Everything Counts - 10/19/2008
There is a great booklet written by Gary Ryan Blair, the “GoalsGuy.” It is a high velocity formula for maximum achievement and in it there are some components that I would like to share with you.
1. Gary says self-discipline counts. If you do not discipline yourself, you are sure to be disciplined by others. Every act of self-discipline moves you toward your goals and every exception takes you off course. We are all walking talking power struggles, head versus heart, and intellect versus emotion. Many leave this stirring to their emotions and merely bring their intellects along for the ride.
Your intellect or your emotions - which one is running the show in your life? Contrary to popular belief, freedom does not arise from letting it all hang out. Freedom is the result of a personal triumph over emotion. To experience true freedom you must prove to yourself that you are the master of your own destiny. Never are you less free than when you are held hostage by your own emotions. When the emotions rule, enslavement not freedom follows.
Bad habits are the gravitational pull of your emotional life and overcoming them is not easy. Change is challenging. Surrender is tempting and it gets tastier with practice. It takes less energy to remain disciplined than to regain it. Entropy moves in when self-discipline falls asleep. Every compromise greases the wheels for another compromise. Make a personal, no exceptions’ policy and stick to it. Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. Self- discipline requires you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results.
There is a season for sowing and season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which. Winners prepare and anticipate behind closed doors. Lay the ground work for success carefully. Effective preparation and self-discipline are closely alike. Do your homework. Since most people are rarely well prepared, you will often succeed by default. When opportunity presents itself, burst out of the starting gate, sprint to the finish line, and then take home the prize. Do what needs to be done.
Quality living requires you to make difficult choices and sacrifices. It demands that you do the hard work first. You cannot arrive at true success without making the trip. Self-discipline is a habit. It is not situational but it is applied situation by situation. Anyone can be self-disciplined on occasion but to get consistently positive results requires consistency.
It is the day in, day out practice of self-discipline that determines where you will end up. After all, a lifetime is an accumulation of moments, days, weeks, months, and years. What you do during each moment counts and it influences the degree to which you judge your life to be a success.
If you aspire to achieve your goals, you must be prepared to play every play as though the two-minute warning clock is running. Every move is significant. Every move counts. Everyone struggles with self-discipline. The question is not, do I, but where do I need to exercise greater discipline. The discipline you establish today determines the successes you will enjoy tomorrow. The strenuous life tastes better. When it comes to self discipline, a key driver of success, everything counts.
2. Personal development counts. There will never be a day that will not require dedication, discipline, good judgment, energy, and the feeling that you can improve. Each day offers an opportunity for improvement. Each moment an advance or retreat in the pursuit of your goals. Personal development is a lifelong pursuit because life is a work in progress. You never totally arrive.
There is always some polishing to do, knowledge to gain, and love to deepen. Self development ends only when we run out of time. You are and always will be a self in evolution. Who cannot improve a little as a parent, child, spouse, friend, citizen, or employee? No one is perfect. No one walks the straight and narrow line all the time. The absence of perfection leaves the door open for improvement.
Dreams die under a burden of excuses. Excuses, blame, negativity, and self pity impede personal development. Making excuses is a character deficiency, nothing more than a public relations’ snow job. Castrate excuses. Give blame no breathing room. Cut off the oxygen to negativity and self pity. Let there be no doubt. As long as you continue to blame others instead of assuming your responsibilities, you will make no meaningful and enduring change for the better.
What kind of people are we if we do not have the character to own up to our own shortcomings and responsibilities? To have and enjoy certain liberties requires us to hold each other and ourselves accountable for our actions. Here is a truth you can lean on.
You are responsible for your own personal development. It is a solo act. It is contemplative thought and behavior modification. Self improvement begins at home inside your minds. Do not allow your attitude to be your handicap. Make it your strength. Expect skepticism. Personal development is a kind of damned if you, damned if you don’t situation. If you do not improve, people say that you should. When you do change, they are disbelieving. Improve anyway.
Habits, good and bad alike are lifelong companions and hold court acting as both judge and jury over personal development. Your challenge is to withstand the effects of your own bad habits. Bad habits are like land mines strewn throughout the landscape of your life.
Eventually, you will become a casualty of your own bad habits. The only problem with good habits is that they are easy to give up. Life is fired at us point blank. We must constantly decide what to do with it. Life is an ongoing journey with lots of beginnings and continuations. We never get to a point where all knowledge is attained and understood. When our bodies function flawlessly, when we completely honor our values, and achieved every goal, we get better when we do better and we do better when we know better. Personal development is the way that we purposely make everything count.
Your can find out about Gary Ryan Blair by going to www.goalsguy.com
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