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PROGRAM D-7523
Self-inflicted suffering—got any of that going on in your life right now? I decided to tackle some of these things we do to ourselves to make our own lives much more difficult and miserable. For example, we’ve seen how bitterness and self-pity are always self-inflicted, and are they ever miserable. But you can stop being bitter and shut down your pity parties any time you choose to.
Another suffering we inflict on ourselves is lack of discipline. Discipline does not come easy for me. I don’t think discipline is much fun, to tell you the truth. And it would be very easy for me to be an undisciplined person.
But what I’ve learned—and am learning—is that discipline is the necessary path to success and achievement. It is essential for turning dreams into realities and visions into accomplishments. But if you’re not willing to put needed disciplines into your life, you are inflicting some costly suffering on yourself.
For example, without being disciplined in your eating habits and exercise, you are not going to live as long, not going to have as much energy, and are much more likely to catch diseases and be ill. We’re talking about real physical suffering that results from lack of discipline.
Poor work habits is another example. When people are habitually late for work, fail to follow-through, don’t return phone calls, aren’t dependable, and do their work in a sloppy manner, it’s because they are undisciplined. And that leads to lost opportunities for advancement, lost pay increases, maybe even lost jobs! All self-inflicted from poor discipline in key areas.
There are many other examples I could cite but the question is, how do we become more disciplined? I would encourage you to find ways to impose discipline in your life. That’s what I do; I use gimmicks and forms and journals and time management techniques and reminders and self-rewards—all kinds of things to help me be the disciplined person I know I must be to accomplish what I want to accomplish. You see, I have a driver personality in a lazy body! Therefore, I must work hard at imposing discipline.
Choose one area where your discipline is weak, and begin to pray about it every day. Ask God to strengthen you for discipline in those areas. I’ve been praying about three specific areas for years now, and I can see some improvement. Then look for accountability and gimmicks to help you impose discipline in that area. Work on one area at a time, because when you are successful there, it will encourage you to be successful in other areas.