A little Personal Development lesson

Jim Rohn, one of my mentors, described success as, “a few simple disciplines practiced every day.”  He also said that failure was a result of, “a few errors in judgement repeated every day.”  His point is that it’s just simple little things that add up and determine the direction of your life.  It’s not big, singular events that are life-changing, it’s the culmination of the little decisions we make every day. 

An example of this is the apple-a-day analogy he likes to use.  If an apple-a-day really lead to good health (which I’m sure it does), then why doesn’t everyone do it?  It’s pretty easy to eat an apple a day, they are plentiful and cheap.  So why doesn’t everyone eat one?  It’s easy NOT to do.  It really is that simple.  The difference between success and failure is not huge, it’s small things as easy as the apple-a-day.  The keys to becoming successful are easy to do.  The problem is that they are easy NOT to do as well. 

It’s very easy to make a few wrong decisions and slowly drift off track.  You wouldn’t let yourself be jolted way off track all at once, but you will (without even knowing it) let yourself be nudged off track, ever so slightly with bad choices.  Over time, you wind up a long way away from where you set out to go.  It’s like the frog in the boiling water story.  If you dropped a frog into boiling water, he would immediately jump out!  (If he survived.)  But if you put a frog in a pot of water and slowly heated it, he would stay there until he boiled to death.  You get the idea.

Many of us make these errors in judgement on a daily basis regarding our health, our weight, our family and our finances.  The problem is we don’t get immediate results for our actions.  The guy says I didn’t eat an apple today and tonight I’m not ill.  That’s a very short sighted and foolish philosophy.  Another bad philosophy is that I will eat 7 apples on Sunday and be o.k.  No, it’s consistency that counts.   An apple A DAY.  Everyday.  If we did get immediate results for our actions, we would change our behaviors in a hurry!

Just like being fit, and eating healthy.  I’m sure the contestents on the T.V. show The Biggest Loser would agree that they would never choose to be fat.  But they DID choose to be fat, over time with the compounding of their poor habits (errors in judgement repeated every day.) 

The good news is that to start a new discipline is easy.  Eat an apple.  Go for a walk around the block.  It really is that simple to make a change in your direction.  Every new discipline you start will also increase your self-confidence.  That’s a great benefit.  Every lack of doing your best errodes your confidence and self-worth, but every new discipline increases your self-confidence.  The worst thing you can do is to do less than your best.  That starts the disease of self-doubt and low self-esteem.  Pick a few new disciplines to start, and get going on making the changes in your life that you desire. 

Life is brief.  Whatever you are going to do, get at it.  The passing of time only takes us drifting, and you can’t drift your way to your goals or success.  Take action and start today.

Tags: goals, jim rohn, personal development, self-confidence, self-doubt, self-esteem, self-image, success