Who is the most disciplined person you know?

My wife and I just returned from visiting her 92-year old mother, Carol. I couldn’t ask for a better mother-in-law. She is gracious, kind, loving, and disciplined. She reads history, exercises daily, practices spiritual solitude and prayer, plays the ukelele, takes a Tai Chi class, listens to weekly lectures on subjects of poetry, and my personal favorite, making her bed as soon as she gets out of bed in the morning.

Her house is orderly. Her day is planned. Her schedule is full. Her life is disciplined.

Honest question: How disciplined are you?
  • What needs to be attended to?
  • What can be simplified and cleaned up?
  • Where do you need better discipline?

5 Ways to Get Disciplined:

1. Get your burning YES!
“Once you have a burning YES inside you about what’s truly important,
it’s very easy to say NO to the unimportant.”
–Stephen Covey

Write out what is important to you. Knowing what it is will ignite your burning YES.

2. Slay the excuse dragon.

“I will start tomorrow.”
“I’ll have this done next week.”
“I’ll get focused when I have more energy.”
“I will– I promise I will.”
Whatever the dragon is that holds you back, shine a big light on it and slay it!

3. Get fit.

Get fit mentally, physically, and emotionally. When I feel good, I do good and action begets action. When I’m mentally sharp, I start acting in positive directions. When I exercise, those tiny, bubbly. effervescent endorphins generate great ideas. When I recharge emotionally with my daily gratitude walk, I come back smiling on the inside.

4. Ask: What am I crowding out of my life?

Am I focused or distracted by the unimportant?

The average adult spends approximately 2 hours and 24 minutes every day on social platforms.

Before you feel guilty, lame, stupid, or lacking self-discipline, think for one minute: “What could my life look if I had reallocated that time, even half of it on a worthwhile project?”

“Successful people are those who work almost all the time on high-value tasks. Unsuccessful people are those who waste minutes and days on low-value activities.”
–Brian Tracey
Spend 1 hour and 10 minutes more on important activities to change your results and your life.
5. Create a clock inside your head.

Be aware and conscious of your time. Don’t let your minutes slip by. Remember: “Our days are numbered.” –King David

(1) Create a higher expectation for yourself
(2) Let your internal clock be a reminder that says “When you practice the discipline and the proper use of time, you can have an edge in your leadership.”

Get a burning YES, slay the excuses, get fit, spend 1 hour and  10 minutes more on important activities, and create an internal clock.

Here’s to your discipline for the best results!
–Steve

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“The purpose of Leadership Quest is to help professionals develop their personal leadership, vision and emotional intelligence. Everyday I strive to help leaders and teams achieve their desired goals in sales productivity, leadership, time maximization, and life-balance. ”

About the Author

Steve Gutzler is the President of Leadership Quest, a Seattle-based leadership development company. Steve is a dynamic, highly-sought-after speaker who has delivered more than 2,500 presentations to a list of clients including Microsoft, Starbucks, the Seattle Seahawks, Pandora Radio, Boeing, Cisco, Starwood Corporation, the Ritz Carlton group, and the U.S. Social Security Administration. He recently was voted #1 by the readership of Huffington Post as the Most Inspirational Leader on Social Media.

A published author on leadership and emotional intelligence, Steve resides near Seattle with his wife Julie where they enjoy time with their three adult children and six grandchildren.