D: Discipline

Discipline is more than a quality to possess. It is a way of life.  Discipline is the decisive factor that is required to achieve all types of success in life- physical, financial, moral or spiritual. It is the crucial connecting bridge between goals and achievements. More often than not, discipline becomes synonymous to ‘no excuse’. Most of us plan really well and also have an intense desire to achieve the goal. But while executing the plan, the excuses come as hindrance to divert us from the goal.

It must be noted that discipline needs to be preceded by systematic planning and resource mapping. Discipline is about preparing a strategy considering the target, resources and constraints; and executing it with full dedication. Similarly, hard work and discipline are symbiotic to each other. Undisciplined hard work often goes waste and does not yield any productive outcome. However, with proper systematic efforts, hard work becomes smart work and gets translated to outcome.

Often motivation and discipline are confused or even considered antithetical to each other. But this is not complete truth. Motivation is the push and drive we feel to do something, while discipline means being committed and unwavering in following patterns of behaviour that we know are in our best interest. Together they keep you going and drive your committment towards your goal. Motivation alone or discipline alone is not sufficient. They must exist in a complementary manner to help you in the long run.

At an individual level, discipline changes your life for the better. It is what will get you through the tough times, the times when you ‘don’t feel like doing something’. Discipline inculcates some great values in you, that are of paramount importance if you want to be successful. And these great values in turn add more to your life than the achievement.