Self Discipline

Am gasit ceva ce cautam si voi mai cauta: poate ca va vor fi si voua de folos. :) Luati doar ce e bun de aici ;).

Self-Discipline

June 5th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina

This week I’ll be blogging a series on self-discipline. New posts on this topic will appear every day Mon-Fri. I’ve also added a new self-discipline category.

I’ve already written about 20 pages on self-discipline for my upcoming book, including what it is and how to develop it. I’ll share some of those ideas in this series, focusing on what I call the five pillars of self-discipline.

The Five Pillars of Self-Discipline

The five pillars of self-discipline are: Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and Persistence. If you take the first letter of each word, you get the acronym “A WHIP” — a convenient way to remember them, since many people associate self-discipline with whipping themselves into shape.

Each day of the series, I’ll explore one of these pillars, explaining why it’s important and how to develop it. But first a general overview….

What Is Self-Discipline?

Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you could simply get yourself to follow through on your best intentions no matter what. Picture yourself saying to your body, “You’re overweight. Lose 20 pounds.” Without self-discipline that intention won’t become manifest. But with sufficient self-discipline, it’s a done deal. The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that when you make a conscious decision, it’s virtually guaranteed you’ll follow through on it.

Self-discipline is one of many personal development tools available to you. Of course it is not a panacea. Nevertheless, the problems which self-discipline can solve are important, and while there are other ways to solve these problems, self-discipline absolutely shreds them. Self-discipline can empower you to overcome any addiction or lose any amount of weight. It can wipe out procrastination, disorder, and ignorance. Within the domain of problems it can solve, self-discipline is simply unmatched. Moreover, it becomes a powerful teammate when combined with other tools like passion, goal-setting, and planning. (Puteti citi mai departe dand click aici)

Alte citate extrase: Being healthy is hard work. Finding and maintaining a successful relationship is hard work. Raising kids is hard work. Getting organized is hard work. Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and staying on track is hard work.

To keep your muscles strong or your mind sharp, you need to challenge them. To do only what’s easy will lead to physical and mental flabbiness and very mediocre results, followed by a great deal of time and effort spent justifying why such flabbiness is OK, instead of stepping up and taking on some real challenges.

Tackling challenges builds character, just as lifting weights builds muscle. To avoid challenge is to abandon one’s character development.

Now it’s natural that we’ll tend to avoid what’s painful, so if we see challenge as purely painful, we’ll surely avoid it. But in so doing, we’re avoiding some very important character development, which by its very nature is often tremendously challenging. So we must learn to fall in love with challenge instead of fearing it, just as a bodybuilder can learn to love the pain of doing “one more rep” that tears down muscle fibers, allowing them to grow stronger. If you avoid the pain, you miss out on the growth. This is true both for building muscles and for building character.

You become accustomed to spending more time outside your comfort zone. Hard work is something you look forward to because you know that it will lead to tremendous growth. And you eventually develop the maturity and responsibility to understand that certain goals will never just flow into your life; they’ll only happen if you act as the driving force to bring them to fruition.

If you want to achieve some really big and interesting goals, you have to learn to fall in love with hard work. Hard work makes the difference. It’s what separates the children from the mature adults. You can keep living as a child and desperately hoping that life will always be easy, but then you’ll be stuck in a child-like world, working on other people’s goals instead of your own, waiting for opportunities to come to you instead of creating your own, and doing work that in the grand scheme of this world just isn’t important.

When you learn to embrace hard work instead of running from it, you gain the ability to execute on your big goals, no matter what it takes to achieve them.

You blast through obstacles that stop others who have less resolve. But what is it that gets you to this point? What gets you to embrace hard work?

Purpose.

When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn’t an option. It’s a necessity. If your life has no real purpose, then you can avoid hard work, and it won’t matter because you’ve decided that your life itself doesn’t matter anyway. So who cares if you work hard or take the easy road? But if you’ve chosen a significant purpose for your life, it’s going to require hard work to get there — any meaningful purpose will require hard work.

