There was a time in my life when I was automatically drawn to the self-help section of a bookstore or library.  Looking back, I guess I felt like I was not good enough, or that I needed to be more or do more.  I can remember reading about the Renaissance period of history and wanting to awaken the renaissance man in me.  It is interesting to note that the Renaissance period followed what came to be called the Dark or Middle Ages.  During the Renaissance period there was a burst of creativity and achievement that changed the world.  It brought the hope of possibilities that saw families, communities, and nations move into a new era.  Yes, I needed enlightenment and renaissance in my life, as I emerged from a time of abuse and bullying on the one hand, and civil, social, national, and global unrest on the other hand.  My parents would always say you can do anything if you set your mind to do it.  So, I set out to have my own personal Enlightenment and Renaissance period.  Learning from my mother and father, I learned to be a do-it-yourselfer, sewing, repairing my own cars, doing electrical, plumbing, and other home repairs.

In my childhood, my worldview was not only shaped by my parents and my personal environment but also by public events like the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, and the devastation of riots in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and in cities where relatives lived around the country.  Yet, there was also an atmosphere of change and excitement that countered the negatives as well. So my desire for Renaissance and change were also driven by a desire to help bring about positive change in our world.  While it is a noble desire to want to change yourself and the world around you, there is a danger in taking on the guilt, shame, and the weight of changing the world.  Such a weight can lead to anger, anxiety, sleepless nights, psychotic breaks, and innumerable ailments and diseases.  Having been through all of those and more, at this point in my life I am learning that any positive change that comes without peace of mind, joy in living, a love for people, and the love and for God will still result in sleepless nights, and vulnerability to anxiety and disease. 

While I still what to grow and change, and I still want to see the world become a better place to live in, I no longer feel like this is a job for superman.  Instead, I see through a slightly different lens when I take the time to experience the peace, power, and presence of God.  While success is about personal discipline, cooperation and sharing, I am finding more value, wisdom, and direction when I spend quality time in the presence of God.  As such, I am beginning to get a taste of what Jesus meant when he said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Success is a byproduct of discipline.  Foundational to discipline is the practice of persistence and consistency.  Persistence will help you attain a goal, but consistency will help you retain what you have attained.  With persistence you can get in shape or lose weight, but without consistency you will soon be overweight and out of shape again.  Persistence is the key to change and growth, but consistency is the key to maintaining it.  Persistence is the key to solving problems, but consistency is the key to preventing them from arising again.  Persistence can lead to great moments and great accomplishments, but only consistency can lead to a great life.  Persistence can break, change, or create habits, but only consistency can sustain them.  With persistent effort businesses are started and may even flourish, but without consistency, many businesses fail within the first five years.  Persistence can give birth, but consistency supports life.  Persistence can lead to great discoveries, but consistency can lead to lifetimes of change and growth.  Persistence is pressing to get to a certain point, but consistency develops a pattern and sets it on repeat.  Persistence can lead to courtship and marriage, but only the marriage of persistence and consistency will lead to a lifelong relationship.

Just as the sun may persist in breaking through the clouds and burning away the fog, it is the consistency of the hydrologic cycle that gives us rain for the flowers and the vegetation which sustains our lives.  Just as the earth persists in its rotation on its axis to turn day into night, it is its consistent rotation that turns nights into days, and days into weeks, and weeks into years.  It is the persistence and consistency of the earth’s rotation around the sun which gives us seasons.  Yes, being disciplined for success is about persistence but never without its partner and comrade in arms, consistency.

As a child, I can remember being asked by my mother, after I did something wrong or foolish, “what possessed you to do that?”  Most of the time my answer was, “I don’t know.”  Years have passed and I am often left without answers.  Perhaps you have been asked regarding a foolish decision, “what were you thinking?”  While we may not be consciously aware of the reasons for our actions, modern psychology suggests that the strongest reasons for our behaviors are the unconscious thoughts that precede our actions.¹

Road rage may have more to do with the state of mind of the driver prior to getting behind the wheel than it does with the person who cut them off.  Those unconscious thoughts playing in the back of the mind may be like a pot simmering, waiting to boil.  The painful unconscious tapes of past, painful relationships may serve as an audio and video backdrop to every proceeding relationship, sabotaging any possibility of a healthy, happy relationship.  The echoing voice of a controlling, domineering, or abusive parent, spouse, teacher, or boss, may play unconsciously in a repetitive loop in the back of a person’s mind, causing their behavior to seem irrational to one who has no inkling of what is playing in the background from their audio and video archives.

