Show up. Do the work. Repeat.

If you don’t have self-discipline, you don’t have freedom.

If you don’t discipline yourself, you’ll have to be disciplined by someone or something else.

Show up every day.  Do the work and do your best.  Be consistent.

That’s how freedom is earned.

 

This person is holding you back.

We make excuses to ourselves (and others) as to why we didn’t do better.  

We blame, we explain, we tell stories about why.

Soon enough, we convince ourselves that our excuses are not excuses – they are truth.

We believe our reasons are holding us back.

The story of humankind is a story of most people selling themselves short.

The one holding you back is in the mirror.

Only you can say – “BS, Let’s go!”

Don’t rely on motivation – because mostly it’s not coming

If you want to achieve great things that require a lot of work, and all great results do, then you can’t wait on motivation coursing through your mind and body each day – because that is not going to happen.

Motivation may be there on the first day or the first hour, and that’s why you started in the first place.  But after that, it boils down to work – not so fun anymore.

You have to get used to just getting after it each day, even when you don’t feel like it.  Even when there are 20 other things you’d rather be doing that are more “fun”.  

You have to build and rely on a habit of working on your project and hitting your daily goals.  Once you build a habit of doing what most others won’t and don’t, while it may not be “fun”, at least you don’t suffer over it anymore – it’s automatic.  This is what you do. This is who you are.

This post describes me and what I have been doing for many years.  I don’t whine about it to myself or anyone else.  I do what needs to be done to move the ball forward on my projects.  I put butt in seat or tool belt on waist or whatever else I have to do, and I do not squander days, or even hours.  

The results grow, accumulate, and compound for me and everyone in my life.

Don’t feel like it?  Doesn’t matter.  Do it anyway.

Waiting for motivation is a mistake.  You’ll be stalled out most of the time, and you won’t finish what you started.

You can’t call motivation up when you want it each day, but you can develop disciplined habits that are there and take little effort to get you in motion.

This is easier than being brilliant…

It is easier to avoid stupidity than to attain brilliance.

Some people make stupid mistakes a habit.

Some do pretty well most times, then make big mistakes that set them back a good distance.

Avoiding mistakes is not hard if you think before you act and exercise self-discipline.

If you are not sure if it is a good idea, don’t do it.

(Not to be confused with good ideas that make you uncomfortable.)

If you know it’s a bad idea but you can’t help yourself, you are being stupid.  Sometimes you will get away with it, and sometimes you will pay out of all proportion.

If you think you are about to say something that will put you in someone’s dog house, don’t say it. 

If it sounds too good to be true – it is.  Proceed accordingly.

If you are angry, keep your mouth shut.

Don’t drink and drive.  Best not to drink much anyway.

If it feels good and you do it often, you are probably being stupid.

Don’t cancel your gains.

Avoid stupidity.

Thoughts are seeds

What you plant in your mind will eventually grow into habits, actions and outcomes.

Thoughts are where what happens next starts.

Plant the future.

Go ahead – have a long great thought.