You have to admit to yourself then that the only way this purpose is going to be fulfilled is if you embrace hard work. And this is what takes you beyond fear and ego, beyond the sniveling little child who thinks that hard work is something to run away from. When you become driven by a purpose greater than yourself, you embrace hard work out of necessity. That child gets replaced by a mature adult who assumes responsibility for getting the job done, knowing that without total commitment and lots of hard work, it’s never going to happen.

Show me a person who avoids hard work, and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t found their purpose yet. Because anyone who knows their purpose will embrace hard work. They’ll pay the price willingly.

If you want to make a difference in the world, then hard work is the price. There are no shortcuts.

Purpose and hard work are buddies. Purpose is the why. Hard work is the how. Purpose is what turns labor into labor of love. It transmutes the pain of hard work into the higher level pleasure of dedication, commitment, resolve, and passion. It turns pain into strength, eventually to the point where you don’t notice the pain as much as you enjoy the strength.

Self-discipline requires that you develop the capacity to put in the time where it’s needed. A lot of messes are created when we refuse to put in the time to do what needs to be done — and to do it correctly. Such messes range from a messy desk or cluttered email inbox all the way down to an Enron or Worldcom. Big mess or small mess — take your pick. Either way a significant contributing factor is the refusal to do what needs to be done.

How many problems do you have on your to do list right now that can be solved with the simple application of industry? Sometimes you don’t need to be particularly creative or clever about it — a brute force solution will do. But it’s easy to get stuck in a pattern of wishing that a brute force solution wasn’t necessary. It’s tedious. It’s boring. It’s not that important anyway. And yet it still needs to be done.

Disciplining yourself to be industrious allows you to squeeze more value out of your time. Time is a constant, but your personal productivity is not. Some people will use the hours of their day far more efficiently than others.

Despite all the technology and gadgets we have available that can potentially make us more efficient, your personal productivity is still your greatest bottleneck. Don’t look to technology to make you more productive. If you don’t consider yourself productive without technology, you won’t be productive with it — it will only serve to mask your bad habits. But if you’re already industrious without technology, it can help you become even more so. Think of technology as a force multiplier — it multiplies what you already are.

Persistence is the ability to maintain action regardless of your feelings. You press on even when you feel like quitting.

When you work on any big goal, your motivation will wax and wane like waves hitting the shore. Sometimes you’ll feel motivated; sometimes you won’t. But it’s not your motivation that will produce results — it’s your action. Persistence allows you to keep taking action even when you don’t feel motivated to do so, and therefore you keep accumulating results.

If you’re growing at all as a human being, then you’re going to be a different person each year than you were the previous year. And if you consciously pursue personal development, then the changes will often be dramatic and rapid.

In order to make room for new goals, we have to delete or complete old ones.

Persistence of action comes from persistence of vision. When you’re super-clear about what you want in such a way that your vision doesn’t change much, you’ll be consistent in your actions. And that consistency of action will produce consistency of results.

Imaginea de ansamblu a lucrurilor cu adevarat importante in viata (II)

"Pentru mine, succesul se defineste prin ceea ce faci cu fiecare sansa, cu fiecare ocazie care ti-a fost oferita, pentru a influenta pozitiv viata celorlalti.

Adevarata fericire vine mai putin din bani si mai mult din relatiile noastre unii cu altii, cu noi insine si cu Dumnezeu. Nu vine atat de mult din ceea ce agonisim si avem, cat din ceea ce obtinem in drumul catre atingerea obiectivelor. Fericirea nu rezulta din ceea ce primim, ci din ceea ce oferim.

Data fiind perspectiva Imaginii de ansamblu, chiar si cele mai mari dificultati de care ne aducem aminte, incidente pe care le consideram esecuri totale, pot fi privite retrospectiv ca avand un efect pozitiv in vietile noastre.

