THE DISCIPLINE OF PERSISTENCE

The greatest test of self-discipline is when you persist  in the face of adversity, and you drive yourself forward  to complete your tasks 100%, no matter how you feel.
Courage has two parts: The first part is the courage to begin, to start, to launch forward with no guarantees of success. The second part is the courage to endure, to persist, when you feel discouraged and want to quit.
a. Your persistence is the measure of your belief in yourself, and in what you  are doing.
b. The more you believe in the goodness and rightness of what you are doing,  the more you will persist.
c. The more you persist, the more you will tend to believe in yourself and what  you are doing. The principles are reversible!
d. Persistence is actually self-discipline in action.
e. Self-discipline leads to self-esteem, a greater sense of personal power, which  leads to greater persistence, which leads to even greater self-discipline in an upward spiral.
f.  “Persistence is to the character of man or woman as carbon is to steel.”  (Napoleon Hill)
g. You actually make yourself into a better, stronger person by persisting when  you feel like quitting.
You take complete control over the development of your own character. Eventually,  you become unstoppable.

   “Persistence is actually self-discipline in action.”

THE DISCIPLINE OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING

“To earn more you must learn more.”
a. Read in your field 30-60 each day. This will translate into one book per week,  50 books per year.
b. Listen to CD’s in your car as you drive from place to place. This will amount to  500-1000 hours per year.
c. Attend seminars and take courses given by experts in your field. One idea from one course can save you years of hard work.
d. The average income in America increases at 3% per annum. With compound interest, the average person doubles their income every 22 years.
e. With the additional knowledge and skill you can apply to get better results, you increase your income at 10%, 15% and even 25% per year.
• 10% per annum increase means that you double your income in 7.2 years.
• 25% increase per annum means that you double your income in 2 years  and 8 months.
f.  Work on yourself as if your future depends on it, because it does.
Jim Rowan: “Work at least as hard on  yourself as you do on your work.”

THE DISCIPLINE OF HARD WORK

Goal: Develop a reputation for being a hard, hard worker.
a. The average work week in America is 32 hours.
b. The average person wastes 50% of the workday in idle chit-chatting with co-workers, extended coffee breaks and luncheons, personal business,  reading the newspaper and surfing the internet.
c. Rule: Work all the time you work!
d. Start one hour earlier, and immediately get to work.
e. Work harder, through your lunch hour, all day long; don’t waste time.
f.  Work one hour later; be the last to leave. Use this time to wrap up all your work and plan your next day. Three extra hours of work will translate into 6-8 hours  of productivity.
g. Ask; what is the most valuable use of my time right now? Whatever your answer,  work on that every hour of every day.
h. If you get distracted, or interrupted, repeat over and over, “Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!”
“The harder you work, the luckier you get.”  –Thomas Jefferson

THE DISCIPLINE OF REGULAR SAVINGS AND INVESTING

Resolve today to get out of debt, stay out of debt  and become financially independent.
Your goal, and everyone’s goal is to achieve financial independence as soon as possible in life. This requires continuous financial discipline with every dollar you earn. The key  is for you to save 10%, 15% and even 20% of your income throughout your life.
a. Because you are probably in debt already, begin by saving 1% of your income  and discipline yourself to live on the other 99% until this becomes a habit.
b. Increase the amount of monthly savings to 2%, 3% and eventually 10% and 15%. Discipline yourself to live on the balance.
c. Rewire your thinking from “I enjoy spending” to “I enjoy saving.”
d. Delay; defer major purchases for 30 days.
e. Investigate before you invest. Two thirds of investment success comes from  avoiding mistakes. Invest as much time in studying the investment as you invested
 to earn the money in the first place.
f.  Pay cash for as many things as possible. Get rid of your credit cards. When you pay cash, the amount you are spending is far more visible and painful.
g. “If you cannot save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you.”  (W. Clement Stone)

THE DISCIPLINE OF EXCELLENT HEALTH HABITS

Your goal should be to live to 100 in superb physical health.

a. Design and imagine your ideal body. What would your body look like if it was perfect in your own estimation? This is your goal.
b. The key to health and life can be summarized in five words, “Eat less and  exercise more.”
c. Develop the discipline of exercising every day, even if all you do is go for a walk. Exercise is best done in the morning, immediately after you get up, before you have time to think about it. If you do this for 21 days, it will become part of your regular routine for the rest of your life.
d. Eliminate the three white poisons: flour, sugar and salt.
e. Eat more salads and lighter foods; eat before 6pm and eat half portions.
f.  Get regular medical and dental check-ups. They can add years to your life.
g. Use the Michael Jordon method: “Just do it!”

