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The only thing you have total control over is how you choose to respond.
You can’t control the weather.
You can’t control how others speak or how they act.
What you can’t control is staggering.
But so is what you can.
You can control you and your response.
No one else can do that. Only you.
“Only those who have the patience to do things perfectly,” Friedrich Schiller said, “will acquire the skills to do difficult things easily.”
You have to show up day in and day out. You have to keep showing up and doing the work necessary even when results are small or unseen.
When you feel as if you’re not making the slightest bit of difference.
And when you everything in you says, “Give up.”
Discipline knows that reward comes to those who wait.
To those who apply themselves to their craft with focus and determination over the long haul.
There are zero overnight successes. Not in art. Not in music. Not in sports. And not in life.
Behind every supposed overnight success is a lot of sweat, hard work, and patience.
It may take years to reach your goal.
And that’s ok.
All that sweat and patience is building within you the character and discipline you need. It is shaping you into the person you need to be. It is making you worthy of your accomplishment.
You wouldn’t rejoice if things came easy. You’d do what most people do with easy achievement—ignore it.
The goals you're chasing are valuable and life giving because they are hard. Their difficulty is their magic.
They are asking for the drive, determination, and patience required. In short, they are demanding discipline.
Don’t quit when things get hard.
Don’t give up because it’s not easy.
Don’t move on to something new instead of sticking it out and seeing it through.
Be patient.
Stay the course.
Apply discipline and remain patient.
Results will come. Just give it time.
You’re inconsistent.
You think and act in ways that fail to mesh with your values in principles.
Not just you, but all of us are walking and talking hypocrites.
But that’s not the whole story.
The rest of the story is that each time you catch yourself living inconsistently with your values is an opportunity.
An opportunity to:
• change,
• correct course,
• confess,
• ask forgiveness, and
• begin again.
Of course, it’s also an opportunity to:
• bow up,
• double down,
• give up,
• quit, and
• blame.
Hypocrisy isn’t the end of your story. It’s an intimate and defining part of it.
How you respond to your inconsistencies will go a long long way towards determining what happens in your life.
Choose the first set of responses rather than the second.
They are hard and uncomfortable steps to take but lead to healing, hope, and happiness in the end.
Most of all, they lead to growth and your best self.
Humility is essential to success.
It’s almost impossible to get there without it.
You have to be willing make an honest assessment of yourself, to learn and to ask for help.
Each requires humility.
Be humble.
Take stock of where you’re weak and own the problems and solutions.
Ask for help along the way. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
Humble yourself and seek to improve in every area of your life.
There are no finished products this side of Heaven. Embrace this truth and it’ll change everything.
You face the same decision all day long.
It may look a thousand different ways, but it is the same decision over and over again.
What is it?
The choice between the short and the long term.
It pays to take the long-term view in most situations.
The road may be hard and painful, but it is worth it in the end.
So much of what you desire in life comes down to how often you take the long-term view.
How often can you endure short-term discomfort, and pain to achieve lasting results?
How often can you set aside your personal feelings and do the right thing?
How often can you say, “No” to sugary lies and choose healthier foods?
Long-term thinking takes what is immediately seen as the hard road knowing that it will one day pay off in better health, better relationships, better finances, a stronger body, a better life.