I love chocolate.

Evenings after supper, I have a chocolate bar.

Now, lets play a word association game. I say a word and Instead of you replying with another word, convey the images it brings forth.

. . . Discipline. . .

What do you see?
A spanking?

The judicial system?

Perhaps learning a new task.

Learning to play a musical instrument.

A new weight loss diet or physical fitness.

A job related task.

Developing a discipline is easier when we have vested interest. When we have an emotional attachment. Disciplines become more difficult as the outcomes are more distant in time or the results more obscure.

I found that self-discipline can be the hardest to achieve; I am my own judge. The times that I would rather not perform a task or duty, I only must answer only to myself. As it turns out rationalization is a most useful tool. As I often say “When you do not want to do something, any old excuse will work”.

No one is born with total self control. Self-discipline is an acquired taste. The discipline of self-control is cumulative. Task requiring large self-disciplines are more easily obtained when built upon a history of smaller successes.

How to build a history of success. Start small, make a game of it. Take off the pressure to succeed. After supper I eat one chocolate bar every evening. Two disciplines come into play here. First I place one square of milk chocolate on my tongue and allow it to MELT. The alternative is to chew it quickly, to eat the whole bar in a couple of mouthfuls. The end the result is the same. I eat the bar. The difference is that the bar doesn’t last a long. The second self-discipline is to eat only one bar per evening. If I give into my desires I could eat the entire package of 6 bars in one sitting. Resulting in my going the rest of the week without chocolate.

Success in small disciplines bring larger rewards. By devoting 15 to 30 minutes of writing every evening, I end up with another publication. It is true fifteen minuets a day takes longer to completion than sitting down eight hours a day for a solid month. But not nearly so long as if I procrastinated.

The lesson here: Set a goal. Do small things on a regular basis toward that goal.

Today do one thing. One small thing to prepare for the disaster that you hope will never come. One small thing, one thing that you hope the ones you love never need rely on.

Overwhelm fuels procrastination. Take baby steps.

Post your baby steps. What are you doing (plan to do) to save the ones you love?

Remember to check out the manual “Emergency Disaster Preparedness & Survival” or just “buy it now”

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Copyrighted under “Gerald Pinckard” or “Foggy Bottoms Publications”.