The key to health and life can be summarized  in five words, “Eat less and exercise more.”

THE DISCIPLINE OF COURAGE

Courage requires that you make yourself do what you should do, that you deal with your fears rather than avoiding them.
a. The biggest obstacle to success in life is fear of failure, expressed in the feeling that, “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!”
b. Courage is a habit, developed by practicing courage whenever it is required.
c. As Emerson said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
d. Make a habit of confronting your fears rather than avoiding them. When you confront the fear and move toward it, especially if it is another person or people or situation, the fear gets smaller and you become braver.
e. Repeat the words to cancel fear, “I can do it!” over and over, to build up your courage and confidence.
f.  Identify one fear in your life and then discipline yourself to deal with it, to confront it, to do whatever it involves, as quickly as you possibly can. The payoff for identifying a fear and confronting it is tremendous, it gives you the courage and confidence to go through your life and deal with every fear-inducing situation.
“The discipline of good time management  spreads to all your other disciplines.”

THE DISCIPLINE OF TIME MANAGEMENT

Rule: “Every minute spent in planning saves ten minutes in  execution.” The more you plan, the better you use your time, and the more you accomplish.
a. Begin by making a list of everything that you have to do. The best time to  write your daily list is the night before so that your subconscious can work  on it while you sleep.
b. Organize the list by priority before starting work.
c. Practice the 80/20 rule, which says that 80% of your results come from 20%  of your activities. What are they?
d. Use the ABCDE method to set priorities. This is based on considering the consequences of doing or not doing a particular task.

A = Must do – serious consequences for non-completion   

B = Should do – mild consequences for non-completion   

C = Nice to do – no consequences for non-completion   

D = Delegate – everything possible   

E = Eliminate – everything you can to free up more time

e. Organize your list by A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on.
f.  Start on your A-1 task first thing in the morning.
g. Discipline yourself to concentrate single-mindedly on your A-1 task until it is 100% complete.
h. The discipline of good time management spreads to all your other disciplines.  It has immediate payoff in improved results, and long term payoff in terms of  the quality of your life work.

THE DISCIPLINE OF DAILY GOAL-SETTING

Focus and concentration are the essential qualities for success.
a. Start by asking, “What do I really want to do with my life?” Ask this question over and over again until you get a clear answer.
b. Imagine that you had ten million dollars cash, but only ten years to live. What would you immediately do differently in your life?
c. Imagine that you have no limitations. That you could wave a magic wand and have all the time and money, all the education and experience, all the contacts you needed to achieve any goal. What would you do then?
d. Buy a spiral notebook and write in it every day. Begin by writing out ten goals in the present, positive and personal tense. Begin each goal with the word “I” followed by an action verb.
For example, you could write, “I earn $xx,xxx by December 31, 2007.”
e. Every day before you start off, rewrite your top ten goals in the present tense, as though you had already achieved them and you were reporting on this success to someone else. Rewrite your goals without looking back to the previous page. Rewrite them from memory. Watch how they grow, develop and change over time as you rewrite them each day. Many people have said that the discipline of daily goal setting has transformed their life and far faster than they had even imagined.

THE DISCIPLINE OF CLEAR THINKING

Thomas Edison once said, “Thinking is the hardest discipline of all.”
It has been said that there are three types of people. There are those who think  (The small minority); there are those that think they think, then there are those  who would rather die than think.
a. Take time to think though the critical issues and problems in your life. Put aside long, unbroken chunks of time, thirty, sixty and then ninety minutes.
Peter Drucker said that, “Fast people decisions are usually wrong people decisions.” In addition, fast decisions with regard to your family, career,  money or any other major issue are usually wrong decisions.
b. Sit quietly for 30-60 minutes to think. Practice solitude on a regular basis.  “Go into the silence.”
c. Whenever you practice solitude for more than thirty minutes, you activate your super conscious mind and trigger your intuition. You get it right from the “still, small, silent voice within.”
d. To think better, take a pad of paper and write down every detail of the problem situation you are facing. Sometimes, the right thing to do immerge as you write down the details.
e.  Aristotle once said that wisdom (The ability to make good decisions) is a combination of experience plus reflection. The more time that you take to think about your experiences, the more vital lessons you will gain from them.

f.  Go for a walk or exercise for 30-60 minutes. Very often when you are  exercising, you will get insights or ideas that help you to think better and  make better decisions.

g. Talk your situation over with someone else who you like and trust, and who is  not emotionally involved. Very often, a different perspective can totally change your viewpoint.
h.  Always ask, “What are my assumptions?” What is it that you are assuming to be true about the situation? Fast people decisions are usually  wrong people decisions.
i.  What if your assumptions were wrong? What if you were preceded on the basis  of false information?
Always be open to the possibility that you could be completely wrong in your current course of action. Be open to doing something completely different.

