“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”
-E.M. Gray
A lot of people believe that success in life is a matter of luck, natural talent, or genetics. To some degree, these may be true as we see highly esteemed people have the fame, wealth, and many other things which we want but don’t have. But the thing is, going deeper than the superficialities, do we really know what’s going on behind the scenes on the lives of these people we consider successful? Is it really a matter of chance and inborn talent or is there something more to it than meets the eye?
Look at this guy,
The world knows Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. If we look at this guy, we can say that he’s a good example of what it means to be successful in life. Here are some cool facts which make this guy awesome:
- Pacquiao is the ONLY Filipino to make it in the Top 100 People of Time Magazine. Jose Rizal and Cory Aquino never got that close!
- Pacquiao is the ONLY Filipino to make it in the Top 100 People of Time Magazine. Jose Rizal and Cory Aquino never got that close!
- Pacquiao is the first and only boxer to win ten (10) World titles. That’s 10 of the best boxers in the world who can knock you out in just one punch but are defeated by this simple looking guy!
- Win or lose, Manny Pacquiao can earn more than $40,000,000.00 USD. This guy is so rich, he’s a multibillionaire in Philippine peso standards… and that’s only one fight.
- Psychologists and other social science practitioners have coined a term named the “Pacquaio Effect”. This effect is associated with the feeling of Filipino Nationalism that Filipinos feel when they watch Manny Pacquiao fight. Talk about influence!
- Every time Manny fights, the traffic and crime rate of the Philippines goes down significantly. There are times that during his fight, the crime rate goes down to zero. Compared to millions of policemen, traffic enforcers, and soldiers, this one man is doing a far better job.
Pacquiao is not only successful in the superficial level but he’s successful in his emotional and spiritual life since he’s adding value to the lives of people around him and is doing the things he’s really passionate about be it on boxing or politics. This guy is truly successful. Yet, is he successful because it just happened? Is Pacquiao the man he is today because he just is?
Again, look at this guy,
Looks familiar? Believe it or not, this is Manny Pacquiao during his late teenage years. He was a skinny fellow who came from a very poor family living in a community where trouble and crime were pretty normal. If you put yourself on his shoes back then (if he even had a pair, that is), can you imagine yourself being the world’s greatest fighter amidst the extreme hunger and poverty you were in? To most people, it’s impossible. Despite not knowing what his future holds, he literally took a leap of faith when at the young age of 14 he boarded a ship going to Manila with a few cash but with a head full of dreams.
It’s in Manila where Manny started his humble career as an amateur boxer. Do you think life was easier for him when he started his career? Not even one bit. Due to extreme poverty, there were even times where he was forced to live in the streets. Yet like any warrior who does what it takes to survive, he fought and trained very hard day in and out in the gym, ring, and in life. That’s exactly why he’s the man we know him today. There are a lot of qualities this man possesses which makes him the success that he’s today. And one of those main qualities I would like to highlight and talk about in this article is the quality of DISCIPLINE.
Manny Pacquiao Fun Fact: Did you know that he runs 10 miles, does 2,000 sit-ups, and eats 7,000 calories daily?
Yes, this is what it takes to be a Manny Pacquiao. And the only way you can do this insane lifestyle for the rest of your life is to have an iron discipline which Pacman and all peak performers posses.
I’m not saying that you do thousands of sit-ups or run around for miles daily. What I’m saying is that if we really want to be successful in relationships, in our careers or generally in life, we need to possess the quality of discipline. It’s definitely not the only ingredient of success but having this quality is a requirement to be one. Look at all the successful and highly effective people in world. If there’s one trait they all have, it’s that trait that all of them are DISCIPLINED. With this, it’s important for us to understand what discipline is and what it takes to possess this quality. If you have no interest in living your fullest potential in life and would rather be a loser, stop reading this article. If you’re someone who wants to be successful and is willing to do what it takes to become better, read on.
With all this talk about discipline, what is it in the first place? Simply,
Discipline is the ability
to subordinate less important things
to do what is more important.
