Self-Discipline

Talents come in different aspects, the ones I value the most are Understanding, Creativity and Communication. While these are important facets of success, and often times they are born with and cannot be learned. However, I believe everyone has one other important aspect of success that can be learned: Self-Discipline.

Today, I read Steve Pavlina's five pillars of Self-Discipline, and felt very touched by this subject, this is what I am desperately lacking in life. I like how he explains self-discipline:

"Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state."

Key words are "take action" and "regardless of ... state".
The five pillars are "A-WHIP"

1. Acceptance - Assessment of current situation, and establish an outlook

2. Willpower - Power to take immediate action and engage

a quote:"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

3. Hard Work - Find work that's challenging

4. Industry - Work hard, even on simple things

5. Persistence

One thing I couldn't agree more was that willpower is a short burst of conscious decision and engagement, it cannot last long. One must use this burst to set a favorable environment and start habit building. Only habit can be maintained without much efforts.

What I discovered was it's the hardest to snap into a certain mode of thinking, once I am snapped into certain mode, it's easy to following down the same path of thinking. But when thinking requires focus, it's really easy to snap out of focus.

So two things I need to train myself, the speed of snapping into a focused mode, and the length I can maintain in a focused mode!!

Patriots Perfect Season?

Patriots escaped Baltimore Ravens' barely last night. 40 secs, two 4th down conversion and two questionable calls. Keeping their perfect record.

What happened to this team, they looked invincible just 2 weeks ago, now they only manage to beat their mediocre opponents barely. Is winning getting to them?

Snow Fall

Two consecutive snow falls hit Minneapolis these couple days. The whole city is covered in white. These couple days have been pretty relaxing. Not much work, and I have been slacking in my own studies. Good time for reflections.

Looking through the fog of snow, it's like looking into my future, can't see much. It's this unpredictability making life so adventure like. I am still waiting for my moment of epiphany, waiting for a sign from god, that I am here on earth for a certain purpose, and to fulfill some kind of important role. I cannot escape from my life, this is the fact, I cannot restart my life like rebooting a computer either. And life is a gradual process, no sudden improvement, only sudden deterioration. I feel dizzy, awkward, vulnerable and powerless. A strange place.

Then I tell myself, forget about feelings, JUST DO IT!!