DISCIPLINE

I’ve been kind of MIA lately when it comes to posting on here. I could blame it on the grind of the season and lack of time but the truth is I haven’t felt I’ve had anything of value to say in quite a while. My goal with this whole blog project is to provide some semblance of guidance or wisdom through my own personal anecdotes, discoveries, or experiences and I hadn’t felt I had found something significant enough to share. Over the past 4 months I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to increase the amount I read. I’m not much of a fiction reader but more so a “self improvement” kind of guy or whatever you want to call it.

Recently I’ve picked up a book called “The Way of Baseball” by Shawn Green. For anyone unfamiliar with Green, he’s a former Major League Baseball player with all stars, a golden glove, and a 4 home run game under his belt. In it he discusses his “Zen” approach to hitting and how it changed his career and the discipline it took to accomplish what he accomplished.

This got me thinking about the difficulty of discipline in so many facets of life. Whether you’re a professional athlete or working a 9-5, we all require some semblance of discipline and commitment in both our personal and professional lives if we wish to accomplish what we want to accomplish. However, we find ourselves lacking this discipline. Often times we can become frustrated with our current situation and think to ourselves “nothing’s going right anyways, “x” won’t change that. We fall into a trap of frustration and disappointment that in reality, only our constant commitment to our regimens can get us out of. It may seem like we are stuck in a rut we may never make it out of, but it’s only when we stick to our activities and discipline that eventually we tear down the walls and obstacles preventing us from what we want to accomplish.

I’m no better… In times of frustration over whatever circumstances I find myself in, I’ve succumb to self pity and frustration, talking myself out of my 9 a.m. daily workout, my morning meditation, or my evening stretch. This self pity is so destructive and in this hole we dig ourselves into, we only bury ourselves deeper by not sticking to our methods of discipline.

As difficult as it is to maintain discipline when things aren’t going well, it can be argued it’s even harder to stick to it when things are going in your favor. It’s easy to fall into complacency and contentment in times of success and good fortune. Working overtime and with great enthusiasm can earn you that promotion in your office, but once you receive the promotion, do you maintain the work ethic and methods that earned you that position change? As I said before, I’m just as guilty of falling into this trap. When shots are going in and you’re playing major minutes it’s easy to become comfortable with your current situation and believe no more extra work needs to be done. You’ve “made it” you think to yourself. We’re only human and this thought process is an incredibly human trait, but what separates those temporarily at the top from those who stay there is the dedication to discipline regardless of their current situation or position.

We’ve all fallen into these traps. We’re given a choice at this moment regarding how we can proceed. We’re lucky enough to have an opportunity to make a change, starting now, and recommit ourselves to whatever disciplinary actions necessary to accomplish whatever it is we want to achieve. There will be pitfalls and there will be hard days, but those are out of our control. The only thing in our control is the conscious decision to maintain the work and trust your path. I know it will see us through.