Let me (Jim Rohn) give you some keys to discipline. Start with the little things and work up to the big ones. The little things are minor things you can do to make your life better and make you feel better about yourself. Make a list of them. Life will give you some pretty big challenges, but unless you practice on the small ones and master those, you don’t have a chance on the major ones. A man strides out of his house to go straighten out the corporation, and he has not yet straightened out his garage. Who’s he kidding? So work on all the disciplines, small as well as large, that will improve the quality of your life.
And here is an important thought: everything affects everything else. Every lack of discipline affects every other discipline. Mistakenly, the man says, “This is the only area I failed.” It’s obvious that’s not true. Every failure, no matter how small, affects the rest of your performance.
Now here is the positive side: every new discipline affects every other discipline. Every new thing you try affects the rest of your performance. Isn’t that exciting? So get started on every small discipline you can think of. You can’t believe what it will do for your self-confidence. Remember, the greatest deterrent to success is lack of self-confidence; and lack of self-confidence comes from not doing what you could do.
Next comes self-motivation. Really, that’s the only kind of motivation there is. I was on a lecture tour in Australia not long ago, and the press interviewed me. They asked, “Mr. Rohn, are you one of those American motivators?” I said, “No, I’m a businessman. I can share my ideas and my experiences, but people have go to motivate themselves.”
I’ve discovered that you can’t change people. They can change themselves, but you can’t change them. Lord knows I’ve tried. I had a super group of salespeople back in those early days. I said, “I’m going to make them successful if it kills me.” Guess what? I almost did! It can’t be done.
Good people are found, not changed. If you want good people, you have to find them. That’s the best answer I can give you. If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivate them. The first rule of management is this: don’t send your ducks to eagle school. Why? Because it won’t work. I’ve tried it all. I picked up a magazine not long ago in New York that had a full-page ad in it for a hotel chain. The first line of the ad was, “We do not teach our people to be nice.” Now that got my attention. The second line said, “We simply hire nice people.” I though, what a clever shortcut!
Motivation is a mystery. Why are some people motivated and some are not? Why does one salesperson see his first prospect at seven in the morning while another sees his first prospect at eleven in the morning? Why would one start at seven and the other start at eleven? I don’t know. I call it “mysteries of the mind.”
I give lectures to a thousand people at a time. One walks out and says, “I’m going to change my life.” Someone else walks out with a yawn and says, “I’ve heard all this stuff before.” Why is that? Why aren’t they both affected to the same extent? I don’t know. Mysteries of the mind.
The wealthy man says to a thousand people, “I read this book, and it started me on the road to wealth.” Guess how many of the thousand go out and get the book? Answer: very few. Isn’t that incredible? Why wouldn’t everyone go get the book? Mysteries of the mind.
To one person, you have to say, “You’d better slow down. You can’t work that many hours, do that many things, go, go, go. You’re going to have a heart attack and die.” And to another person, you have to say, “When are you ever going to get off the couch?” What is the difference? It’s called mysteries of the mind. Why wouldn’t everyone strive to be wealthy and happy? I don’t know. Mysteries of the mind.
So be self-motivated. Don’t give that job away to someone else. The guy says, “Boy, if someone will just come by and turn me on.” Hey, what if he doesn’t show up? You’ve got to have a better plan for your life. You’ve got to have discipline.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn