Self Discipline – the 2nd most important aspect of success

In my last blog “Is it harder to attain success than to maintain it?”, we have established that it is equally hard to maintain success as to attain it. There is no standing still. Success is a continuous journey, as Einstein said it: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
We have also pointed out that the most important aspect of success is to continuously set and re-set goals. However, setting these goals was not enough. We have to work on them.

Therefore we bring about the 2nd most important aspect of success, self discipline or the ability to delay gratification. Unfortunately, it seems that only one third of pre-school children have been taught this skill as illustrated by the video of Joachim de Posada from TED talks “Don't eat the marshmallow yet”.

How do we achieve self discipline?

There are many different ways to help us to achieve self discipline. One way of achieving self discipline is to intelligently cultivate our mind so that only intended actions will spring forth.

Then, we have to remind ourselves our goals constantly. On our way to our destination, there are many distractions we encounter. We must constantly remind ourselves where we are going in order not to get lost. The first emperor of China had himself reminded every day that his destiny was to unite China. So he was able to do unpleasant tasks that were needed to achieve his destiny.

Right now, my focus is health. So I have my Daily Reminder, which is to deal with stress. Then I have a list of daily routines that I tick off after I accomplish each one.

Hope you enjoy reading this article.