Make Discipline Your Favorite Tool
Society makes a big deal about reaching goals. So many these days are tired of the concept and don’t want to set them because then they have to face the success or failure of achieving them. Goals open the opportunity for the prefrontal cortex to judge us on our personal performance and test our self-esteem.
We would often rather leave our attempt to improve open ended so that if we don’t reach our goal we can say I wasn’t really trying anyway. There is another way to approach progress. Develop positive habits and they will build enthusiasm for doing more.
Start with the Engagement
Engaging in something new and developing competence is the first step in building expertise and developing passion. One Harvard professor stated that the beginning is always the difficult part before we begin to enjoy ourselves and a passion emerges. Once we have passion, we have created our commitment.
It is amazing how we slide into commitment just by liking or loving something. One of my younger daughter’s favorite phrases has always been “I am obsessed with it.” Obsession is a good word for passion. I have several obsessions that I could say are passions. I want every day to include my passions.
My passions induce me to include them in my time blocks. Each day I look forward to engaging and feel I am making progress toward worthwhile goals even if I have not set forth the specifics of those goals. I engage. I enjoy. I feel the rewards. I realize the engaging is adding to the quality of my lifestyle or the steady improvement of my value.
Years ago I started blogging every day because I wanted to write. I was not good at expressing my thoughts in a cogent manner even though I am a college graduate. Soon, the process was smoother and I looked forward to it every day. I was obsessed. What I have really wanted to do all my life was write books. After blogging for years, sliding into the discipline of writing every day on a book was easy. 24 books later, I am still obsessed with writing.
In high school, I thought jogging would be a healthy exercise and maybe fun in addition to the sports I played. In college it continued. After college I was running 5 miles a day. Then I joined a track club and began running 60 miles a week. I would never have dreamed of that when I started jogging, but his is how discipline grows great achievements.
I can tell the same stories about bike riding and beginning a surf instruction business. We may start without a goal but the daily work on the idea builds to an obsession, more enthusiasm, bigger achievements and soon we are amazed at our progress. All we need is the discipline to engage every day and build our skills until we are competent and thoroughly enjoy our engagement.
Once Engagement is Consistent, We Discover Flow
The magic that happens in every case is we get into flow when we engage and this is what makes it an obsession. Flow is the juice enjoyed by the extreme athlete. Flow is the magic enjoyed by anyone reaching peak performances. I enjoy flow on my bike rides as the mechanics are learned and my mind can go into almost a meditative state.
Flow is the reason we want to engage every day. Flow is the bliss of acting without any self-judgment nor caring about judgment. It is bliss because our brain is pumping happiness hormones and neurotransmitters to keep us engaged. Endorphins is one of these chemicals which allowed man in the early days to outrun an antelope until it just stopped running.
You can create the habits of self-improvement and they will each flourish on their own. I have habits of drinking water, eating healthy, exercising, reading, learning, meditating, and writing. These each have a small portion of my schedule every day. Each day I am self-actualizing. Self-actualizing is my main goal that is a process more than a destination.
Yes, the processes take you to results you would never have imagined. So now you have two ways to achieve. Set a goal and then the strategies or develop the habits and reach amazing results you had not predicted. Either way, the discipline of engaging everyday becomes a tool you can point at anything.
Read More
Emotions Are A Weapon Not A Hindrance
You Are in Charge of How Others See You
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As a Thriving Worker Consultant, I can engage in conversations with employers on how to begin the process of helping workers thrive and reach peak performance. It begins with a conversation to see how far an organization is willing to go to change the culture for workers.
Great practices for daily living can be learned with the Markap Series of Books. If your organization would like live presentations or Zoom meetings, they can be arranged for small to large groups.
