No matter how difficult the task, when you are excited, enthusiastic, and energetic, success seems to come easy. On the other hand, even the easiest tasks become difficult when you are sad, depressed, or lethargic. If we are controlled by our feelings, our success or failure will always be dependent on how we feel. When we act based on our feelings, our behavior tends to be erratic and often irrational. If we don’t feel like giving the extra effort required to succeed, we won’t. If we feel like working hard today, we will. In order to maintain control over ourselves we must make sure that our feelings do not have control over us.
Being disciplined for success ultimately means being able to master our feelings. Because our feelings can be subtle masters, we must develop a discipline which allows us to override our feelings so that we can make rational decisions consistently. So then, I go when I don’t feel like going. I get up when I feel like sleeping in. I forgive when I want revenge. I resist when I feel like spending. Any feeling or emotion which has the potential to control us, will, if we cannot control ourselves.
Our feelings play an important role in our lives but when they are in control they can also lead to our death or the death of someone else. Stress, murder, abuse, illness, etc., are caused by feelings in charge. In a world where we are becoming increasingly driven by our feelings, our survival may depend on our ability to govern ourselves, ‘lay all feelings aside,’ and free ourselves from the power of impulse.