I truly believe in the saying that “SELF DISCIPLINE IS THE KEY TO THE GODOWN OF SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.” And the lack of Self Discipline is the cause for misery
and failure.In the Leadership training program which we conduct, weprescribe the following schedule for our participants to follow:
The schedule prescribes getting up at 5.00 am, drink at least one litre of water, then enthusiastically finish your washroom ritual and then put on your jogging kit and hit the ground for your morning
5kms jogging ending up with 10 -15 minutes of stretching exercise.
Return home and after relaxing for a few moments, have a cold water shower. After this tingling bath, offer prayer to the Almighty expressing Gratitude for all the blessings that one has received.
This is followed by Reading loudly and enthusiastically the seven magic cards of Human Relations principles. This reading is ended up with a heartfelt commitment to strive to live by these principles
in the coming 24 hrs.
This is followed by having a nutritious protein rich breakfast with the total focus in enjoying the food consumed.
After the healthy breakfast, sit quietly and plan and schedule the entire day’s work in terms of ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’. After having a proper clarity on the day’s tasks and goals, set out to work with a promise to self to do the very best in whatever activity that one is going to perform.
The next discipline is to ensure that one is back home latest by 7 pm to spend quality time with one’s family.
The night Dinner is consumed by 8.30 pm and the last discipline is to retire to bed latest by 11 pm.
If one analyses the whole prescribed routine it involves self discipline at every step. If a person adheres to the above schedule with self discipline he or she would grow tremendously in the Physical, Mental, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual dimensions and thereby lead a powerful, fulfilled life.
Unfortunately, what one is seeing in today’s society is just the reverse of the above schedule. Most of the persons are leading a totally chaotic life. There is hardly any time given for physical exercise. Most of the people are focused in only earning their livelihood and totally neglecting their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual growth.
What we are seeing in the society is people living their life with a lot of stress, strain, tension and disharmony.
Due to the imbalanced and undisciplined life style even at a young age of 25 people are contracting life style diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes, heart ailments, etc.
Due to the undisciplined life today and the lack of social and emotional maturity and growth, out of every 10 marriages 7 end up in divorce.
The cases of suicides have quadrupled and the cases of alcoholism and drug addiction have sky rocketed.
The root cause for all these manifestations is lack of self control or discipline.
The word discipline sounds like an alarm bell in peoples minds. The dictionary defines the word ‘Discipline’ as regulations, order, systematic training. Discipline is wrongly construed as giving no choice or fall back options, being tough on yourself, etc.
Apart from all these misgivings and wrong definitions, we assign a sense of pain and sacrifice to it.
Actually the word ‘Discipline’ arises from the word Disciple or Shishya. It is a state of willful surrendering out of one’s choice. This is a state of effortlessness and willful total acceptance.
In the true sense, discipline means freedom, discipline is freedom.
Standing on a terrace of their house, a man and his nine year old son were flying a kite. Looking at the kite high up in the sky the little boy remarked. “Dad the kite can actually go still further up in
the sky, but it is staying there only because of the string.” Before the boy could say anything else, the father suddenly took a blade out and cut the string. Instantly enough, the kite came crashing down. The child was shocked! With a lot of assertiveness, the father looked into the eyes of his son and said, “No Son, it is the other way round. Actually it is only because of the string that the kite reached the height and was enjoying the freedom of the skies. Without the string, the kite cannot go up and stay there.”
In the above analogy the string is discipline. It is discipline. It is our discipline that takes us to rise, grow, higher and higher in life and stay up there, enjoying the rewards of being on the top.
An hour of disciplined exercise gives us the freedom to enjoy good health and fitness in the remaining 23 hours of the day.
At least half- an-hour of meditation regularly everyday clears our muddled mind and gives us peace of mind and a stress-free life.
A disciplined time for the family means harmonious family life and freedom from complaints and cribbing. A disciplined work schedule means freedom from pending and stressful work.
Financial discipline means freedom from a cash flow crisis.
As can be deciphered from the above, the practice of self discipline in adhering to various areas of life would automatically result in power, freedom, peace in all the above crucial areas, resulting in
one’s comprehensive growth, fulfillment and happiness.
Nothing has been more motivating and rewarding than to know that my freedom is in my hands and I can embrace it through discipline. Freedom is the effect of a cause called discipline.
Freedom, success, growth, fulfillment and prosperity are all the fruit of discipline. All the above experiences are my birthright. At the same time one needs to realize that the only person who can
cause Freedom, Success, Growth, Peace, Fulfillment and Prosperity is myself and I need to take up the responsibility of causing it for myself through the wonderful tool called ‘self discipline’.
Ponder over these thoughts:
- A time for everything and everything in that time.
- A place for everything and everything in its place. Then there will be less wastage of time, a better balance to life, a lot more will get accomplished.
- Getting disciplined is all about the ability to define and then the will to adhere to the defined.
- A disciplined person is his own architect and we can be our own masters for every resource available to us - space, time, finance, etc.
- Through this we can truly make it possible to ‘let this world be a little better because we are here.’
The above article comes from my book 'Unleash your Potential' which reveals the principles to Optimize your & your team's performance, productivity & profitability...
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- About Arunaagiri Mudaaliar
Arunaagiri is an Author of best selling books like 'Unleash your Potential' & 'Jogging for Life Success', an International Sportsman, a Successful Entrepreneur, a widely loved Yoga Teacher and a reputed International Corporate Trainer.
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