Firstly, discipline is an ability or skill anyone can gain and can be likened to muscle building. You don’t gain discipline “muscles” overnight and it’s definitely not a matter of luck or coincidence. It takes a lot of hard work, patience and practice to gain this virtue. And since everyone CAN be hard working, patient and can practice a lot, everyone CAN be disciplined. But this is not the case. I will give you the reasons later on why people are not discipline but for now it’s enough to say that the virtue of discipline is something which anyone but, unfortunately, not everyone can have.
Secondly, discipline is about subordinating less important things to do things you deem important. And you don’t need to like these things but you do them anyway because they are important. A good example would be exercising and having a healthy diet. Not everyone likes the idea of exercising and eating healthy because of many excuses like,
“It’s so tiring to wake up early in the morning and exercise.”
“I don’t like to eat healthy because healthy food tastes bad.”
“I’m just so tired and lazy.”
“I think it’s a waste of time and money. I would rather do other things”
“I’m still young and ‘healthy’ and I don’t need to worry about
exercising and being healthy.”
“Who needs to exercise and have a good diet?”
And the list goes on. If people don’t want to do something, you can be assured that they’ll have millions of reasons not to do it even if doing that something like exercising and eating healthy can do a whole lot of good to them. Do you think healthy people are healthy because they are healthy in the first place? No, they paid the price of living a healthy lifestyle which includes consistent exercise and a steady diet of healthy food.
Be it on living a healthy lifestyle, working towards our goals or doing something worthwhile, we need to understand that nothing of great value can ever be achieved without discipline. Do you think this person we know as Manny Pacquiao became the person he is today because of luck or he started well? NO. Or how about Donald Trump’s or Warren Buffet’s massive wealth, was it because of a fluke? Or how about Lance Armstrong’s recovery from cancer and his 7 victory streak in the Tour de France? Or how about the continuous political failures of Abe Lincoln who eventually became one of USA’s looked upon presidents until this time?
One word: DISCIPLINE. Not luck. Not circumstances. Not divine providence. But DISCIPLINE. Discipline to push on. Discipline to set aside what’s less important to do what’s more important.
But why is it that despite of all the perks which discipline brings a lot of people in this world are not disciplined? There are a lot of reasons why but I’ll share to you the 2 main reasons.
REASON NUMBER 1: The Lack of Worthwhile Reasons or Whys
As an example, you’ll be given Php1,000,000 if you exercise daily for the next 30 days. Will you do it? Sure, you have Php1,000,000 at stake. Another scenario: what if you’ll exercise for the next 30 days but will receive no cash but the prospects of having more energy and health. Will you still do it? Many of us won’t be that motivated that much compared to the former example. That goes the same when it comes to developing discipline. To develop discipline, we need to have a strong WHY or worthwhile reasons on why we’re doing the things we’re doing in order to do what’s needed to be done and subordinate less important things. We don’t become discipline for the sake of being disciplined. That’s insane! We become disciplined because of worthwhile reasons.
REASON NUMBER 2: LAZINESS
Having the best intentions and worthwhile reasons in the world are useless without actual work and results. This is where developing discipline happens. Discipline is the very thing that separate dreamers from the people who are living their dreams. Lazy people have all the reasons in the world on why they can’t do this and that while disciplined people who are working day in and out don’t apologize or give excuses on why they’re getting results in life. Having reasons is good but not good enough. Taking action is the key.
In conclusion, wanting in itself is useless if you don’t have the discipline to make it happen. It’s such a waste that there are a lot of dreamers and idealists in this world but are undisciplined in making their dreams and ideals come true. Don’t be one of them. If you want something, pay the price of discipline. As long as you don’t break the law or harm anybody, do whatever it takes to win. Undisciplined people have all the excuses in the world but disciplined people never ask for forgiveness or have any excuses on why they’re disciplined and successful. Discipline starts from you. It starts from making the promise and making the commitment to live a disciplined life. Anything less is an excuse to not live the life you’re meant to live. And if you’re not living the life you’re meant to live, you’ll groan in your deathbed and die a sad miserable little old person which billions of people have already done.
Don’t be one. Pay the price. Be disciplined. Live your dreams.
“It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest men.”
-Brutus Hamilton
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