| Procrastination and the lack of self-discipline
are the most common reasons why so many people neither
achieve higher levels of success in their professional
lives nor greater personal financial freedom. Procrastination
is the opposite of self-discipline. It requires self-discipline
to save money and prepare for the future, to set aside
our wants and pleasures for the present to save for
the future. Most people end up broke or totally dependant
upon the government for their retirement in their later
years.
One of the main purposes in striving to succeed today
is for the pleasure our success will provide for us
tomorrow. This process involves embracing the necessary
suffering along the road to the pleasurable results.
Take, for example, the greatest suffering ever endured
on this earth. Of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, it
was said, “who, for the joy set before him endured
the cross” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV).
If we fail to plan, we plan to fail. If we fail to
save, then we plan to end up broke. Self-discipline
forces us to recognize the need for, and the wonderful
benefits of, a sound financial plan. If financial freedom
is available, why settle for financial dependency?
Your primary goal in your efforts to achieve success
should be to provide a sound financial future for yourself.
Self-discipline is the key to saving money. We live
in a society which seeks instant gratification—a
world where most people want the toys today’s
technology offers. Self-discipline teaches us to accept
short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. Our self-discipline
constantly reminds us of the long-term effects of our
every action. Self-discipline is our mind’s ability
to train us to take action when it is necessary.
We must also understand that our self-discipline must
be consistent in every area of our lives; discipline
or the lack of it is a habit. We must apply self-discipline
to all parts of our lives. Most importantly, we must
create the habits necessary for our success. Saving
money is not the habit; self-discipline is the habit,
and saving money the by-product of our self-disciplined
life. The same self-discipline that teaches us to keep
our home neat and clean reduces our need or wants for
short-term pleasures that would otherwise prevent us
from achieving long-term financial success.
For every disciplined action there are multiple rewards.
For every disciplined act that causes us to save money
we gain future financial freedom, which will last for
years to come. Without consistent self-discipline, we
can always find other ways to spend our money and even
to justify the act to ourselves.
Self-discipline reminds us of the future and the present.
The lack of self-discipline only provides for the present
without thought for the future. Self-discipline forces
us to write down our goals and to keep them close when
we are tempted to waver from our mission. Self-discipline
helps us to put in the extra hours and effort, which
provide us the financial success for our long-term stability.
Self-discipline forces us to find the time to go to
the library or Internet and read the books that cause
us to become better equipped for success. Self-discipline
allows us to access and implement the ideas and knowledge
that will create our success, provide us financial rewards
and allow us to save for our future.
It bears repeating that Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), in
prison just prior to his death, wrote this in De Profundis:
I forgot that every little action of the common day
makes or unmakes character.
We will never ever have any lasting success without
self-discipline. To be effective, that discipline must
accept short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. We
must focus on our ability to increase our self-discipline—with
an expanding awareness of how our every little action
of the ordinary day makes or unmakes a happy ending
to our life’s story.
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