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Discipline – Plan Part 2

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Plan 

“Plans are not a promise, they are protection in the midst of preparation.” – (BJS)

The Plan… sounds simple… and in reality it is very simple.  You either have a plan or you do not, however, simple things are quite often not easy things.  This is a great misconception in life, assuming simplicity is equivalent to ease, when in fact, they typically hail from opposite corners.  Within the discipline mindset, one will develop a plan with great intention on executing the vision.  Success is determined by the execution, not the vision or even the plan.  This is why and where the difficulty arises.  Take diets for example, (I really do not like the word ‘diet’, mainly because when someone hears the word it has temporary connotation, but in truth, diet refers to the daily or regular intake of nutrients), according to the Annual Diet and Healthy-Eating Report, the average dieter follows 55 fad diets during their lifetime at a staggering cost of £30,000, which is enough money to put a deposit down on a first home.  Sadly, only one in three people will actually lose weight and just one in five feel better from the new regimes.  

Why?  Because their vision was not OWNED by themselves, therefore the plan was faulty at the first.  Herein, is where CHANGE must take place, a renewed mind; with a mindset of discipline taking ownership and responsibility for our life, understanding the personal choices made are OUR decisions and not another’s.  Just because someone around us has made bad choices in their life does not mean we have to follow suit.  We can and must break the mould and move onward to a bigger and brighter future.  We are responsible for our own decisions and must hold ourselves accountable for poor choices as well as wise ones (yes, you can reward yourself for doing right).

How?

Plan – Preeminence

Preeminence is defined as “the state or character of being preeminent” with preeminent meaning “eminent above or before others; superior; surpassing”.  In other words, if something is preeminent in one’s life it takes priority above and beyond other things.  It will out shine and stand out in our hearts and mind thus influencing us to make wise decisions in life.  This is true in our dieting (daily and regular intake of nutrients), time management, financial budgeting, relationships etc.  Making wise decisions based upon a vision within an established plan with purpose must take preeminence in our life in order for success to be prevalent.  

This is how new behaviour is established, by making planned choices, which in turn develops into a habit.  We have often heard it takes 21 days to develop a new habit, however, there are flaws in this statement and science has proven so.  First off, many of the self help gurus in the world have taken such information by partially portraying the statement of Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon in the 1950s.  He began to find in many of his patients, it took “a minimum of 21 days” to adjust to their new image.  The ‘Tony Robbins’ of our day removed “a minimum of” and ran with the  ’21 day’ promise, giving people the sense of assurance they would be a new person in less than a month.  It is quite possible for this to work with certain folks.  However, if this was a definitive truth, we would not have ‘dieters’ jumping on and off 50 different fad-diets in their lifetime.  More recent studies have revealed it takes more than 2 months before a new behaviour becomes automatic, 66 days to be exact and in a more comprehensive research we found it has taken anywhere from 18 to 254 days for people to form a new habit.  

What does this mean for us?  It means new behaviour and the developing of positive habits are dependent upon a person who has more than a desire for change, but rather a drive.  A drive to fulfil a plan with a purpose, based upon a realistic vision, placing it at the forefront of their day, thus making choices giving it preeminence in their life.

“If it was easy, everyone would do it… Simplicity doesn’t always equal ease and ease quite often isn’t very simple.”

Discipline – Vision Part 3

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Vision 

Thus far we have seen two of the three major components involved in developing and having a vision leading into establishing a plan into setting goals for success.  All of which are achieved through the mindset of Discipline. 

While Passion drives the vision and Position directs, it is Peculiarity in which determines if the vision is your own.  Quite often, many people are moved by what they see in others in developing a vision for themselves.  Now, this does not mean we should not be motivated by others, it does mean such motivation should not turn into emulation.

Vision – Peculiar

Peculiarity, does not necessarily mean odd or strange, as we in this modern era have expressed.  According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, peculiar is defined as Appropriate; belonging to a person and to him only, special”.  In other words, rare.  Diamonds have great worth because of their rarity and uniqueness.  The more rare a diamond is, the greater its worth.  The reality is, diamonds are worth what people are wIlling to spend.  Whereas, diamonds are abundant in general, high-quality diamonds, especially the large ones, are certainly rare.  The process of ‘mine to finger’ is still laborious when it comes to diamonds.  Mining is costly, cutting is still widely difficult, precise, and expensive.  According to one De Beers representative, when interviewed concerning the diamond business, stated: “For the next ten years, we had our engagement ring customers (our most valuable customers of all) fill out a credit application BEFORE we showed a single ring. Then, armed with his monthly earnings, we showed the ring that matched that two month figure. It was like taking sweets from a baby.” 

Why is this?  Because it is a unique jewel, made and fit for a very special occasion… a personal occasion owned by the ensuing groom-to-be and his dear bride.

The same holds true within the vision, you MUST own it; it must be your’s and not another’s.  Everything about the vision needs to be precisely built for your hopes and the dreams you have developed within the mindset of Discipline.

“Anyone can copy the vision of another person, but the one who owns their vision will see it come to fruition.”

Discipline – Vision Part 2

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Vision 

Recapping quickly, remember, in order to make choices beneficial to one’s life and assist us in achieving success or at the very least to give us the best option of success, we must develop a mindset of Discipline. 

Success in anything in life, whether you want to improve your work ethic, lose ten pounds or increase your back squat requires Discipline, beginning with a sound vision.  Such vision starts with passion, which is something no one can take away from you, even if it is lying dormant underneath layers of frustration and excuses, dig it out and execute.