Dificultatile m-au invatat sa caut latura pozitiva chiar si in cele mai negative situatii. Am descoperit suficient de des partea buna a necazurilor, incat sa pot da crezare promisiunii scrise de apostolul Pavel in Epistola sa catre Romani, capitolul 8, versetul 28 :"Pe de alta parte, stim ca toate lucrurile lucreaza impreuna spre binele cleor ce iubesc pe DUMNEZEU si anume spre binele celor ce sunt chemati dupa planul Sau."

Deseori, victimele cauta scuze si explicatii pentru strea lucrurilor. Invingatorii cauta solutii pentru a schimba starea de lucruri.

Cititul largeste perspectivele, ofera viziune mai larga si te ajuta sa gasesti drumul peste cele mai inalte obstacole, depasind orice dificultate pe care o intalnesti.

Pune-ti tine inalte. Uita-te mereu spre ele si munceste pentru a le indeplini. Investeste in altii si lasa pe altii sa investeasca in tine.

Faceti tot posibilul sa ajungeti la stele. Decideti ce vreti sa faceti si nu va multumiti cu mai putin. Fiti constienti ca puteti sa va indepliniti visul si realizati totul spre acea tinta, iar ea va deveni realitate. Cea mai mare greseala pe care o puteti face este sa renuntati pe parcurs.

Fi curajos!!! Tine minte: curajul inseamna sa te lupti cu frica, nu sa fi fara frica. Daca o provocare este cu adevarat importanta pentru tine, se intelege de la sine ca trebuie sa fi putin nelinistit. Ne ingrijoram doar de lucrurile de care ne pasa cu adevarat.

Un om care se crede o victima paseste pe nisip, si uitandu-se in jos, vede doar nisip, dar un om care se considera invingator vede materia prima pentru a construi un castel.

A fi parinte este cea mai importanta ocupatie din lume.

toti avem nevoie sa primim iubire neconditionata.

Copii sunt cea mai bogata resursa naturala a lumii. Functia de parinte data de Dumnezeu consta in dezvoltarea acestor resurse la potentialu maxim. In Imaginea de ansamblu, aceasta reprezinta cea mai importanta ocupatie din lume.

(Pasaje preluate din cartea cu acelasi tilu, Casa de Editura: Viata si sanatate, 2006, Bucuresti)

Cand crezi ca e imposibil

Cand cineva iti spune ca e imposibil..

Priveste in jur

Gandeste-te la toate optiunile

Apoi pur si simplu arunca-te inainte

Foloseste-te de toate resursele pe care le ai

Fi Creativ

In final le vei dovedi ca te-au subestimat

Preluat de aici

STĂRUINŢA CARE CUCEREŞTE

Şi Domnul, Dumnezeul tău, va izgoni încetul cu încetul aceste neamuri dinaintea ta... Deuteronom 7.22

Să nu ne aşteptăm să câştigăm biruinţe pentru Domnul Isus dintr-o singură lovitură. Apucăturile şi obiceiurile rele dispar greu. Într-o asemenea inimă trebuie ani de lucru pentru a alunga unul singur din numeroasele năravuri care murdăresc sufletul omenesc. Dar să ducem cu putere lupta mai departe, chiar atunci când nu câştigăm aparent decât puţină izbândă. Datoria noastră în lume este să o câştigăm pentru Domnul Isus.

Niciodată să nu ne plecăm în faţa răului, ci să-l stârpim. Niciodată să nu încercăm să ne obişnuim cu întinăciunea, ci să luptăm împotriva ei necurmat. Necredinţa, beţia, necurăţia, asuprirea, deşertăciunea lumească, rătăcirea, toate trebuie alungate.


Numai Dumnezeul nostru poate să împlinească acest lucru. El lucrează prin slujitorii Săi credincioşi, şi binecuvântat să fie El că ne-a făgăduit că este cu noi. „Domnul Dumnezeul tău va izgoni aceste neamuri dinaintea ta." El va face aceasta puţin câte puţin, ca să ne înveţe să stăruim în credinţă neclintită, să veghem necurmat şi să ne ferim de tot ce este din firea pământească. Să-I mulţumim lui Dumnezeu pentru fiecare biruinţă cât de mică şi să-I cerem alta nouă. Să nu punem sabia în teacă până n-au fost câştigate toate locurile inimii noastre pentru Domnul Isus.

