MADHUSUDAN REDDY explores how success comes through discipline, and provides simple effective ways of cultivating that discipline in daily life.
Beautiful dreams, pure thoughts, a simple personality, and sustained self-confidence are important qualities of every successful person in this world. But beyond these qualities, that which guides every human life, from the most famous to the simplest, is discipline. In this era, when the world has become a global village, the stark reality is that we are witnessing a progressive deterioration of discipline, discrimination, and values.
Today’s children are tomorrow’s citizens, and youth is the backbone of any country. Are our student communities and youth losing their vitality?
Nature is the first school of any human being, and teaches so many lessons in life: for example, the skill of a spider in weaving its web; the patience of ants in constructing an anthill; and the way a mother bird teaches her babies to fly. Behind all this is discipline-filled action. There is no life that does not involve discipline. Rewards, awards, and accolades are not the things that make us recognized by this world. If Sachin Tendulkar and Lionel Messi have such huge fan followings today, it is because their personal discipline has made them who they are.
Some people argue that success can be achieved through talent without discipline, but that sort of success is temporary. So if discipline is critical to reach the shores of success, why do we lack it? Here are some thoughts:
Our lack of meaningful relationships in this age of the nuclear family, single-parent families, and internet-based living.
Our education system is mostly confined to book-reading and churning out students as rank-producing machines. We have not yet developed a value-based education policy, although the UN has done so and people are now waking up to the need for it.
Many youth have gone headlong into the addictive culture of social media, ragging, drugs, alcohol, and sex, forgetting their goals and aspirations.
Where respect for mothers, fathers, and teachers was earlier cherished, they are no longer automatically respected. They need to earn respect. Everything is being challenged.
Every day we read about so many crimes in our newspapers: students attacked by acid, others who are victims of ragging etc., and all these actions are symptomatic of a lack of discipline and respect for others. Students come to the cities to become IAS or IPS officers, but they forget their goals, having no thought for their parents’ hardships. They are attracted to the open urban culture, but even if society needs to change, is it the best way?
Think about it. If you try to demonstrate against corruption, as an ordinary person, nobody will listen to you. If you give instructions as a disciplined officer, however, things can happen in no time. It is discipline that made Gandhi a Mahatma in the eyes of the world. Edison was a successful person because of discipline.
A boy who had a newspaper run went on to become Abdul Kalam, the President of India.
Discipline was vital to their success. Discipline is not just for securing success in examinations, but it is the prime quality to achieve anything in life. Here are some ways to cultivate that discipline:
Let your everyday routine start with discipline. Say you plan to wake up every day at 4:30 a.m. For two days, you wake up with the help of an alarm. On the third day, make a commitment to automatically wake up at 4.30 a.m. without the help of the alarm.
Time is of the essence. Recognize how much time you are wasting, and work to make the most out of every minute in a day.
Time cannot be saved like money and needs to be utilized properly.
Reduce your dependency on distractions Examples of these include the 5 Cs: Cinema, Cricket, Cable, Chatting, and Cell phone.
We are the product of the people with whom we surround ourselves. It is important to be with people who motivate us to be our best.
Forget about your weaknesses. Keep trying. If there are no results, don’t feel disappointed. Even if success is late, the happiness that comes out of it is everlasting. Even if the path is full of thorns, overcome them with your efforts; forget about problems when you are on the way to achieve. The world itself will be following you, glorifying you.
All the best.
Article by MADHUSUDAN REDDY
Madhusudan Reddy