Vision – Position

Once passion has set ablaze in your heart, kick starting your vision, there must be a Position in life for such a vision.  Here is an example, one particular individual is passionate about becoming a partner with the corporation they are working for.  However, in order to do so, they will have to work twice the hours, accumulate three times the customer base, all the while compete against thirty other employees vying for the same position.  One must ask themselves this question, “do I have the position in my life to pursue such passion?”.  In other words, is there enough time in the day, week and year to achieve this level of success? 

To make this more sensible, if you are passionate about losing 20 pounds or increasing your bench one rep max do you have a position (time) in your life to dedicate to such an achievement?  The position is what makes the passion a reality, which does not mean, by any reason we should settle for mediocrity at all, it does mean our vision will enable us to establish a plan with realistic goals based upon a proper time frame.

As your vision develops, passion will drive the vision, but position will direct it.  The mindset of Discipline deciphers between the actual and the hopeful; it is within these two contributing factors the vision begins to take shape and formulate into hunger allowing you to take the next step in solidifying such vision which will establish the plan to achieve your goals.  

“Just because someone is the loudest person in the room doesn’t make what they saying more important or even correct… follow your passion despite the antagonist.

Stop Complaining… For Your Own Good And For Those Around You.

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We have all been around those people who love to complain… as a matter of fact you may even be someone who chooses to find the negative in any situation as oppose to the lighter side or many times even the truth.  People assume they know why they complain or perpetuate negativity, they will make a statement like, “I know I am a cynic” or “ Well, I’m just a realist”.  Whether or not this is just an opinion or a true and faithful statement is beside the point, continual negativity not only is habitual and counterproductive to any situation, it is in fact a detriment to one’s health.

Clinical research performed at Stanford University revealed complaining actually shrinks the area of the brain critical to problem solving and intelligent thought called the hippocampus.  Damage to the hippocampus is frightening, when one will consider it is one of the primary location of the brain destroyed by Alzheimer’s.

Complaining not only is damaging to our brain, but has further ramifications to our body as well.  As a person complains, the body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which is the hormone directly associated with the fight-or-flight response.  It is also responsible for directing oxygen, blood, and energy away from everything except the systems essential for immediate survival.  As cortisol releases the blood pressure and blood sugar are raised in preparation to either escape (flight) or defend (fight).  This may sound inconsequential, however the excessive cortisol release, due to habitual frequent complaining results in impairment of the immune system, which results in an increased susceptibility to heart disease such as myocardial infarction, hypertension, heart failure among others.  It has also been linked to diabetes, high cholesterol, and even obesity. Several studies revealed too much cortisol has been connected to raising venerability of cerebral vascular accidents (CVA aka “stroke”), which when described as its simplest level, is a brain attack.

You may be wondering why does this occur and why does complaining have such an effect on the body but especially the brain.  In all fairness, it is quite simple… neurologically speaking.  Neurological science has shown neurons are a close knit family.  The more they fire the closer they grow together allowing permanence to develop.  As this action is repeated, just like many negative behaviours, the brain literally is rewired to encourage such action to be easily repeated.  The brain is the greatest supercomputer ever created functioning with efficiency.  Thus, as a person complains, physiological and neurological responses occur in order to enable the crossing of information through the communicative network easier. 

Complaining is not an innate quality, but rather a learned action.  It happens to be the physical changes which makes complaining such an easy habit to develop.  But is it worth it?  There has been many articles and ‘studies’ claiming the benefits of complaining, in an article from 2 February 2018 in Forbes states, ““Constructive wallowing” is the term author Tina Gilbertson uses to describe the power of accepting and releasing negative feelings. It’s not that people aren’t capable of being positive, it’s that we are so backlogged with suppressed emotions, they are flaring up to get our attention. She argues that we need to clear our consciousness before we can allow new experiences in.”. Whereas, at face value, this may seem like a justification to complain, to “clear our consciousness” in a release of “backlogged” and “suppressed emotions”, the hard truth of the matter is greatly opposite.  Not only has neuroscience proven exorbitant complaining unhealthy for those committing the act, but it is always deteriorating to social communication.  On the sociological level, complaining is contagious and it presents an environment for others to absorb the negative without realising it, project the same in other circles (picture someone complaining about a complainer).  So not only is repeated complaining detrimental to your health, but it also has an debilitating effect on people’s ability to communicate with negative aspects.  Whereas, there are many types of ‘complaints’, the truth is, it is a conditioned response to areas of our life we are unhappy about and often the subject of the complaint is a separate subject altogether.  I can remember being around an individual who complained about everything.  This particular person constantly complained about everything, but when I asked for a solution, the answer was always “I don’t know.”  It became very evident the complaints were not only invalid, but actually were a reflection of their own unhappiness in life.  It was a sad situation, made even more so when there was nothing I could do to help.  In the end, the separation as acquaintances became the obvious, and might I say only option.  

By no means am I suggesting if and when a person is dealing with situations in their life causing them displeasure they should just suppress them into compartments within the mind.  If anyone is dealing with circumstances in their life, by all means speak to someone.  Let me reiterate, no one should suffer in silence, speak and speak loudly to those who can help and will listen.  Outside of personal struggles, we all know complaining is different and typically for reasons other than psychological help.  It is proven to be dangerous to one’s health and when we considering the ease of spreading at epidemic rates, it endangers those close by as well. 

What should be done?

It is easy to say, just stop, however by incorporating a little acronym into our cognitive response we may be assisted in deterring our addiction to complaining.  Before we speak, think…or in other words, before we speak T.H.I.N.K.  Ask yourself, is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Needed? Is it Kind?  Sure, this may sound simple and no this isn’t anything new.  Most of us, who are parents, have taught this to our children.  Yet, simplicity is often the best option and the most overlooked.  Consider the outcome of your outgo.  Try to find the positive in the surroundings in your life and if you cannot, change the environment in which you are complaining about.

So, before we decide to unload and let go, think… and stop complaining for your own good and for  those around you.