Your Bridge to Success

Discipline:
A system of essential rules and duties.

Remember yesterday we talked about
Ivy Lee and his great tip for Charles Schwab
that produced millions in profits?




There are actually two important parts to that plan.

First, the plan or the system actually worked.

It worked because it required the essential step of writing down what you want to accomplish - that being the first step in turning wishes or dreams into achievable goals. And it required you to prioritize your goals so that you could begin work on the most important one first.

Second, it required you to have discipline.
And that is where most of us fail.

We can do something once, or for a little while, but then we revert back to our more familiar ways. When things get hard, or obstacles appear we abandon ship and move on to the next project - consoled by the fact that we're not "wasting time" butting our heads on the last thing.

But Ivy Lee's plan won't let you do that. You MUST complete the most important thing on your list before moving on to the next. No sweeping it under the rug, no putting it off until tomorrow. No procrastination allowed.

So make your list, and begin. Successful people differ most from others in that they FINISH the tasks that are important. They don't quit when the going gets tough and they don't put off until tomorrow what they can do today. If you thought it was the most important thing on your list, don't suddenly change your mind.

It's a little thing called discipline.

A system (means its automatic, it just happens - you just DO IT WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT!) of essential (means without it, it won't work) rules (agreed upon ways of doing things) and duties (the things you must do).

Discipline is simply defined yet oh so hard for most folks to follow. And therein lies the root cause of most failures. Failures in school, in business, in personal lives, in self-improvement. We can find hundreds of examples of WHAT to do, we just can't seem to follow through daily with the actions that are required to achieve the success that has been laid out for us.

On page 37 of my book "Building Blocks of Prosperity" I tell you the one question successful folks ask that can give you all the discipline you need to succeed. And it never fails!

Robert Schwarztrauber