A New Way of Achieving Goals
This month I set a goal of waking up at 6:30 five days a week. The first week felt incredible, but the second week my parents were visiting which threw off my 9 pm bed time routine. A past version of self would have woken up to continue my early morning practice, but the other part leaned in to enjoy rare slow mornings with my parents after late night outs.
When achieving goals, we need to remember our intention behind the action, while enjoying our lives in the process. There’s a difference between the practice of discipline to build for the future, and needing to control situations through strictness of behaviour.
Discipline comes from the Latin word disciplina, which means “instruction and training”, from the root “to learn”. While the term discipline can bring memories of childhood and negative consequences, I prefer to see it as a personal practice of doing the hard things for long-term benefits.
Self-discipline allows you to feel powerful by doing what you say you will. It brings a sense of control over your behaviour, but this control needs to be balanced with the intention behind your disciplined action, or else you’ll miss the fun on the way.
Life is meant to live and enjoy while attaining the things you want in the process. The ability to be flexible while taking disciplined action toward your goal is equally as important as the end result. So, the next time you set powerful goals, can you leave some space for life to happen along the way?