SUCCESS IS PREDICTABLE

Success is not an accident. Sadly, failure is not an accident either. You succeed when you do what other successful people do, over and over, until these behaviours become a habit. Likewise, you fail if you don’t do what successful people do. In either case, nature is neutral. Nature does not take sides. Nature doesn’t care. What happens to you is simply a matter of law—the law of cause and effect. You can look at yourself as a machine with a default mechanism. Your default mechanism is the almost irresistible attraction of the expediency factor and the path of least resistance that I described in the Introduction. In the absence of self-discipline, your default mechanism goes off automatically. This is the main cause of underachievement and the failure to realize your true potential. When you are not working deliberately, consciously, and continuously to do, be, and have those things that constitute success for you, your default mechanism is at work. You end up doing those fun, easy, and low-value things in the short term that lead to frustration, financial worries, and failure in the long term.

SEVEN DISCIPLINES FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE

There are 7 disciplines you must develop if you want to achieve all that is possible for you. You can learn these disciplines through practice and repetition until they become automatic. 
Goal Setting
Every morning, take 3 to 5 minutes to write out your top goals in the present tense. Get a spiral notebook for this purpose. By writing out your 10 goals at the beginning of each day, you will program them deep into your subconscious mind. 
This daily goal writing will activate your mental powers. It will stimulate your mind and make you more alert. Throughout the day, you will see opportunities and possibilities to move more rapidly toward your goals. 
Planning and Organizing
Take a few minutes, preferably the night before, to plan out every activity of the coming day. Always work from a list. Always think on paper. This is one of the most powerful and important disciplines of all for high performance. 
Priority Setting
The essence of all time management, personal management, and life management is contained in your ability to set proper priorities and use of your time. This is essential for high performance.
Concentration on your Highest-Value Activities
Your ability to work single-mindedly on your most important task will contribute as much to your success as any other discipline you can develop. 
Exercise and Proper Nutrition
Your health is more important than anything else. By disciplining yourself to exercise regularly and to eat carefully, you will promote the highest possible levels of health and fitness throughout your life. 
Learning and Growth
Your mind is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field. 
Time for Important People in your Life
Relationships are everything. Be sure that in climbing the ladder of success, you do not find it leaning against the wrong building. Make time for your relationships every day, no matter how busy you get. 
Action Exercise
These 7 disciplines will ensure that you perform at the highest level and get the greatest satisfaction and results from everything you do. Study these 7 disciplines and then make a plan for how you can incorporate each of them into your daily life. 

BE THE LEADER YOU ASPIRE TO BE

Commanding vs. Coaching

Many leaders are hesitant about coaching because they are not confident in their coaching ability. Occasionally, a leader will confide in me that coaching feels risky. It feels as if you are giving up control. When you feel that you are under huge workload pressures, giving up control seems like the last thing you should do. Underneath it all, there’s a common fear that if your team does all the work—working at their maximum capability—what will you be doing? What will be your value? You are good at doing the work, you were promoted because you are, and now you have to stop doing the work. So what do you do? You coach, of course!   Try this: In looking at the chart above, is your workplace a commanding culture or a coaching culture? If you are a leader, do you command or do you coach? Thinking about your current work environment form this perspective, what is one improvement you would like to see on your team? “Leaders who coach create and grow trust.” - Dr. Karen Morley

WHY LEADERS SHOULD CREATE A COACHING CULTURE

When leaders coach, they create a culture that is empowering and energising. When coached, people develop, their motivation elevates, and they engage more deeply. Organisations with excellent cultural support for coaching experience 13% better business results and 39% stronger engagement. Organisations where senior leaders coach very frequently enjoy 21% higher business results, according to Josh Bersin.

