Discipline is the Key

I used to believe this quote to be true: “If it is important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” Then I did a little research on decision making and ran across some surprising statistics about heart attack and stroke patients. You would think with such a life threatening event, that patients would make the decision to do everything they could to ensure it didn’t happen again. Well, that is definitely not the correct assumption.

Years ago, in a study of 7,519 heart attack and stroke patients surveyed in 17 countries, only 4.3% followed through on the instructions of their doctors. They were told to control three behaviors; smoking cessation, healthy eating and physical exercise. 47% changed at least one lifestyle behavior to better their health. 30% made two lifestyle changes, but only 4.3% made all three changes. We are talking a life and death decision, yet 95.7% chose not to follow through and make all three changes. Those statistics are awful.

So, let’s go back to the quote: “If it is important to you, you’ll find a way.”?I would think LIVING is important to all of us, but 95.7% of the patients found an excuse or excuses as to why not to follow the advise of their doctors. Great advice has no value unless followed! Now, maybe we can have a better understanding as to why there are so few truly successful people in the world; so many people lack the discipline necessary to be successful.

A while back I was speaking to a large group of college students. After my program they asked me to participate in a Q&A session. One student stood up and asked, “Can you tell me the one thing I need to have to be successful?” I responded, “I can tell you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but if you don’t have the discipline to do it, it’s all for naught. The most important thing you need is discipline.”

Nick Saban, the head college football coach for the University of Alabama, who has won more National championships than any other college coach, made this statement about discipline: “There are two pains in life. The pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.” I think that one statement sums up the importance of discipline. Simply stated: if you don’t have discipline, you WON’T have success.

Life is collection of options where choices (decisions) have to be made. Below are a few thoughts that might help you in your decision process.

?Do what is right, not what is easy.

?Sometimes in life, you have to make decisions that are best for you, not for everyone else.

?Never be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to rebuild your life the way you wanted all along.

When you need to make a hard decision, flip a coin. Why? Because when the coin is in the air … you will suddenly know what you‘re hoping for.

?AND … when you make those critical life decisions, I suggest you follow the success formula from Eddie Rickenbacker, who was America's most successful fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. Eddie stated, “There’s a six-word formula for success – Think things through, then follow through.” If you don’t have the discipline to follow through, your decision was a waste of time. So, always remember to follow through and success will follow you.