exemplary fountain? Okay, that sounds good.
And what are you doing with your current place of stay? Is it the way it should be if it was your dream home?
Similarly, the part of your income or allowance you spend every month has a story to tell. You’d like to invest more in your skills, your personality, your well being once you earn more. The truth is earning more only amplifies what you are.
How would you take care of your family or loved ones and your health once you become successful? How would you manage your time and allocate it efficiently once you become a person of significance?
By now you’d have spotted the pattern. And honestly, these aren’t some secrets lying in some Mountain Doom but rather hidden in plain sight!
To summarize, you can use a 3-step process to overcome this roadblock and be disciplined today:
- Identify your ‘Once’ conditionalities: These are easy to spot. Just keep asking yourself, what will you do and what values you’d adopt once you get that what you want. A good raise, million dollars, the mansion, the peace of mind, the respect you crave for… you decide.
- The activities after you get your ‘Once’: All the answers for your behaviour after you get what you want are the activities you need to implement to get to the ‘Once’! You’ll also notice the difference here between your desired behaviours and nuisances once you get these answers. The schedule you’d like to keep, the standards in life you’d have, the way that you’d like to spend or use your time. Everything.
- Start: Do these activities. Not once, not for a week but almost as if you have achieved what you initially intended to and are doing exactly what you’ve always wanted to do. Starting from today!
Down the road, maybe in two months or three, I am sure you’d find yourself way different from what you were, wishing for change or even wishing for success!
Remember, the aspiring Olympian who is not a star yet has to sacrifice a big chunk of his money first, to get to that stage later!
A bonus tip, you can spot the trajectories of people around you with the activities, choices and their allocation of time every day! 😉
good article 🙂
Well written and inspiring.
Hope it help many to come out of their comfort zone and do productive stuff from today.
All the best for your future work.