Coaching cultures are more responsive and adaptive

Organisations need leaders who can make change happen quickly, which coaching facilitates.  When coaching is added to learning programs, learning increases by up to six times. Coaching helps by making sense of change, guiding individuals through change and making every conversation aligned to the change.

Coaching shifts the power dynamic between leader and team. Through coaching, power is granted generously, which empowers. Leaders see power as more like a see-saw, balanced between themselves and others, than a jungle-gym, where the aim is to claim the highest ground.

For a coaching culture to thrive, typical competitiveness between senior leaders must reduce. By adopting a coaching style laterally as well as hierarchically, senior leaders reduce petty silo behaviour. They acknowledge the necessity of collaboration for achieving strategic outcomes. Senior leaders need to be less focused on the high ground, achieving success through individual effort, and aim for success through shared ground, the aligned efforts of everyone.

In a coaching culture, leaders ask;

• How can I help my team to be its best?
• How do I work with my peers to best meet our challenges?
• How do I balance an investment in future capability with a focus on results now?

In a coaching culture, everyone’s performance is elevated

The simple reason for creating a coaching culture is that coaching elevates the performance of everyone.

The coaching process generates new ideas, new possibilities, and new energy. In a coaching culture leaders cultivate trust by supporting and developing others. They focus on helping others to do their best work. Not only does more and better quality work get done, this has the enormous benefit of relieving the ‘power stress’ they feel.

Coaching increases well-being at work; people feel more satisfaction, are more positive and are more likely to feel they have the right resources to meet their challenges. And by being deliberately developmental, a coaching culture grows future leaders as it empowers and develops current leaders.

Coaching is also an excellent way to improve culture. According to Groysberg, a coaching style reinforces a flexible culture that is guided by purpose and learning. People welcome change rather than stability. They care about the future, and are more open and agile. Coaching embodies these features. This creates an affinity between the means and the end, helping to speed change.

How to create a coaching culture?

To cultivate a coaching culture, senior leaders need to:

• Believe in coaching, and to coach others;
• Model their openness to being coached;
• Look for opportunities to help others learn, including identifying challenging work assignments;
• Ask open questions rather than provide the solution;
• Willingly give and receive feedback; and
• Have honest conversations.

Coaching is contagious. Its contagion helps it to spread readily creating a ripple effect. When leaders in organisations start coaching, people start to find their own answers and become more resourceful. People work more effectively together because they engage in dialogue, they listen and ask questions rather than tell, and they see resistance as an opportunity rather than a threat. The nature of conversations between people changes. Interactions become more positive. The coaching style ripples out as more people enjoy its experience.

 - Dr. Karen Morley, author of Lead Like a Coach

IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE

Most of us want to be positive people. It is advantageous to posses a sunny outlook. Doors open to optimist. They make friends, earn respect, close sales, produce loyal friends, and others enjoy and want to be like me. The question is how can we do that? What does it take to have the right attitude. How can we grin instead of grouch? Good news! If you want to pep your outlook, never forget....Attitude are contagious. Always ask.... Is mine worth catching? I hope it will be.

1. WAIT TO WORRY

Many people fail to rejoice today because they live with the worry of tomorrow's threats, evil and sorrow. Something fearful might happen and they can't ignore it. If we worry about something that has not occurred, theologian Helmut Thielicke calls it, "wandering in times not our own".

2. KEEP AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Zig Ziglar started poor. Dirty poor. His father died when he was six, leaving his mother to raise 11alone. The family was virtually penniless. Yet despite their poverty, Mrs Ziglar instilled a strong work ethics in her children and raised them to believe that both she and God loved them. She also instructed her children to practice saying "please" and "thank you". Those lesson stuck. Her formula of work, love and faith made their difficult lives easier. Gratitude made their lives enjoyable. Zig once said, "When we neglect to require our children to say 'thank you' when someone gives them a gift or does something for them, we raised ungrateful children who are likely to be content. Without gratitude, happiness is rare. With gratitude, the odds for happiness goes up dramatically.

3. YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH

4. THE SERIOUS BENEFITS OF BELLY LAUGHS

5. JOY BOOMERANGS

6. LOOSING THE FIGHT? WRITE

7. KEEP THE FAITH, BABY

8. LEARN TO SAY "NO" GRACIOUSLY 

9. UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF DISCIPLINE

10. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSIVE PEOPLE

Get a copy of this book  Attitude is Everything - 10 Rules for Staying Positive by Vicki Hitzges

https://www.simpletruths.com/personal-inspiration/attitude-is-everything.html