Complaining won't get you far

Complaining won’t get you very far. 

In fact, it'll keep you from far more than you’d imagine. 

It’s not that being negative or focusing on the negative is annoying to those around, although it is. It’s that being negative, complaining and making excuses hurts your ability to perform, to get things done. 

When you’re in a negative mindset, you’re less responsive, less precise, and slower in almost every way.

Positivity, on the other hand, is linked to better performance across the board including greater speed and accuracy. 

You can’t afford to let negativity hold you back or keep you down. Too much is riding on it. 

The good news is that being positive is a learned behavior. You can do something about how you think, and what you allow yourself to say. 

You can choose a more positive attitude and tone. 

You can condition yourself not to complain. 

It will take time, but it’s worth the effort because your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions determine your outcome. 

Getting Better

What’s the first thing that runs through your mind when your head lifts off the pillow? 

What’s the overarching reason you’re getting up and getting after the day? 

You may be surprised to learn that the truly successful all wake up with one goal in mind—to get better. 

They get up early and work hard because they’re committed to doing whatever it takes to improve. 

It borders on obsession, but that’s what it takes. 

You can’t mosey through life and expect greatness to come knocking on your door. 

You must chase it down, grab it by the throat and pin it to the ground. 

“It’s a constant dedication,” Ben Bergeron said, “to habits and values that can be isolating. In the long term, though, the benefit will be unmatched.”

You have to get serious—really serious—about your habits and figure out what habits will get you where you want to go. 

Habits that make you stronger, faster, and smarter than you were yesterday. 

Do the small things, even when they feel worthless, and keep plugging away at them. They add up over time. 

Be disciplined. Stay on the path and commit to seeing it through. 

Don’t settle for good enough. Keep pushing, striving and working hard to be your absolute best. 

True excellence isn’t found on the leaderboard or in your bank account. It’s found at the end of the disciplined path when you’ve given your all and know you’ve achieved the full measure of your potential.  

No secret path

There are no secret steps or hidden paths to success. 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re building a business, growing a family, or working towards any important goal, there is only one thing that truly works. 

The one thing that works is honing your craft, day in and day out, doing the right things over and over again. 

It’s not difficult to comprehend. It’s just really hard to do. 

Committing to the process requires a lot of you. It requires things like grit, accountability, confidence, passion, and discipline. 

These things may come more naturally to some than others, but they are all things you can develop and grow. 

You can’t control what you were born with, but you can take giant leaps forward in developing character and discipline today. 

 That’s 100% within your control. 

Apply yourself to those things. 

Commit to them. 

Make them your watch words and see how far they carry you. 

Discipline is future oriented.

Discipline is forward focused. 

It has the future in mind. 

It is not overly concerned with the mistakes or successes of yesterday. 

Discipline remains intensely focused on the moment, and how that moment will impact the future. 

Discipline works for future you. For that version of you three, five, ten years down the road. The you that’s stronger, faster, smarter and healthier than you are today. 

Every choice you make impacts future you. Discipline is there to hold the line and keep you on the path to becoming whoever it is you’ve set out to be. 

Listen to his voice. 

He’s calling you down the right road. It may not seem like it at the time, but discipline always has your best interest and your best future in mind. 

Discipline Is Not A Sometime Thing

Discipline is not a sometime thing. 

It is a whole life commitment. 

Discipline requires your devotion. All of it. 

You don’t engage discipline in one area of your life, and then neglect it in another. 

That’s not discipline. It’s what most people do. 

You don’t want to be like everyone else. You want to be extraordinary. 

You want to be better. 

Discipline either shapes every part of you or none. 

Apply discipline to every area of your life. 

Discipline isn’t some vague force floating out there somewhere. It’s an intensely personal tool that can transform your family, your work, your relationships, your fitness level, and even your faith. 

Realizing how deep, how far, and how wide discipline reaches is the hard part. Now all you have to do is apply it to things. 

Things like loving your wife regardless of how she responds, working out even when you don’t want to, and pursuing the Lord even when He feels distant. 

Each requires discipline. But you’re up for the challenge.