Choose Discipline or Regret

Today I'm going to touch on discipline one more time this week because I think it's so important to our success - in everything.

Getting ourselves to take consistent action, even when we don't want to, can be tough. No question. But it's been said that the top 10% of the folks at the top are there because they are willing to do the things the rest of the folks don't want to do.

Being disciplined challenges most folks.

I keep this quote in my head all the time:

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” -Jim Rohn

I think most of us would agree that we regret far more things that we didn't do, than things we did do.

We've got to force ourselves to take action. The more action the better. More of it and more often.

Just think of how much time you waste in a day. I know if I fail to write out tomorrow's activities before I go to bed, I'll be far less productive than if I have a written plan in place. Far less.

Try it for one week and you'll see just how much more you can do. And while you're at it fix your "time" problem.

People are always impressed by how much I accomplish. I owe my success in that to two things. Having a full plan written out for the day (even if I don't get everything on it done everyday) and I've fixed my "time" problem.

How do you fix your time problem? You do it by changing your perception of how long something will take to do. Most folks go around saying they "don't have enough time". And since that is their belief, sure enough they prove themselves right. I suggest changing your belief. Instead, say to yourself, "Oh, I have time for that."

You'll find you get a whole lot more done with that attitude. Instead of wasting all those little bits of time during the day "in between things" you'll start using those times to get more done. With that belief (whose correctness your subconscious will try to justify) you'll automatically speed up and accomplish more. Getting more done will become a personal challenge - one that you'll win time and again.

One of my favorite mentors, Dan Kennedy, who I quote often in my book put it this way, "It's not the specific actions you take that make you successful as much as it is that you take lots of actions."

Discipline and action 
are critical components of your prosperity.


What can you accomplish with discipline and action? Almost anything I believe. I don't know your particular and unique set of skills, but here are just a few things I have done with not a whole lot more than you have, if anything:

• Located and purchased my first dream sports car in less than 48 hours using less than $1000 cash out of pocket.
• Planned and executed my wife's dream "Garden Wedding" in the middle of a snowy Buffalo winter, IN JUST 8 DAYS! Many guests commented that it was the classiest wedding they'd ever been to. It even included a  scale replica of Niagara Falls, indoors, and the water flowed all night long amongst the flower gardens and live tall trees at Rich's Renaissance Atrium. I received a personal thank you note from billionaire owner, Robert E. Rich, Jr. too!
  
• Took the next 30 days and wrote my first book, telling exactly how you could do that too. It was called, "Plan and Enjoy Your Perfect Wedding, In Just 8 Days!" It was a hit at all the local bridal shows.
• As a marketing representative, in less than 4 months, took an unknown Asian gem merchant from a position of not being able to get a visa to the USA, to sharing a booth with the founder of one of the world's most famous American gem shows, interviewed and published by a renowned gem testing authority, and sold more than $60,000 worth of gemstones - at wholesale price - in her first week here in the U.S..
• Most recently, assembled, photographed and published all the material for "Building Blocks of Prosperity" in just 30 days, including website and sales material...and got it's name out to more than 450,000 qualified prospects!
  

You'll really be surprised just how much you can do when you let action and discipline become your habit.

As it happens, one of my favorite authors, Robert Ringer just had a column published on discipline. Funny how that topic always comes up this time of year as we start dropping all those great New Years plans. You can read his excellent column on discipline here:
http://www.earlytorise.com/2010/01/13/be-relentlessness-in-pursuit-of-your-dreams.html

Robert Schwarztrauber

Achieving Your Dreams

I thought it might be appropriate, as we begin this new year, this new decade in our lives, to talk about how you are going to achieve your dreams. Hopefully, as this new chapter in your life begins, you DO have a dream?

Typically, New Years Eve is a time when folks make resolutions. They make a promise to themselves that they will change for the better in order to be, have, or do something new. They have a dream.

But sadly, within just a few short weeks, many will have left the path they started out on. They will have fallen back into the habit of their old actions - which can only lead to their old results. Nothing new will come of that.

For it is the universal law that like actions produce like results. The unlocked door will always push out when I push upon it. It will never pull IN when I push OUT. If I want the door to pull in, if want that action to come from the door, I must change my actions. I must cooperate with the door, I must give the door the action it requires in order for it to do what I want it to. Moving the door, or any desire you have, can only be obtained by applying the right action. If you are not now getting what you want, STOP! Stop doing what you are doing. Change your action.

As Gandhi says, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." We must change ourselves, our actions first, before we can expect the world to change and give us what we want. We must be the first to give.

The train locomotive earned its spot as the first entry in my book because of its enormous power. The locomotive has long been a symbol of ultimate power and force to move. Think of the enormous load of freight cars and passengers it must pull. Can our burden be any greater? I think not.

The limerick goes on to describe in the most simple and revealing terms just how the train locomotive can accomplish such a monumental task. And, believe it or not, what the train locomotive has to do is exactly what you and I have to do if we are to accomplish great things. We must work together, cooperate with the people and physical and mental resources that surround us. They have been put here for our purpose, but only the wise will claim them for their cause.

To begin his mission, the locomotive needs steam to power the engine. To create steam, hot water is required. To get hot water, fuel such as wood is required to create and sustain a hot fire. It takes a team, several elements all working together on the same goal, to create the enormous power of the locomotive.

And it doesn't happen instantly as we often hope when we set off on our dreams. Momentum builds slowly as the team members all work together. Then, as they continue to work together on that one focused goal of getting the train moving, the universe finally rewards them for what they give - with the power of an unstoppable locomotive.

This is how you will achieve unstoppable power too!

The steps again are:

1. Determine clearly what you wish to do.

2. Seek out every helpful resource available.

3. Ask for help from those who can help you.

4. Create a team to work along side you

5. Don't give up

You are the locomotive in your life. Powerful beyond measure.

Your dreams are waiting for you - if you will take action and use the forces of the universe which are only here to help you on your journey.

Remember...

If the door doesn't open when you push, change your action. Pull.