In Pursuit of Discipline
Several years ago my older brother Scott drove a cement truck. To do so required him waking up well before the crack of life at around 4am so he could have his truck ready and loaded up to deliver by 6am.
As he drove all over the valley he noticed something that I find very telling about success and those who find it. In the more affluent neighborhoods he’d see dozens of people out running and jogging on the streets early in the morning. They were generally in great physical shape, and were obviously doing well in their business endeavors.
On the other hand, when he was driving around other neighborhoods the streets were bare of runners. Only a few were out and about before work getting in exercise. I’m sure countless were rolling around in bed wanting to get up and go exercise (we all want to, right?), but only a small few were actually out doing it.
Am I saying that depending on what neighborhood you live in will dictate how willing you are to exercise? No, not at all. There are lazy people and hard working people in every neighborhood around the world. What I believe the missing trait between the joggers and the wishful joggers is, is discipline. There was just more to be found in certain neighborhoods.
Discipline is choosing the right instead of choosing the easy. Discipline is defining a set of standards you will live by at all times, in all places, and in all things. At it’s core, discipline means being a disciple of a better life; one who adheres to obedience of a higher law above that of the natural and carnal. One who is in control.
Recently I chose to quit the normal 40 hour workforce and join the ranks of the independent. I am very blessed to live in a place that rewards people who chose a lifestyle like mine. One thing I am focusing on more and more every day is my personal discipline to this endeavor. Now that I don’t have to clock-in at a regular job, do you think the temptation to sleep in is high? You betcha! Do you think stupid afternoon court room drama shows call to me when I’m stuck in a rut? Yep! Do you think I’m going to be successful if I give in to every whim I want to do? Nope!
If I plan to succeed at working for myself, at improving my skills as a web designer, at offering the best product to my clients and meeting my deadlines, successfully scoring raving fans to my portfolio I need to be disciplined. I need to set a daily schedule and stick to it. I need to establish rules and not break them. I need to learn to be accountable to me.
I guarantee if you polled successful business people, professional athletes, top salesmen, etc you’d discover a defining trait they’ll all have is excellent personal discipline. Maybe not in all facets of life, but I guarantee that what they succeed in they have incredible discipline in.
My question to you is what are you establishing yourself as being disciplined in? Are you improving your life, or throwing away opportunities to a better future? The great thing about what we live in now is, the world will reward those with discipline, regardless of which course you choose.
One month in…
I’ve been on the Independent worker train for about a month so far and it’s great! I love it! For the first month I managed to match/exceed previous FT income and I hope I can keep that up as time goes on. I’m enjoying what I do so much more than before, stress is down quite a lot, time flexibility is up quite a lot – things are going well!
Shortly after starting my new career path I ended up winning a free pass to the awesome ValioCon in Carlsbad, CA. Ever since it was announced earlier this year I’d been wanting to go, but funds were short and I wasn’t able to acquire a ticket. However, a short Twitter contest that I happen to be around for changed all that and Alicia and I took a short, unexpected trip to Southern California for a great web conference.
Since returning I’ve been involved with a few projects, some of which are long-term and others are short term. I’ll have some of them on the portfolio site here pretty soon.
Past that life is going equally great. Our first year of marriage is coming to a close in a few short months and it’s been an amazing year; I look forward to a lifetime ahead with Alicia.
Grateful
I wanted to type up a quick post and say thank you to everyone for your support, the work you’ve tossed my way, your words of encouragement and just general friend awesomeness.
Since declaring my work freedom I’ve managed to fill up my workload removing any worry of whether or not I can make this work. I’ve got several great projects to work on, I’m setting up some personal goals, and really feeling good and enjoying this new chapter in my life. Life is getting better every day and I just want to say Thank You.
Should I stay or should I go (now)?
Over the past several weeks, if not months, I’ve been trying to sort out what to do for work. I have generally been happy at my current job, but a lack of health insurance, a raise, and a company provided computer got me looking elsewhere. These were things promised to me when I started working there last May, and 1 year later none of them had happened yet.
I’ve interviewed at a handful of places, thought about going freelance etc etc. Last week I got an email out of the blue from a company in Dubai that wanted to hire me and relocate us there for a 2 year deal. That was crazy! And it’s still on the table, honestly, although today I think we are going to stay. I’ve lined up a few long-term freelance projects and will be departing the land of the employed and going to work for myself.
No more reporting in to somebody else, no more wondering if I’ll get time off for a vacation, or worrying about taking an extra long lunch just because. Nope, that’s all gone – I am, once again, my own boss. And I’m super excited about it.
This doesn’t mean I am suddenly going to live a super party lifestyle, rather, I’ll just have more control over my time. I’ll still need to keep myself busy during the day, and honestly step up the personal discipline to make sure I stay as productive as I can and maintain a nice balance in my slightly-freer lifestyle. But this gives me time to really take over my mornings. To wake up early, exercise, do some reading and just start my day off doing several productive things before settling down for some work. This is how I want my life to be, and I hope that I can make it work this time around.