Discipline

I am feeling pretty philosophical right now, especially after I know I have wasted time much better spent more productively. This series of blogs will help me focus on that strangely elusive quality called "Discipline".

Discipline is a pretty strange creature. She is the pet of those who can sacrifice the present for the future. For those cursed souls who can't do that, she is more elusive than the Loch Ness Monster...

What is it that makes one waste time when one knows that there is work to be done? Or, more relevantly, what is it that helps one focus on the work and keep the play for later? Discipline, of course!

Yeah right- pretty obvious answer that. But, talking about it is never enough. Nor is wishing for it ever going to help. It is a way of life. It is what distinguishes the good from the bad, and the great from the good. Mundane, yet powerful, discipline works in strange and wonderful ways to improve productivity manifold.

I quote a few memorable quotes on this topic:

"Half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck. "
Carl Zuckmeyer

" When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first. "
Josiah Quincy

"The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose. "
E.M. Gray

Nice quotes, these and very true too! One of the most important things discipline allows you is the ability to have a peaceful sleep every night. Once you have done your work for the day and achieved what you set out to do, nothing more matters for a hearty sleep. And believe me, in a place like IIMA, a guilty conscience is the last thing you want to have while hitting the sack after a long, tiring day...

Well, I have to discipline myself as well. Must log off now :-)

Sitan