Today, I can say that discipline has given me everything (and I do mean everything), and it is my superhero superpower: my costume bears a huge “D” in the chest, for Discipline. The path I have taken is the “path of discipline.”
But, do not be confused about it, it is not glamorous at all... every day I walk down to the mine and chip away at the stone. You need to wet your shirt day in, and day out, as well. The mine is a metaphor, but the chipping away is real: I have never stopped working intensely, since I started at 24. That is why I do well. Remember, I cannot trust my IQ too much, but I can trust my discipline.
One might think that, to find gold in life, it is enough to buy a good pickaxe (and a great shovel to pick it up). And an egg. If you do not use the pickaxe, nothing will happen. And that is what is mostly wrong today: Too many people are comfortable with reading, knowing, understanding, going to seminars... but they do not apply what they have learned when they need that knowledge the most. In the mine, if you dig deep enough, you will strike gold. And in the silence of its galleries, you end up finding yourself. That is your biggest reward.
This is a strange book, because it focuses in a way of being and behaving, not in the theory. I am not saying that all actions are external (behavior); much of it is internal (mentality). In both cases, if you do not give it all your effort, things do not change.
When things are going badly, give it your all. When things are going well, give it even more. Do not stop climbing down the mine daily (if you can, also climb down there on the weekends). Remember, there are rich and happy people because they give all their efforts to their objectives.
Why a new personal improvement book? Because most have remained in theoretical discourse. And the subject of this book is about pulling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty. Passing to action.
This book will not try to convince you of anything. It is an instruction manual to action. And it does not matter if you like those instructions or not. Just as a doctor does not ask the patient if he likes the recipe. Instructions are to be followed, without questions. And yes, they are for your own good.
I know that ego prefers to read books and then declare itself in agreement or disagreement. But to agree or disagree changes nothing. I am not seeking your agreement with the contents of this book, I have tested their efficacy in my life. What you do in your life with these instructions is up to you. Do not read to agree or disagree; it is better to read to take you to the limit of your possibilities.
You do not need to understand, you do not need motivation, you do not need to know the how... you just need to begin. In this book, you will find the power of unlimited discipline to achieve your goals (the Path of Discipline).
Shall we get started?
Raimon Samso, Author and Entrepreneur
One
UNLIMITED SELF-DISCIPLINE
In this chapter, I will explain:
1. The muscle of self-discipline
2. How do I apply it?
3. The kryptonite of discipline
The Muscle of Self-Discipline
The good discipline is self-discipline, otherwise it is imposition (an order from someone else). In other words: discipline is not imposed; one is gifted with it. Can discipline be taught and learned? Of course, as any skill can, and here we are, you and me.
The Dalai Lama once said that true discipline is not imposed. It can only come from within ourselves; I agree, one hundred percent. As you will see, self-discipline is self-esteem, and love cannot be imposed; it is a choice, or even more, it is a surrender, and that is how I understand the nature of discipline.
Self-discipline = Self-esteem
Let us continue. To me, there are two kinds of disciplines: internal and external. The first has to do with the attentive observation of thoughts, beliefs and feelings. The second has to do with behaviors, habits and actions. To have discipline, you first have to be disciplined. As always, being comes before doing. To behave in a determined way, first you have to be someone who corresponds with that behavior, internally.
1. Internal discipline.
2. External discipline.
Metaphors help us to understand, and here is one that will help you visualize discipline as a skill that can be harnessed and trained. The same as if you went to a gym or to the track. When you understand that discipline is a muscle that expands with use, and that elevates your life as it grows, you will not stop training it to develop it at your leisure. You will sculpt your life.
“I believe that self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.” Daniel Goldstein
But be careful, muscles also need rest. Training demands a time for recovery. If you exhaust your discipline, you are forcing the machine of will. You abandon inspiration and enter transpiration, what before was pleasure becomes effort. You no longer generate energy, but rather expend it, and that weakens you. You go from power to force.
Let us say that, every day, you wake up with a reserve of mental and physical energy, and every decision you make spends part of that total available balance. When, at mid-morning, you exhaust your daily reserve, you end up making either bad decisions, or spending more time that would otherwise be required to make those decision (or simply postponing them).
To not waste that energy, you must convert as many decisions into programmed routines or habits in which you can delegate the decision making process. That way, you are not “clawing after” the results that you are seeking, but rather “get on” a habit, and that habit takes you there.
You leave your home in the morning, and your chauffeur (a habit) at the wheel of a Marine Blue Bentley Continental (programmed routine) that takes you where you tell him to go (results)... Sounds good, right? Well, you will see that it gets even better as we go along. You can get an entire fleet of vehicles at your disposal, but first, you must “build it.”
Look, the only way I know to recharge your energy is by love, the strongest force in the universe. This takes us to the next universal principle:
Everything by devotion, nothing by obligation.
I am serious: do not force yourself to anything. You have tried that strategy before, and it has not worked... more than likely it backfired on you. Acknowledge it.
For that reason, in this entire book you will never read me praise the “force of will,” because, in reality, you do not need it at all. If, at any time, you find yourself forcing yourself to do something... you’re going all wrong about it. If your strategy is based on forcing your will, you are playing against yourself. In my unlimited discipline method, the source of energy comes from passion.
The fatigue from the imposed discipline occurs when we enter