Curaj deci! Să-naintăm pas cu pas. Multe biruinţe mici vor aduce la sfârşit o biruinţă deplină.

FINISH STRONG!

There is one thing that we all have in common. That is...at some point in our life, we will face adversity. It's not a matter of if but...when.

In my 63 years on this earth, I have come to realize that the difference in success or failure is not chance, but choice. Because when adversity strikes, it's not what happens to us, but how we react to what happens that will determine our destiny.

And that's what this inspirational 3 minute movie is all about. The title is Finish Strong. So turn up your speakers and click on the link below. It will make your day!


http://www.finishstrongmovie.com/


Live with Passion,
Mac Anderson

Dreams are Whispers from the Soul

Eleanor Roosevelt said it best..."The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Marcia Wieder, however, brings Eleanor's quote to life in her new book titled: Dreams Are Whispers from the Soul, where she challenges all of us to pursue our purpose and passion in life.

Today, I'm very proud to present our brand new 3 minute inspirational movie. The photographs, the music, and the words will take your breath away. So just sit back, turn up the speakers and ... dream!

Click on the link below to watch.

Click Here To Watch

Live with Passion,

Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths

Inca o poveste de viata...

"Nu sunt cea mai inteligenta sau mai talentata persoana din lume, dar am reusit pentru ca merg si tot merg inainte. "
Sylvester Stallone

Era un pusti slab si cam ciudat. La nastere a suferit leziuni ale nervilor care i-au facut ochiul stang si partea stanga a gurii sa cada. De asemenea, avea o problema grava de vorbire si un nume de nastere care ii atragea batfocura celorlalti copii din Hell's Kitchen, cartierul dur in care traia.

"Binky" a devenit porecla lui si , curand, copii il strigau "Stinky Binky".

Cu cat era mai mult batfocorit, cu atat mai mult se retragea intr-o lume fantastica, atat de minunata , incat uneori purta un costum de Superman pe sub uniforma de scoala. Cand o profesoara a descoperit acest lucru, l-a pus sa se dezbrace in fata clasei pentru a demonstra cat de prosteste arata, ceea ce, fireste, nu prea i-a ridicat respectul de sine. A incercat chiar sa sara de pe un acoperis cu o umbrela in mana in speranta ca va putea sa zboare.


Fiul unei familii nefericite, a schimbat scolile de 14 ori in doar 11 ani. Avea note atat de proaste, incat nimeni nu se astepta la prea m ulte dela el. Nici macar scoala militara nu a reusit sa il indrepte. Pentru a face lucrurile si mai rele, avea o trasatura ostila care il impingea sa faca farse atat de distructive, incat parea un candidat mai bun pentru inchisoare decat pentru faima.

La 13 ani, Binky a vazut un film care avea sa ii schimbe viata - Hercules. Personajul principal, jucat de culturistul Steve Reeves, l-a inspirat atat de mult, incat a doua zi dupa ce a vazut filmul a mers la groapa de gunoi si a inceput sa ridice greutati sub forma pieselor de masina. Mai tarziua, in timpul facultatii a avut roluri marunte in cateva piese de teatru. Dar juca ingrozitor si a primit putine incurajari din partea profesorilor.

Totusi, era hotarat sa devina actor si scenarist. Asa ca a abandonat scoala si s-a dus la New York , unde a avut parte de respingere la fiecare pas. A trait intr-un hotel de 3 dolari pe saptamana si a avut diferite slujbe - plasator la teatru, vanzator de pizza, a facut salate intr-un mic restaurant, vanzator de peste si chiar ingrijitor la cusca leilor de la gradina zoologica. Era atat de sarac, incat ca sa isi spele hainele facea dus imbracat.

