You want to be great.

Or at the very least, the best possible version of you.

You want to be kind, cheerful, respectable, gentle, and strong.

You want your children to love, adore and respect you. You want them to look up to you.

You want your spouse to speak of your tenderness, and servant hearted attitude towards them.

You want your coworkers to value your contribution, and enjoy working with you.

In all the things, you want to honor the Lord and make much of Him. To be the very picture of righteous living and a grace filled life.

You desire all this to be true of you and more.

It all starts with the daily disciplines.

With a small collection of habits, you adopt and hold firm.

Becoming the person you want to be takes a lifetime. It takes effort and discipline over the long haul.

It takes getting one percent better each day, even if no one else can tell.

Focus on building and holding firm to a small collection of daily disciplines. Things that may appear to have a small return on the front-end, but which yield massive change and growth on the back end.

Things like getting up early, working out, controlling your tongue, responding rather than reacting, learning, and eating well.

Focus on the daily disciplines rather than the vague notions of who you want to be and how you want others to view you.

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.