Manage your emotions to manage others

Self-discipline is critical to achieve success in life and it's a major competitive advantage. Discipline impacts nearly every facet of our day-to-day lives. Absence of self-discipline gives rise to failure. All religions advocate discipline as the foundation for self-improvement.

People seem rational and sensible at one time but may seem irrational later. The fact is that the emotional mind is far quicker than the rational mind.

Individual feelings, fears, passions, and longings are quintessential guides and everyone needs to connect with them as individuals and in groups. The fact that human beings are emotional creatures by nature is often ignored at great peril. You should never underestimate the magnitude of these forces that can reinforce complacency and resist change.

Balance

A sense of self awareness and an ability to weather emotional storms that life provides rather than being slaves to those emotions has been praised as a virtue since the beginning of civilisation.

To exercise care and thought in leading a life tempered with balance and wisdom instead of emotion is a worthy goal.

We speak of business discipline being a critical success factor for any business. Organisations have policies, norms, processes and systems, all meant to bring about the controls needed to be solid, fair and consistent.

Self-discipline is critical to achieve success in life and it's a major competitive advantage. Discipline affects nearly any facet of our day-to-day lives. Absence of self-discipline gives rise to failure. All religions advocate good discipline as the foundation for self-improvement. Self-discipline is the ability to force yourself to taking the desired action regardless of your emotional state. Emotionally driven actions only take you down the wrong path. It leads to waste of money, time and energy. Giving into temptation can ruin one's life.

First step

Inculcating the right disciplines is a long process. It needs patience, focus and commitment. First - learn to do everything in moderation, if you overspend and then you have to cut back, don't simply state you are going to cut back or stop overspending at once, this only results in frustration and failure.

Rather think about the rewards you will get by reducing expenditure. Write in your diary all the constructive aspects about your intention. This will provide the justification for self-discipline. Take one at a time and give yourself a deadline to change all or most of it.

If you do fail to meet your deadlines, lecture yourself and then keep going forward, don't waste time wondering why or how or think that it's too difficult. Promise yourself that you will do it somehow and go ahead and try again with greater mind power.

Keep a record of how you are succeeding with your determination and reward yourself when you have remained self-disciplined. It's okay to punish yourself for failing but you have to reward yourself for the good too.