Dupa 5 ani de incercari inutile de a-si gasi recunoasterea la New York, a scos din buzunar 40 $ pentru un Oldsmobile harbuit si a plecat la Hollywood. Acolo a primit cateva roluri mici si, intre contracte, si-a pastrat obiceiul de a scrie zilnic.
Trezindu-se la rasarit in fiecare zi, scria cateva ore, incercand sa transforme durerea din tineretea lui in aur cinematografic.

Incet, scanteia unei povesti a inceput sa apara. Era la mijlocul anilor '70 si tara iesea din perioada razboiului din Vietnam. Americanii, se gandea el, cautau speranta si inspiratie - pentru eroi. S-a hotarat sa e concentreze asupra ambitiilor zdrobite si a visurior spulberate ale unei persoane "marunte" cu care spectatorii sa se poata identifica si din care sa se poata inspira cu totii.

Creatia lui a fost, desigur, Rocky Balboa, boxerul infrant, asemanator cu Cenusareasa, care devine un simbol al castigatorului intr-o lupta de poveste cu campionul mondial.

Un producator a fost entuziasmat de scenariu si i-a oferit 75.000 $ - cu conditia ca el sa nu joace rolul principal. Desi avea doar 106 $ la banca, Stallone i-a spus ca nu avea sa accepte oferta decat daca il interpreta el pe Rocky. Producatorul a refuzat, dar a ridicat oferta la 100.000$ , apoi la 330.000$ ! Pentru cineva care era atat de sarac, incat isi vanduse cainele pentru a avea bani de mancare, aceasta era o suma extraordinara.

Totusi, el a spus "NU". Stia ca aceasta era marea lovitura pe care o cautase. In cele din urma, producatorul a acceptat ca el sa joace rolul principal. Dar nu credea ca filmul avea sa se vanda bine fara un actor cunoscut, asa ca a redus bugetul si a stabilit sa il plateasca pe "Binky cu 20.000$ pentru scenariu si cu 340 $ pe saptamana - salariul minim pentru actori.

Fireste, filmul a fost Rocky si a ajuns sa obtina 160 de milioane de dolari si sa castige 3 Premii Oscar. Actorul si scenaristul era Sylvester Stallone, care dupa ani de respingeri a devenit o senzatie peste noapte la varsta de 30 de ani si o forta creatoare recunoscuta in industria cinematografica.

Faptul ca s-a tinut cu dintii de visul lui de a juca un rol principal a insemnat totul. "In ceea ce ma privea", spune el, "daca nu reuseam asta, nu mai aveam alta sansa." Era atat de sigur ca filmul avea sa fie un succes, a marturisit el mai tarziu, incat ar fi jucat pe gratis rolul.

Intr-o intorsatura ironica de situatie, povestea vietii actorului este un model de urmat mai interesant decat cel al personajului care i-a adus faima si avere.

Walk the talk

Walk the talk: o provocare zilnica.

Puteti urmari filmuletzul pe linkul:

http://doyouwalkthetalk.com/




Pentru mai multe astfel de "inspirational movies" puteti accesa linkul: http://www.simpletruths.com/movies/index.asp

What Jesus Did! - Keep Praying!

"Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you.

Yes, if a person continues asking, that person will receive. If a person continues looking, that person will find. And if a person continues knocking, the door will open for that person.
- Matthew 7:7-8 (ERV)

7 Cereţi, şi vi se va da; căutaţi şi veţi găsi; bateţi, şi vi se va deschide.

8 Căci ori şi cine cere, capătă; cine caută, găseşte; şi celui ce bate, i se deschide.


THOUGHT:

Ask, look, knock. These actions sound so harmless and so easy. But behind these words is the intent of Jesus: "Be persistent! Keep asking! Continue looking! Don't quit knocking!" This is not a cookbook prescription, but the target attitude we should have in our prayers and our lives.

