Make a list of all the things you can do.
Get right on those.
Discipline yourself for those.
Both for the results and for
the muscle and for the practice.
So that when life hands you some big challenges,
you'll be ready.
But see, if you don't handle the small ones,
you can't take care of the big ones.
Here's the steps.
Number one,
find out how things work.
The first key to doing better is find out.
To change your life really, you need ideas.
There isn't anything an idea can't change.
And Shoaff taught me the major problem is lack of an idea,
not a problem.
At first, I didn't have any money.
I said to Mr. Shoaff, I don't have any money.
He said, that's not a problem.
Now, see, up until then, I always thought it was,
I was confused.
He said, no, no, the problem is
lack of an idea on how to create money and wealth.
It isn't lack of money, it's lack of ideas.
So if you get the ideas so you can change anything.
Now, to get ideas, you need a constant study of finding out.
And they have to all be brought under the
organizational structure of long term collective vision.
And in order to do that, you have to be disciplined.
And any discipline, technically speaking, is an attempt
to bring all those competing short term impulses under
a larger scale and more inclusive framework.
You do that and then,
well that's actually what gives you freedom.
If you're going to mess around with very complicated and
dangerous matters
you should really put your life together.
We also know that the higher your conscientiousness,
the lower your neuroticism.
Conscientiousness does seem to keep neuroticism in check.
And so I would say, and have said this to many people,
clean your room, organize your life,
get a routine, establish disciplined habits.
The next subject is setting goals.
Let me show you what turned my life every way, but lose
setting goals.
Here's what can easily happen if you don't set goals,
it's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living
instead of designing a life.
And we all have a choice
make a living or design a life.
It's easy to get trapped by economic necessity.
But the best advice I can give you on how to break out of
that trap is to learn how to set goals.
Mr. Shoaff put it to me this way.
He said, Jim, if you had enough reasons,
you could do the most incredible things.
If you have enough reasons.
Write down your why.
What are you doing this for in life?
Your why should be something so big that it changes
the whole outlook on how things are
with you and your purpose.
Think about your passion.
Think about your opportunities.
And that's how you find your purpose.
When that why meets up with your passion,
your opportunity and your purpose, then you'll find out.
Most of us are standing in a busy street,
just letting the opportunities in life pass us by.
We're waiting for the perfect situation, the perfect
circumstances, the perfect opportunity, the perfect time.
There's never going to be a perfect time
or the perfect moment.
There's never a perfect moment
to do something great with your life.
Take a look at the clock.
That thing ain't stopping for nothing, baby.
It's going to keep ticking, keep moving, keep passing you by
all the time you're waiting for it to read perfect o'clock.
You have to take action now.
Whatever that goal is, whatever that dream is
that you're holding in your mind, now is the time.
Forget all your excuses.
Forget all your problems.
Not tomorrow, not next week, but right here, right now.
Why keep looking around at people that
are where you want to be,
living the type of life you want to live.
Look at that place where they are
and say to yourself, now is my time.
Now is my moment.
Now is your moment.
Today is that day.
I want you to be terrified of sitting
on the sidelines and doing nothing.
Waking up in 6 days, or 6 weeks,
or 6 years, or 60 years
and being no closer to your goal.
You've made no progress.
That is the nightmare.
Do the extra repetition.
Run the extra mile.
Go the extra round.
Make the right choices.
Give the full measure.
Fight back.
Go down swinging.
Give every day everything you've got.
Embed that long term goal in your mind
burn it into your soul.
I got here not because I'm the strongest,
not because I'm the fastest, not because I'm the best.
I never stopped fighting.
It got harder and it got harder, and it seemed
the further I climbed, the harder it got.
But I didn't stop, I didn't quit,
I just kept fighting and fighting and fighting.
Think about it.
Write about it.
Talk about it.
Hang it up on your wall.
But most important, do something about it.
Every day
every day do something that moves you
toward that goal
that keeps that goal alive and in sight and in focus.
Do what you say
Mean what you say.
Follow through for something
for one time in your life
one time.
Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done.
But not me. For me,
motivation is this horrible, scary game
where I try to make myself do something while I actively avoid doing it.
If I win, I have to do something I don't want to do.
And if I lose, I'm one step closer to ruining my entire life.
And I never know whether I'm going to win or lose until the last second.
Temperance is not deprivation but command of oneself physically, mentally, spiritually
—demanding the best of oneself,
even when no one is looking, even when allowed less.
It takes courage to live this way
—not just because it’s hard, but because it sets you apart.
The warrior has awareness...
we are aware that we are at war ,
and the war in our minds requires discipline.
Not the discipline of a soldier but the discipline of a warrior.
Not the discipline from the outside to tell us what to do and not to do,
but the discipline to be ourselves, no matter what.
A weak mind must be constantly entertained and stimulated.
A strong mind can occupy itself and,
more important, be still and vigilant in moments that demand.
Without the momentum of a stern discipline,
motivation is mostly a momentary, flighty emotion.
For it works best under the supervision of discipline,
but can serve as not only an ally but also an enemy:
because in anything that requires your self-discipline
- whether going to church, going to classes,
going to workouts, going through trainings,
completing jobs, reading books, living well,
eating healthily, studying, practicing something
- the more times you skip, the more relaxed and motivated you'll become about skipping;
and the next thing you know you've quit your fight altogether
(or, put in short, the more you skip, the more you'll skip until you've quit).
Maybe then you'll see that motivation bears its fruits when watered by discipline, but it spoils when not.
We don’t need accomplishments to feel good or to be good enough.
What do we need? The truth: not much!
Some food and water.
Work that we can challenge ourselves with.
A calm mind in the midst of adversity. Sleep. A solid routine. A cause we are committed to.
Something we’re getting better at. Everything else is extra.
Or worse, as history has shown countless times, the source of our painful downfall.
If the first step is just showing up, committing to doing something each day,
then the next step is finding something to focus on getting better at each day.
And in this, where cumulative improvement meets compounding returns
we can harness one of the most powerful forces on Earth. Think about it:
Most people don’t even show up.
Of the people who do, most don’t really push themselves.
So to show up and be disciplined about daily improvement?
You are the rarest of the rare.
Life is filled with all sorts of difficulties and challenges.
Work will not always go well.
But working out? Working out is in our control.
It is a contained space in which the only potential obstacle is our determination and commitment.
Swim.
Lift weights.
Train in jujitsu.
Take long walks.
You can choose the means, but the method is a must:
You must be active. Get your daily win.
Treat the body rigorously, as Seneca tells us, so that it may not be disobedient to the mind.
Because as you’re building muscle, you’re also building willpower.
More important, you’re building this willpower and strength while most people are not.
The body, you must understand, is a metaphor.
It’s a training ground, a proving ground for the mind and the soul.
What are you willing to put up with?
What can you do without?
What will you put yourself through?
What can you produce with it?
Only you know what it will look like to train in your art like a samurai,
an Olympic athlete,
a master in pursuit of excellence.
Only you will know what you need to practice from morning until night,
what to repeat ten thousand times. It won't be easy, but in that burden is also freedom and confidence.
The pleasure of the flow state.
The rhythm of second nature.
The quiet calmness of knowing that, from the practice,
you'll know exactly what to do when it counts ....
the pride and the dependability of doing it too.