The Time -The Future

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 only places in the world that has both buffalo and cows. One of
my favorite places that I look to for principles of success and the way the world works is in nature,
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and the way these two creatures, buffalo and cows, respond in nature has some really powerful
lessons for us.
When a storm approaches from the west, as storms almost always do out there, cows respond
in a very predictable way. They know the storm is coming from the west, so they head east to try
to outrun the storm.
The only problem is that, as you may know, cows are not real fast. Before long, the storm catches
up to them—and the cows, not knowing any better, keep on running. Instead of outrunning
the storm, they actually run with the storm, maximizing their exposure to it. Isn’t that stupid?
Many of us humans do the same thing every day.
We try to avoid conflict that is inevitable. So often, we try to “ignore” problems, pretending
that they aren’t that big of a deal, and then we try to run away at the last minute as they’re fast
approaching. Unfortunately, as most of us have learned the hard way, problems tend to com-
It’s simply about doing the hard things you know you
should do, even when you don’t feel like doing them—
and then doing them as early on as possible, to boot. “
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pound when we ignore them, and we end up being exposed to something longer and/or worse
than what might have been.
What buffalo do, on the other hand, is truly unique. They wait for the storm to cross right over
the crest of the peak of the mountaintop, and as it arrives, they turn and charge directly into
the storm. By running at the storm, they run straight through it as the storm passes overhead,
which minimizes the amount of pain they experience.
If only more of us would tackle life’s inevitable, unavoidable problems the way the buffalo do—
head-on. The key insight that ultra performers have is that problems that are procrastinated
on are only amplified, and we’re the ones who pay the price. There’s a great deal of strength—
and strategic payoff—in charging at our most challenging circumstances head-on.
2. Commitment: The Buy-In Principle
The more we have invested into something, the less likely
we are to let it fail.
A man named Bob is in a restroom, standing in front of a urinal—and he is suddenly in a bit of
a predicament. Somehow he’s managed to drop a $5 bill into the urinal. Just as Bob is looking
down thinking about what he’s going to do, another gentleman named Dave happens to walk
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into the restroom. Dave sees the $5 in the urinal, assesses the situation with an empathetic
sigh, and then says, “Oh, that’s a tough decision. What are you going to do?”
Bob thinks about it for a moment. Looks at the urinal, and then looks back at Dave. A split
second later Bob pulls out his wallet, and out of nowhere grabs a $50 bill and throws it into
the urinal.
In shock, Dave exclaims, “Man, what are you doing? I can’t believe you just did that. That’s
fifty dollars!” Bob looks back at Dave, cracks a smile, and replies, “Well, c’mon, you don’t think
I’d stick my hand in there for just five dollars, do you?”
This is an old story, but it illustrates something that is critical in your ability to be more selfdisciplined.
I call it the Buy-In Principle of Commitment, and it simply states that the more we have invested
in something, the less likely we are to let it fail.
Think about something you’re trying to achieve—how committed are you? How invested are
you in achieving that goal? What’s the cost of failure? By investing more time, energy, money,
and focus into your commitments, when things get tough you will ask yourself “how can I
pull this off?” rather than relenting to the question “should I try to pull this off?”
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Increasing your investment into your dream increases the likelihood of your success. So where
do you need to be throwing that $50 bill?