There's an area of your life in which you want to become more disciplined and want to start to see better results. Most likely, that area has been neglected or mistreated for a long time, and you're ready to do something about it.

Great idea, and congratulations.

What you should know before you start, though, is that you didn't get to where you are -- needing to make changes -- overnight. This situation built itself up slowly, almost unnoticeably, until you couldn't live with not doing something anymore.

By the same token, getting to the other side of this situation is not going to happen overnight either. It's going to take time and happen slowly, in a way that you won't even notice changes on a day-by-day basis. A week from starting out, you'll wonder if it's even worth it to continue. People who know what you're doing will look at you, see no results, and ask if you're even doing anything. We attribute peer pressure to children and teens but you'd be surprised how susceptible fully grown adults are to it. This is a point where most people listen to those voices in their heads and in their environments and quit, never to return.

There will be other times you consider quitting, for a myriad of reasons. There are questions, though, that you have to ask yourself each time the thought dares approach you.

Why?

Why did you decide to make a change in the first place?

What?

What drove you to say enough is enough? What do you stand to gain from seeing things all the way through? What do you stand to lose if you don't?

Who?

Who am I? What am I about, really? Is this me? Can I be the boss of myself and do something that's going to benefit me in the long run, even though I can't see the results yet?

Self is the hardest form of discipline simply because there is no accountability. No team, no boss, no one to call you on your BS.


Except you. Who? What? Why?