The Practicing Mind : Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life - Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process

In those times when we want to acquire a new skill or face a formidable challenge we hope to overcome, what we need most are patience, focus, and discipline, traits that seem elusive or difficult to maintain. 

In this enticing and practical book, Thomas Sterner demonstrates how to learn skills for any aspect of life, from golfing to business to parenting, by learning to love the process. 

Early life is all about trial-and-error practice. If we had given up in the face of failure, repetition, and difficulty, we would never have learned to walk or tie our shoes. So why, as adults, do we often give up on a goal when at first we don t succeed? 

In his study of how we learn (prompted by his pursuit of disciplines such as music and golf), Sterner has found that we have forgotten the principles of practice the process of picking a goal and applying steady effort to reach it. 

The methods Sterner teaches show that practice done properly isn't drudgery on the way to mastery but a fulfilling process in and of itself, one that builds discipline and clarity."

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Absolute discipline and absolute freedom

I think there's some connection between absolute discipline and absolute freedom.

Alan Rickman

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly."

 Thomas H. Huxley

Discipline

A very angry trainer complained, "Grains, sugar, even GMOs aren't the problem. Lack of discipline is the problem. If the people on your page would stop sniveling about what the problems are and just stop eating them, and get off the couch and hire a trainer, they wouldn't look like disgustingly fat toadstools." 

His perspective isn't uncommon, so since he has put words to a sentiment I find unfortunately shared by too many, let's address several key points here.

Discipline is not an attitude, but rather it is a momentum. You can rarely, "Just do it," unless you've already built up the capacity. You're capable of doing anything within the inertia you've already generated.

Like pushing a boulder over small bumps (challenges), you can overcome the size which your momentum allows. But a larger hill will rob your inertia and stop your boulder rolling if you do not add greater energy to it, in the proper amount, at the right time and at sufficient distance before the challenge. If you wait too long, too close, to try and build up more inertia, then the boulder will slow, stop and may even start to roll back on you.

This is the problem many people have looking backwards on challenges they've overcome. They neglect to realize it was not merely a choice to roll the boulder over the small bumps they encountered, but rather the inertia already generated long before. Even if they only had to add a little effort to it, it is the momentum which predominantly achieved the challenges.

When you face a new challenge, you need to take a running start at it: surveil the terrain for the small preliminary bumps which siphon off your momentum, gauge the distance required to build up sufficient speed, estimate the additional requirements you must invest so that when you hit the base of the mountain, you're not surprised that your boulder slows and becomes a grinding effort.

Discipline is only a choice within the bandwidth of prior preparation. When you find people complaining that you should just suck it up and gut it out, try to remain patient with them, and keep compassionate of the surprise life is about to throw them. They are in far worse a situation than they know, for when they encounter a significant challenge which their current inertia cannot easily overcome, the weight of that poor preparation will crush their will, catastrophize their thoughts, and pollute their self-perception into one of weakness and incompetency. The language they now use toward others will suddenly be turned on themselves, and we are a sadistic self-critic.

These impatient ones, pity them. Life is coming. It is far more dangerous to be overconfident and fail to prepare, than to accept your doubts and successfully prepare.

V/R,
Scott Sonnon
v/r,
Scott Sonnon www.facebook.com/ScottSonnon
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"Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do."

Napoleon Hill ………………………………………………………………… Setting goals and intentions in your life is the single most important task in the entire process of creating the life you always dreamed about. Can you imagine that almost 95% of all people simply don't do this? And the rest of the 5% do it, but only 10% of this small number ever reach their goals. That's why so many people struggle and businesses fail. Learn how to rewire your brain and your thinking to make the changes you need to make- in your life and in yourself. The Dream Manifestation Wizard software

discipline

"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself."

-- Abraham Joshua Heschel