The discipline of recording new soundtracks and making new video memories is imperative if we are going to change our course at any point in our lives.  Memorize poems that inspire you, commit to memory scriptures that allow you to see a greater purpose for your life.  Learn something new.  We have the power to change our thought patterns.  We have the power to alter our unconscious thoughts by what we consciously feed our hearts and minds. Write a new song, make a new plan, forge a new path, walk down another street.²

Notes:

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/unconscious

https://www.simplypsychology.org/unconscious-mind.html#:~:text=According%20to%20Freud%20(1915)%2C,and%20stored%20in%20the%20unconscious.

2.https://simpleandpractical.com/stages-change-poem/

May 30, 2020

A pandemic has taken the lives of over 350,000 people worldwide and crippled the economies of the world in less than 90 days.  Unemployment rates have soared to record highs across the world.  In the United States, to add to the fear and uncertainty, public outrage and protests have spread across the United States because of a video of police officers restraining a Black man which resulted in his death.  The officers refused to respond to the cries of onlookers who pleaded with one of the officers to take his knee from the neck of the man who repeatedly said that he could not breathe.  Despite the pleas, the officer held his knee on the man’s neck for six minutes and an additional two minutes after his body appeared to be lifeless.  Certainly, this reads like the opening of a novel, a movie, or a sci-fi drama, and this only describes a fraction of the things that have shifted or gone awry in our world in less than 5 months in 2020.

While my emotions where drawn to the surface watching recent events and seeing the resurrection of latent fears and hatred, I am convinced that self-discipline and self-rule are needed now more than ever.  I have been in the position of letting my buttons be pushed by injustice, unfairness, or simply my ego needs, over the course of my life.  I have tried to understand racism, gang violence, colonialism, greed, hatred, and bullying from both sides and the middle.  I have tried to explain one side to the other from an intellectual, emotional, economic, logistical, and spiritual point of view. 

While there is enough going on in this world to push every button we have, I believe that if we discipline ourselves, we will discover that our buttons of self-destruction can be eliminated, and that God is ready, willing, and able to help us achieve success in this world.  I believe God has already revealed the plan and the outcome to humanity, and I am no longer willing to engage in polemics with people, a nation, or world who are so self-absorbed that they seem to be determined to self-destruct. 

It is my humble opinion that we were created by God to govern ourselves.  Yet much of human history is the story of human beings controlling or dominating each other.  I believe the freest and most powerful people are those who are free from the need to dominate or control others, and free from the domination and control of others.  In order to fully govern ourselves we must become the CEO, CFO, and COO of our own lives.  However, we must first emancipate ourselves from anything and everything that has control over us. 

The quality of our lives is determined by what, and to whom, we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.  As the CEO, CFO, and COO, of our ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, an unequivocal “Yes” to God can protect us from hostile takeovers and fiscal deficits.  As the ‘Chief Executive Officer’ of your ‘Yes & No,’ you have the final say over your will.  As the ‘Chief Financial Officer’ of your will, you sign off on all expenditures of your time, money, and resources.  As the Chief Operating Officer of your time, money, and resources you make sure that all resources are being used to carry out the mission and purpose of your life.    

While I believe this ancient wisdom of God is buried in every culture and people group and even in every cellular construction in the universe, it is my humble opinion that the epitome of self-rule is found in the example and teachings of Jesus Christ.  I do not say this as a defense of Christianity but because I believe that his words combined with his example transcend science and religion.  He was the ultimate CEO, CFO, and COO of his life and taught and demonstrated how we can become as well.  This does not mean that we do not need to work in cooperation with others.  In fact, the greatest levels of cooperation and unity can be accomplished when we learn how to effectively run the business of our own lives, without trying to run the lives of others.