We must be persistent and faithful. But before making that persistence our key to acquiring and achieving for ourselves, let's remember Jesus' example in the model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13: the focus is on God's will -- his Kingdom and his glory, on our most basic needs -- daily bread, and on overcoming sin through forgiveness and deliverance. Jesus is reminding us that if we stay after these, not only will we get what we ask for, but we will also be changed in the process!

PRAYER:

Holy and righteous Father, thank you so much for the many prayers you have answered. Thank you, dear Father, for answering my prayers to be more like Jesus. I confess I am still so very far from his perfection, but when I look at the distance you have brought me in the past, I can view the future only with excitement knowing that you will lead me on to become more like him in the future. In Jesus' name I thank you and ask for your continued grace. Amen.

Related Scriptures:

But if any of you needs wisdom, then you should ask God for it. God is generous. He enjoys giving to all people. So God will give you wisdom. But when you ask God, you must believe.

Don't doubt God. The person who doubts is like a wave in the sea. The wind blows the wave up and down. The person who doubts is like that wave. The person who doubts is thinking two different things at the same time. He cannot decide about anything he does. A person like that should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. - James 1:5-8


5 Dacă vreunuia dintre voi îi lipseşte înţelepciunea, s'o ceară dela Dumnezeu, care dă tuturor cu mînă largă şi fără mustrare, şi ea îi va fi dată.

6 Dar s'o ceară cu credinţă, fără să se îndoiască deloc: pentrucă cine se îndoieşte, seamănă cu valul mării, turburat şi împins de vînt încoace şi încolo.

7 Un astfel de om să nu se aştepte să primească ceva dela Domnul,

8 căci este un om nehotărît şi nestatornic în toate căile sale.



I tell you the truth. The person that believes in me will do the same things I have done. Yes! He will do even greater things than I have done. Why? Because I am going to the Father. And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father's glory will be shown through the Son. - John 14:12-13

12 Adevărat, adevărat, vă spun, că cine crede în Mine, va face şi el lucrările pe cari le fac Eu; ba încă va face altele şi mai mari decît acestea; pentrucă Eu mă duc la Tatăl:

13 şi ori ce veţi cere în Numele Meu, voi face, pentruca Tatăl să fie proslăvit în Fiul.


Then Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. Jesus used this story to teach them: "Once there was a judge in a town. He did not care about God. The judge also did not care what people thought about him. In that same town there was a woman. Her husband was dead. The woman came many times to this judge and said, 'There is a man that is doing bad things to me. Give me my rights!' But the judge did not want to help the woman.

After a long time, the judge thought to himself, 'I don't care about God. And I don't care about what people think. But this woman is bothering me. If I give her what she wants, then she will leave me alone. But if I don't give her what she wants, she will bother me until I am sick!'"

The Lord (Jesus) said, "Listen! {There is meaning} in what the bad judge said. God's people shout to him night and day. God will always give his people what is right. God will not be slow to answer his people. I tell you, God will help his people quickly! But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find people on earth who believe in him?" - Luke 18:1-8


1 Isus le -a spus o pildă, ca să le arate că trebuie să se roage necurmat, şi să nu se lase.

2 El le -a zis: ,,Într'o cetate era un judecător, care de Dumnezeu nu se temea şi de oameni nu se ruşina.

3 În cetatea aceea era şi o văduvă, care venea des la el, şi -i zicea: ,Fă-mi dreptate în cearta cu pîrîşul meu.`

4 Multă vreme n'a voit să -i facă dreptate. Dar în urmă, şi -a zis: ,Măcar că de Dumnezeu nu mă tem şi de oameni nu mă ruşinez,

5 totuş, pentru că văduva aceasta mă tot necăjeşte, îi voi face dreptate, ca să nu tot vină să-mi bată capul.`

6 Domnul a adăogat: ,Auziţi ce zice judecătorul nedrept?

7 Şi Dumnezeu nu va face dreptate aleşilor Lui, cari strigă zi şi noapte către El, măcar că zăboveşte faţă de ei?

8 Vă spun că le va face dreptate în curînd. Dar cînd va veni Fiul omului, va găsi El credinţă pe pămînt?``