Discipline is the road to Success
My former secondary school motto read, ‘Discipline is the road to success‘. I wore a shirt daily for four years with a badge having this writing on it and not once did I ever stop to think what it really meant.
Several years later, I look back and I understand exactly what the proprietors of this great school meant when they coined this motto. But what, exactly is discipline? It is the art of self control and self reliance that enables someone to be able to make themselves do the right thing, and what is expected of them without being supervised, in order for them to achieve the set objective.
Whenever you are trying to stay on a diet, that’s the time your friends will be inviting you out for drinks and ‘nyama choma’ in turns. For a drug addict, the moment you decide to stay clean is when opportunities to to start using present themselves without you even trying to go out in search for them. As Christians, we encounter temptations constantly but when you make a decision to follow the right path, that’s when the devil shows up with the all his relatives in order to try and get you to backslide.
Discipline is what gets you out of bed on a cold chilly morning so you can get to the gym and work out even though thirty more minutes of sleep sounds like a great idea. It is what makes you say ‘NO’ to that bribe that a job seeker is offering you so they can get hired, even though you know you really need that money at that time. It is the ability to walk past that nice pair of shoes that you desire so much without impulsively buying because you know you cannot afford it at the time.
No matter how talented you are, if you lack discipline, you will never succeed. Success requires hard work, determination, consistency, the grace of God and DISCIPLINE. Ask any successful athlete around what their secret is and they will tell you a lot of things. But one consistent thing that stands out in all of them is the discipline they have especially when it comes to training. Learn to talk yourself out of quitting when you know quitting is the most comfortable option. Start small, and build up from there. Having self discipline is not as obvious as you’d imagine and it doesn’t come easy, it is something you must teach yourself daily.
Discipline is a master key. It unlocks many locks irrespective of size or shape. Great insight.
Exactly. Without the discipline to follow through, all the hard work amounts to nothing.
Ann, you’d never have put it any better!
Thank you so much Myra
My question is about dealing with negative vibes esp from your supervisor or some above the chain of command, how do you deal with it
Hi Ben, thank you for the feedback.
First, you need to realise and accept that your Supervisor is still your superior and as such, you must accord them the respect they deserve, even if you don’t like them. Secondly, realise that your Supervisor is not God, and that means, sometimes they are wrong. Whenever you have a contrary opinion, always share that, but respectfully. And finally, interact with them only if/when you must. Work is not a popularity contest so you must learn to accommodate one another.