With a telescopic lens, whatever is faraway is brought close.  The more powerful and focused the lens, the clearer you can see the details.  Vision requires a telescopic lens.  The clearer you see the destination you want to reach, or the thing you are dreaming of, the clearer the path to getting there becomes.  “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets…” were instructions given to the prophet Habakkuk in the Bible (Hab 2:2).  What do you want to do over the next 5, 10, 15, or 20 years of your life?  Where do you want to go?  What do you want to have or to have accomplished?  As you adjust your telescopic lens, jot down the details or rehearse them daily until you can see your destination with your eyes opened or closed.

If you are a musician or song writer, let the completed melody or the lyrics speak to you from the future until you complete them in the present.  If you are a student, let every page you read, every paper you write, every calculation you make, and every course you take become part of your vision, even if it is not clear where it fits in the overall plan.  If you are working on a dead-end job or performing menial tasks, find a way to paint it into your vision of the future. 

Just as unobstructed vision on a clear night can see patterns in the stars, a clear mind and a rested spirit can see visions and possibilities otherwise obstructed by stress and double-mindedness.  Simplifying the vision, and detailing the steps to its accomplishment, eliminates vacillation and confusion.  With discipline we can fine-tune our telescopic lens and bring the future to the present as we write the vision, make it plain, and walk it out.

Opportunities are knocking all around us, but we must see them, and seize them.  Sometimes the darkest times present the greatest opportunities, and sometimes success is born out of failure.  If you score 30 out of 100, you do not have to learn the 30% over again in order to pass, you must only learn the 70% that you did not know.  It is the proverbial question of whether we see the glass as half-empty or half-full.  If I curse the darkness while I am in the darkness, do I not also curse myself?  If I bless and embrace the sparks of light that I see while in the darkness, does not my accumulation of light bring me out of the darkness?

Are we so busy cursing the darkness that we have lost our ability to hear opportunity knocking?  Long ago, opportunity knocked in the darkness and someone answered the door and let in the light.  With the discovery of the candlelight, the light bulb, etc., we now have light where there used to be utter physical darkness.  Wherever there is darkness, opportunity is knocking.

With the harnessing of solar energy, laser light, and more, we are still bringing light into our physical darkness, but we are still at a loss when it comes to bringing light into our mental, emotional, and spiritual darkness.  Though it may not seem to be the case, there are still sparks of light in the world which, if brought together, would create a bonfire of such proportion that the earth and the sky would be illuminated.  People of all faiths and religions have come to embrace Jesus’ declaration that we are ‘the light of the world.’  Opportunity is knocking in the darkness!  If we discipline ourselves for success, and embrace the light and the love of God, we may discover that there is a whole new world waiting to unfold before us.

Every now and then we come to a fork in the road, and we don’t know which road to take.  What do you do when you don’t know what to do?  Which way do you go when you are not sure?  Perhaps you have done your research, asked for advice from knowledgeable people, and even prayed, but you are still uncertain.  The fact that you’ve done the research, asked for advice, and prayed, probably means that you have concluded that there is no easy way out.  When we tenaciously hold on to the belief that there is a way out, we become more and more disciplined and focused to find it.  The lives of those who accomplished great feats and made great contributions to our lives also had to face forks in the road, and they were not always certain they were making the right moves.

Uncertainty is an inevitable part of life, and confidence in times of uncertainty is a rarely found gift.  Sometimes we must simply step forward, cautiously, taking one step at a time.  Sometimes we get confirmations along the way which let us know that we are on the right path.  When we are disciplined in our approach to our mission, caution leads to confidence as we put one foot in front of the other.  When our inner voice, the external confirmations, and our spiritual senses line up, we sometimes get an infusion of confidence thrusting us forward with warp-like speed.  Success comes as a result of moving and working through the periods of uncertainty until we reach a place of confidence.  We must, however, make sure that we don’t sit at the crossroads too long, somethings we will not know until we have walked through the uncertain places.

So, what can we do when we don’t know what to do?  We can make calculated moves, feeling our way through uncertain places, measuring, and planning as much as we can, and seeking divine and human guidance.  Our success may be determined by how well we discipline ourselves to move forward in uncertain times.

