10 Rules of Success

Rule NINE: Be Disciplined

“If you honour your commitments, they will honour you”

“He who is his own master, has no master.”

“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

If you cannot be taken for your word, you cannot have much meaning. When you commit to something you are expected to stay committed. No commitment has any significance unless it is honoured. A commitment is a promise that has to be kept and this restricts freedom, and discipline is all about limitations. To be disciplined is to be refined too.

No meaningful success can result out of indiscipline. If you cannot control yourself you cannot control others too.

“Those who command themselves, command others.” –Hazlitt-

Discipline is getting up at 4 in the morning to finish your assignment on time; it is practicing your lesson in the evening when your friends are out in the fields playing football; it is following the doctor’s advise and not eating foods that are harmful for your health; and it is refraining from buying something you want to buy when you are on a tight budget.

A disciplined person feels, and always is, in control of himself and his surroundings. Self-discipline is essential for proper growth and success. If we are not disciplined we will not be able to pursue our goals the way we would want to, our other priorities would keep coming in our way.

“No man is free who cannot command himself.”

When you get up at 4 in the morning for your assignment you have to respect your assignment enough to be able to leave the comfort of your bed so early in the morning; when you practice your lesson while your friends are out in the field playing you have to be focused on your lesson with confidence to be able to excel in it in future; when you do not eat what is not good for you, you have to respect your future health enough; and when you do not buy what you think you cannot afford at this point of time you have to be committed to not going into debt. When you respect yourself and your goal, you will stay focused and disciplined.

“Real glory springs from the silent conquest of ourselves, without that the conqueror is only the first slave”. –Thomson.