August 20, 2024 - Read Online​

The reason most of us develop self-discipline is to achieve some sort of goal in our lives. To have success in one area or another.

Examples:

• People diet and exercise because they have the goal of preventing heart disease.
• People study and practice in their work because they have the goal of advancing in their career.
• People go to therapy because they have a goal to enjoy life and they don't want to lose their relationships.

I could keep going.

We all have areas of our lives we would like to see improve. We may not call it "goals" or "success", but we do what we do for a reason. We go to the gym, therapy, work, school, and back home for a reason.

Yet - as we kick ourselves for not being good enough, or as we work hard to try and be better, we miss something important:

There are areas we are having "success" in now.

Have you ever seen someone who is a good parent, but they can only see the fact that they aren't where they want to be in their career?

Have you ever seen someone who is wealthy and successful, but deep down they hate the fact that they aren't a better parent?

We have done good things in our lives, but we focus on where we fall short.

We pursue discipline to achieve success, but we are blind to the success we achieve. Why does this happen?

Because success is not the gift that self-discipline brings. The tool we are using to be successful gives us something else. Something better.

Self-discipline's gift to us is that it allows us to be our true selves.

It allows us to order our emotions and passions in a healthy way.

Success may have been the goal when you set out on the quest of self-discipline. But the prize it gives is much better than success - the prize is order within yourself.

Self-discipline may not make you rich, but it gives you the ability to sleep at night.

Self-discipline may not make everyone like you, but it gives you the ability to sit in silence and be ok.

Self-Mastery allows you to live your life with honesty and, when death comes, to accept it.

Success, on the other hand, tricks us.

Ed Catmul, CO-Founder of Pixar, talks about this in his book. He led Pixar through an unprecedented string of 14 hits in a row. Success after success after success. Here is what he said about achieving his wildest dreams:

When we are successful, even in small ways, our view of reality becomes distorted.

So what do we need to do to survive this cruel consequence of success?

More self-control. More discipline.

The point is: most of us have our "vision boards" all wrong. If success is the reason we work hard, we will end up with a warped view of reality.

If self-leadership is the reason we work hard, we will take steps toward becoming who we are supposed to be.

We find something good when our goal is to lead ourselves well rather than change the world around us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Please forward this on to anyone who likes to think these kind of thoughts or to anyone you think would enjoy it!

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All the best,

Dave