In the Bible, Jesus told those who were learning from him, if they continued to learn and live by what he taught and demonstrated, they would “know the truth and the truth would make them free.” (John 8:32) Some of them claimed that they were already free, and others just listened and learned.  When I think of honesty, truth, and lies, I think of honesty as something you tell, truth as something you know, and lies as something you tell in order to twist the truth and deceive.  I find it easier to be honest and not know the truth than it is to know the truth and be honest, as they say, “ignorance is bliss.” 

To seek to know the truth means that we must examine what we believed to be true and honest and accept new truths as we discover them.  When we discover new truths about ourselves or the world, sometimes it is just easier to say nothing about them and let the old truths, which we now discover to be untrue, remain in place.  When you are confronted with truth, you always have the option to be honest and accept it, along with the consequences of knowing it, or you can say to yourself or others that it is better to live as if we never knew it.  

There were times I did not know the truth about myself but thought I did.  Consequently, I lived with confidence in my understanding of what I believed to be true.  I have also known the truth and thought it safer to tell a lie rather than the truth.  I have known the truth, told myself the truth, but thought it safer not to tell the truth under the guise that I was protecting others from the truth.  Sometimes confidentiality is required to protect others, or even yourself, but that level of confidentiality and truth is not easily reached or achieved.  Being disciplined for success allows you to lose the weight of dishonesty and soar to freedom.  It is acquired by the discipline of self-examination, rigorous honesty with yourself, God, and to whomever it is wise or expedient.

No matter how well tuned-up, trained, or disciplined you are, you are not superman or superwoman, we all need help.  Sometimes the most trained and disciplined people have the most difficulty asking for help.  Whatever your purpose or mission in life is, sometimes you must call for backup.  Physically, if you are lifting something heavy, if you team up the lift becomes easier.  Mentally, if you draw from the knowledge and wisdom of others, the mental lifting becomes easier.  Sharing your emotional stresses of guilt, shame, anger, or frustration with someone you trust will considerably reduce a load that may indeed be too much for one person.  Recognizing that we also have, and live in, a spiritual dimension, may spare us the burden of trying to live without God.

Being disciplined for success is knowing when to call for help.  Sometimes you need the help of a stranger.  Sometimes you need the help of a friend.  Sometimes you need the help of God.  Pride, stubbornness, shame, or fear may keep you locked in a ‘do-it-alone’ mindset.  This ‘do-it-by-myself’ mindset is perhaps the weakness of those who can only see from their own perspective.  It is the weakness of those who have knowledge but fail to learn from others, especially those whom they consider to be less knowledgeable. 

The Bible says that ‘two are better than one, and a three-fold cord is not easily broken.’  If we are going to be successful in fulfilling our mission, we must be willing to call for help when we need it.  We must be willing to let others play their part just as we play our role.  So, if the job can be done easier with help, call for backup.

In recent blogposts I have written about logging into your life each day, doing daily inspections, preventative maintenance, tune-ups, overhauls, and making sure that clean filters are in place.   If you are tuned-up, logged in, and have completed your daily inspections, you are now ready to hit the ground running.  If you think of all the little things that you can accomplish today, the possibilities are endless.  Like a well-oiled machine you can move effortlessly, making the hard look easy and the easy a joy to accomplish.  Unencumbered by distractions, debris, and blockages, you can focus on completing one thing at a time, transitioning smoothly to the next thing on your agenda.  Before you know it, just the satisfaction of getting things done will energize you and keep you flowing.

The word ‘discipline’ sometimes brings up thoughts of strained effort, or something laborious.  Once you get in the habit of staying on mission and focusing on the task at hand, the strain falls off and discipline merely becomes an easier lift and a smoother flow.  I now understand better the advice of an older man I referred to in an earlier blogpost, as he said, “take life easy, take it easy.”  The best discipline is that which has become who you are, without pretense or strain. The discipline that makes you successful in any area of life, is the discipline that becomes easy and routine.

