Have you ever ask, why are some people more successful than others?Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?
Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authors on the development of human potential. He started out in life with few advantages. He did not graduate from high school and he worked at menial jobs. He had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.
And then when he began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" The question changed his life.
Over the years, Brian Tracy read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline.
As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline." Brian Tracy said this..."If I had to pick the #1 key to success, it would be...self-discipline. It is the difference in winning or losing; between greatness and mediocrity."
Some years ago, Brian Tracy attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and he was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and he sat down at the last open table by himself, even though it was a table for four.
A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit. With plenty of room at my table, Brian Tracy immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join him. The older gentleman was hesitant, but Brian Tracy insisted. Finally, thanking him as the older gentleman sat down, they began to chat over lunch.
It turned out that the older gentleman’s name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, Brian Tracy immediately knew who the older gentleman was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. Brian Tracy had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.
After they had chatted for awhile, Brian Tracy asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that he had discovered, which do he think is the most important?"
He smiled at Brian Tracy with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating,
"The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, "Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."
He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work."
Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.
"No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined."
~Harry E. Fosdick
Embrace the Power of Discipline to Greatness …
