the Optimist

I offer seven principles—truths that, in our work at Southwestern Consulting, we’ve gleaned from successful people around the world. Self-disciplined ultra performers are distinct in the ways they think and evaluate choices. They use a different set of criteria than most people when they make decisions, and it is their decision making process—not sheer iron will—that enables them to choose a path that is different from most. They often choose to “Take the Stairs” while the rest of us stand around looking for an escalator. These principles of self-discipline worked for them, they worked for me, and they will work for you. 1. Sacrifice: The Paradox Principle Do the difficult things now, and things will be easier in the long-term. To begin to develop the habit of self-discipline, we would all be wise to adopt a buffalo mentality. Let me explain. I grew up in central Colorado. With the Rocky Mountains in the west, and the great Kansas plains in the east, we are one of the ...

The Secret to Self-Discipline Today’s work environment has been dubbed everything from the Age of Distraction and the Age of Inattention to The Multitasking Generation. The bottom line is this: regardless of your job title, we are all trying to accomplish increasingly more with increasingly less resources—whether those resources are money, time, focus, or energy. How can we achieve success—however you define it— given these constraints? I study successful people for a living, and I believe the answer can be boiled down to one word: self-discipline. It’s not a breakthrough idea, and it’s certainly not popular. It’s an old-school way of thinking that has unfortunately fallen out of vogue, but and one that can yield measurable results when applied to the challenges of working in modern business. Self-discipline can take many forms: the discipline to tackle problems head-on, to manage and protect your schedule, or to stop avoiding the major projects by filling your time with easier tasks...

EPISODE  IV SHOWING LOVE AND CARE It works like this in your personal life as well. Lets say,for example, that there is a special woman you have been dating. You have always picked her up for your date on  time, you have always called her,when you said you would, you have shown her great care and attention, and you'av helped her when she's asked for your help. In other word you have  good credit in that trust account. So if you have to cancel a date or two because there's an urgent matter that's come up at work, what do you think her response will be? She'd  be fine with it,because of all of those deposit you've made. Now lets alter the scenario:say that you've established a pattern  of missing dates, or you haven't called her when you promised you would, and you've  forgotten a few important occasions,then just know you've made far too many withdrawals. Now one-day you called her up and tell her you need to cancel    the next few dates,you'v...