So, as you go through your day today, work on your flow.  Don’t let anything, or anyone, keep you from functioning at your best.  Each day as you hit the ground running, your creative, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual systems will flow in harmony, like a well-oiled machine.

In my previous post, I spoke about tune-ups and overhauls. A very important part of any tune-up is cleaning or replacing the filters.  On a car the air filter keeps dirt from getting into the engine and choking it.  The oil filter keeps debris from getting into the engine causing it to lock up.  The fuel filter keeps particles from getting into the fuel system and cutting off the fuel supply.  If the water, air, oil, and fuel systems in your vehicle are not kept clean, foreign particles can lead to a breakdown.  Like our vehicles, we have systems which must be filtered to keep us functioning well. 

As we keep our systems tuned-up, we must make sure that our filters are in place.  We must filter what goes into our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual systems, so that we do not find ourselves broken down.  If we filter our eyes, ears, nose, and throat, we may find that many things we used to watch, listen to, inhale, and eat will change to help us live healthier and more wholesome lives.  If we filter our thoughts, we will probably find ourselves thinking more constructively and productively.  If we filter our emotions, things that used to push our buttons will no longer have power over us.  If we filter our spirits, we will be less likely to do things which go against our conscience. If we are going to be disciplined for success, we must filter the input so that we can strengthen the output. The better the filtering process, the better we can function.  If we are what we eat, and we become what we think, with a good tune-up and a good filtering system, we have an opportunity to change our lives and our direction.  If we become tuned-up, tuned-in, and well filtered, our discipline will lead to our success.

If your life is going the way you desire, regular tune-ups will keep you on course.  If, however, your life is not going the way you planned or desire, you may need an overhaul.  If you discover upon inspection that you are limping along at low energy levels, you may need a simple tune-up.  If you can get started but have a difficult time stopping, you may need a brake job.  If you can’t get started at all, your engine may need to be overhauled.  If you get started but cannot shift to go forward or backward, you may need to have your transmission overhauled. 

We are much like our vehicles.  Sometimes we move through our lives with very little problems, seemingly maintenance free.  Then there are times when you know you simply need a tune-up or routine maintenance, a few days off, a little more sleep, a slight change in diet, or a little more exercise.  Then there may be those days when you just cannot get started, you find yourself on a wrong course and cannot stop, or you get started but have no strength to move forward.  It is on those days that you may want to consider getting an overhaul.

Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual tune-ups prevent breakdowns, but in the event of a breakdown in either of these areas, overhauls are generally available.  Being disciplined for success helps us to spend more time on the journey and on the mission than in the repair shop.

Operating an unsafe car on the road cannot only lead to breakdowns, but it can endanger the lives of others, on and off the road.  In many locations there are now governmental regulations that require you to have your car inspected periodically.  Several routine checks are made to determine if the vehicle can be safely operated on the road.  If the vehicle passes all safety point checks, it is then certified for safe operation on the road.  If it does not pass, the car must be serviced and brought into compliance with the required safety codes.

The best way to avoid anxiety at inspection time is to perform regular checks and routine preventative maintenance.  Whether or not required by law, it is just a good idea to perform regular inspections to avoid delays, breakdowns, and added costs.  Some people routinely check their tire pressure before driving their car.  If they notice low tire pressure before driving, they can perhaps avoid having a flat tire on the road and the cost of a new tire.  Most of us inspect ourselves in the mirror before leaving home in the morning.

One of the keys to success is engaging in daily inspections.  Whatever your goals, plans, or mission in life, the process can be expedited with disciplined routine inspection times.  The discipline of regular mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual self-inspections will take care of your most valued asset.  Taking good care of yourself will not only greatly improve your chances of success, but it also increases the likelihood of your being around long enough to enjoy it.

Have you ever had those days when you just seem to go through the motions, almost as if you were on autopilot?  More than likely you forgot to sign-in.  Perhaps you did not know that your log in times-out at the end of each day.  Each morning you must use your username and password to sign into your life for another day in order to maintain a real-time connection.  If you forget to log in, yesterday’s news, yesterday’s agenda, and yesterday itself may be stuck on repeat, as it was in the movie, “Ground Hog Day.’  The good thing for the main character in the movie was that even though the world around him was stuck in a repetitive loop, he was able to learn and grow in real-time each day.

