The Power of Discipline - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

Most people who know me

would say that I have a lot of self discipline

 

I do

but I had to

learn it

and earn it

 

Truth is I put myself through

a lot of mental gymnastics

to keep myself on track

and on target

with my projects

 

It all starts with understanding change

Change is really shorthand

for the ‘habit of change’

 

If you want to tailor make your own career

that means over time

there is going to be change in your life

positive change

exciting change

but change none the less

and discipline is a system that drives change

 

Picture this

an old movie theatre

a story unfolding on the big screen

at the back of the theatre

and old movie projector chatters away

 

If change were a roll of old movie film

discipline would be the sprocket holes

each hole allows the cog wheels to pull the film forward

one frame a time

until the end of the roll of film is reached

and the story has has reached it’s conclusion

 

but

if there were no sprockets holes in that film

the film would just sit in the gate of the projector

stalled

the motor whirring, cogs spinning, light shining

but the story would never get told

 

and if you look at a roll of film

it’s made up of thousands of individual frames

each one a little different

from the one before it

and a little bit different

than the one after it

 

and tailor making a career

is just like that

it’s a whole lot of little steps

each one a little different from the one before

and just like the sprocket holes moved the film forward

dedication and discipline

from you

will move you forward

and stop you from stalling.

 

but before we get into the mechanics of discipline

we need to talk about change

Am I too old to change?

Am I too set in my ways?

I don’t know how to change?

 

You have to believe you are capable of change

to have any chance of this succeeding

 

When I think about change

I ask myself

what would Frank do?

 

Whos’ Frank??

 

Frank was a builder

and he lived in my home town of Brisbane Australia

He built supermarkets and carwashes

A no nonsense, knock about sort of guy

 

Frank went everywhere

with a hard hat

and a roll of plans under his arm

 

Then

one day

Frank got asked to build a temple

 

Not just any temple,

the largest Taoist temple outside of mainland China,

and it was just down the road from where he lives here in Brisbane

 

Frank thought this'll be a laugh …

I’ll draw up some plans and put a tender in.

 

He didn't bargain on it

but he got the job.

 

Before any construction work could start

they had to hold the alignment ceremony.

 

They flew two Taoist masters out from China

who were to align the building site

to the spiritual energy axis

of the nearby water and the mountains.

 

So Frank rolls up on the dusty worksite

with his hard hat and his roll of plans

 

but before he can even hammer in his first datum peg

the robe clad masters had picked up two sticks,

they pushed them into the sand

and said to Frank

align the temple to this perfect axis of sea and mountains.

 

Yeah, rightio said Frank,

I don’t think so….

 

but his curiosity was piqued,

so he followed up on this,

and guess what

and they were spot on.

 

and the more Frank asked questions

the more he listened

and the more he listened

the more his personal views were challenged

on a lot of things

 

This was a way of thinking he’d never been exposed to before

 

Frank got curios-er and curious-er

 

Well the short of it is

Frank the shopping centre builder from Brisbane

became a Taoist monk

 

talk about a transformation 

 

• he went from being a meat and mash potato sort of guy to full on vegetarian

• Catholicism to Taoism

• from builders boots to toe sandals

 

as Frank said ‘finally, this is who I am meant to be.’

 

So Frank is my personal barometer for change

If he can change then any one can change

and his change didn’t happen overnight

it happened gradually

and in response to his asking questions

and challenging his own beliefs

 

because not only was he leaning more towards the Taoist philosophy

at the same time he was leaning away from

a lot of his long held beliefs and assumptions

assumptions hat he had never challenged

 

so in essence

change

is as much about moving away from your old self

as it is to moving towards your new self

 

and that might sound obvious

but it’s something I have to continually remind myself of

 

and I have found this ‘understanding’

to be very useful in helping myself

with the discipline I need

and that’s so often

hard to find

 

and it’s just like the roll of movie film

each frame is a little different to one before it

and a little different to the one after it

 

every day you have to do one thing different.

that’s the key right there.

everyday.

the key to cultivating discipline

is building habits

and we build habits by

small changes day after day after day

gathering momentum

not stalling

 

but what if I can’t move forward

because often I simply don’t know

or can’t find out

or I’m stuck waiting for someone to get back to me with an answer

and it starts to feel like I’m stalling

 

I keep my momentum going

by doing something I call

doing different

 

It’s very simple

You have to look around at the people

that you don’t want to be like,

study what they do

and do different to them.

 

Every day, you just have to do

one thing different

than what they do.

 

If all the people you aspire not to be like

hang around the water cooler,

then today,

stop hanging around the water cooler.

 

If all the people you aspire not to be like

have a sense of entitlement,

then today be thankful for something about your current situation.

 

If all the people you aspire not to be like

all dress conservatively

then tomorrow

wear mismatched socks.

 

You don’t have to draw any attention to it

just keep the momentum of change going

momentum is so powerful

and so important to you changing

so if I hit one of these impasses

I know I can always keep my momentum rolling

by doing different.

 

So cultivating discipline

is basically getting into the habit of discipline

and habits are built by continually making small changes.

 

Imagine changing every day for a year.

That’s 365 small changes

which equals a LOT.

 

Every career and life transformation

I’ve gone through

has been a mental 5 year block.

I work in 5 year blocks.

I rarely expect anything to be less than this

though I’m excited when it does come in under my deadline.

 

So with a 5 year deadline

and knowing that I have to make one small change everyday

to be more like the person I want to be

or less like the person I don’t want to be,

then 5 years

times 365 changes a year

equals 1825 small changes needed.

I know that what stands between me

and basically anything I desire to be

is approximately 1825 small changes

and that to me seems entirely achievable

and not scary in any way

 

It might be mental gymnastics

but it works for me

 

Change is a process, it’s not an event.

Discipline drives this process.

 

and everything I know about changing careers

everything I’ve utilised to get me from

high school failure

to army sniper

to globe trotting cameraman

to magician

to accidental youtube personality

to online entrepreneur

and in the near future, I hope author speaker

I have distilled down into my own simple 3 step process

 

I’ve calculated it’s taken me 350,000 hours to come to this point.

349,999 hours to live it and one hour to pen it out in a teachable form.

 

It’s called the

perpetual motion formula

 

Are you ready to grow?

 

There’s only 3 steps to this process

 

Step 1: Roll up your sleeves and take the next step. If confused refer to step 2

 

Step 2: Your one and only job is to find out who can teach you what the next step is then refer back to Step 1

 

Step 3: Repeat 1825 times

 

If there is any secret to my successes it is this.

I succeed not because I’m really clever. I’m not.

Certainly not because of great genes, money or influence.

I have none of those.

I succeed in my own modest way because

I never stall.

I don’t hit brick walls.

I don’t find mountains I can’t get over.

I can simply keep moving ahead,

one step at a time

and you know what,

more often than not I just outlast others

who don’t go the distance.

This is perpetual motion.

 

 

 

and you know how you can utilise this formula today

right now

if you are looking at any online training courses

that say 21 days to creating your online business

or 6 weeks to rocking a new life

they’re probably going to end in disappointment

that’s like building sticks and straw houses

 

I’m the third little pig who built his house of bricks

I play the long game

to me

a handful of years

to get me decades of fulfilment

that’s a good deal

 

and of course, of course

there are going to be times

you feel like giving up.

I do.

and when I do

I say to myself

‘don’t let go of the bars’

 

the next episode is all about not giving up

and staying in control of your destiny.