If you want to be disciplined for success, you must log on each day, even if the world around you is stuck on repeat, like a syndicated news station.  I know it is easier to have the system save your username and password, but eventually you will not only forget your password, but you will forget who you are.  Do not worry, however, as with any good system, you can recover your username and change your password.  When you go through this process, you rediscover who you are and regain access to yourself and your world.  Remember, your username and password are necessary to access your personal files, so do not forget them, and do not forget to sign on and sign off.

Sign-in and sign-out, clock-in and clock-out, log-in and log-out, yes, and sometimes you must even reboot.  Success depends on what you do when you are logged on in real-time.

The key to success is not simply starting something, it is in not stopping until the goal has been accomplished.  In fact, the key to success may lie in never stopping.  There are always new things to do, and new levels of success to achieve.  Whenever there is nothing to strive for, striving will cease.  If you do not have anything to live for, you will soon find yourself among the dead and the dying.

One person finishes their college degree in four years, while another took sixteen years.  With the diploma as their goal, both kept striving until the diploma was secured.  Sometimes setbacks may cause a delay, but success will never be denied to the one who refuses to quit.  Sometimes we need help, encouragement, or a push in order to gain momentum.  Sometimes we need to be pulled towards our destination by visions of where we are going.

Our goals pull us, and our discipline pushes us towards success.  If there is a goal, purpose, or mission to pull us, and discipline to push us, we will always be on the track to success.  Sometimes you may need to mark time, run in place, or rest, but whatever you do, keep stepping.  Step out, step up, or step off when needed, but keep stepping. 

Each day we have an opportunity to step up to the plate and strikeout, get a hit, hit a homerun, or do all three.  To do either one, you must be at the plate.  It takes courage to get up morning after morning and face the challenges of a new day.  Yet so many of us dodge the plate day after day.  Opportunities are missed because of ____________.  You can fill in the blank with whatever keeps you from coming to the batter’s box each day. 

Self-sabotage, fear of getting on base, fear of striking out, or fear of hitting a homerun can stop the most talented and cause the most gifted to procrastinate.  Well, you may not know why you often fail to step up to the plate.  You may not know why you fail to seize opportunities that lie before you each day.  One thing is certain however, you cannot strikeout, get a hit, or hit a homerun unless you step up to the plate.

Being disciplined for success is about taking whatever pitch life throws your way each day and being willing to swing.  You may foul out or strikeout, but the more you face the pitcher, the more likely you are to connect with the ball and get a hit.  Then comes the day when you least expect it and you hit your first homerun.  Homerun hitters are those who keep coming to the plate, keep their eyes on the ball, and keep connecting with the pitch.  Before you give yourself a chance to employ an excuse, take courage, step up to the plate, and take a swing.  You may just knock one out of the park.

When you are well rested, you generally feel better.  When you feel good, you think clearer.  When you think clearer, you make wiser decisions.  Wise decision making means less backtracking, less mistakes, and less loss.  Less backtracking, less mistakes, and less loss means less stress.  Less stress means better health and wellbeing.  In this state of wellbeing you are free to be adventurous and creative.  Doesn’t that sound like a good place to be?

Relax and trust that the One who sent you on this mission knows exactly where you are and where you are going.  When we are relaxed and well rested, we can hear the directions better.  Psalm 127 verses one and two in the Bible says, if God does not build the house or keep the city, our working, worrying, and waking up are in vain.  It goes on to say that we do not have to get up early and stay up late worrying because God gives His loved one’s sleep.

So, if you find yourself worrying, restless, or unable to sleep, perhaps it is time to put in a good day’s labor, then unload the burden, trust God, and get a good night’s sleep.  Rest, relaxation, and sleep require discipline, but it is discipline that is balanced with the discipline of working each day to complete the mission and purpose for which we are here.  Remember, you do not have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, there are many others assigned to help.  Also, remember, you get more done when you are rested, clear thinking, and focused.  In that state of mind, no doubt, you will be disciplined for success.