I drew up all my dream houses and hotels and on and on. I was a dreamer.
Get Disciplined And Define Your Why
But I was kind of a strange mix of both left and right brain. Most musicians are right? I loved the technical left brain side of design and also the creative right brain side of creating something that had never been done.
That my friends is the beauty of art, and music and design right there. Both left and right brained.
But I lacked a very important ingredient to see my ideas become realities (apart from the fact that I was only 10 years old)
I lacked discipline.
Perhaps you can relate to this?
You have great ideas, and great passions to see these ideas become tangible realities, but for whatever reason, you lack the discipline needed to follow through and take action.
I’m sure you can relate to the ongoing tension of the “someday”. Someday I’ll record that EP. As soon as I ________ I’ll start writing songs again.
We all have wrestled at one time or another with discipline.
And why? Because we get tired. We get burned out. We grow weary of the perspiration.
How can we change? How can we become people who are more disciplined and productive?
This is a huge question!
The answer is simple. You need to define a compelling “why”
Here’s the big idea:
Consistent discipline starts with a compelling vision.
For so long I viewed discipline as the problem. The problem isn’t a lack of discipline. The problem isn’t even laziness… The problem is a lack of vision. An unclear “why”.
Consistent discipline starts with a compelling vision.
What’s vision?
Vision is a picture of a prefered future. It’s a deep desire of what “could be”… This desire is contrasted against the status quo. It’s more than simply a dream. I had those as a kid. It’s a conviction that has a clear picture of where you’d like to be.
That’s vision.
Vision is different than mission. Mission says this is what I’m supposed to go do. Vision says this is why I’m going to go do it. And it’s this kind of vision that fuels consistent discipline.
Recently at my personal blog I posted a bit of a rant. In this post I wanted to swing the pendulum in the other direction a little bit.
The 1% Inspiration 99% Perspiration Myth Debunked.
You can go check it out, I’ll leave a note in the show notes, but the idea is that you’re going to need a lot more than 1% inspiration to stay focused and endure over the long haul.
Thomas Edison was a smart guy I’m not challenging his comment, which is to say that we have to work hard at our ideas to see them happen. Which is true. This series is all about working hard….
But you will burn out without inspiration. And my feeling is that you’ll need a lot more than 1% in order to keep pressing on, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
You need a compelling vision. That’s where discipline starts.
We all know this is true. The reason people work out at the gym is because they have a vision of what could be with regard to their health and wellness. They are fueled and energized by it.
So now I want to transition to the application part of this little talk….
What’s your vision?
Why are you doing what you’re doing in your life?
Why do you want to write songs?
Why do you want to sing and make music?
Check out the inspiring story about Florence Chadwick (I talk about this in the podcast episode….)
Action Items
I invite you to do a little homework assignment this week:
Write a clear and powerful vision statement for your life.
Doing this will affect the choices you make each and every day. Having a compelling vision will make your discipline more consistent.
Also check out these resources:
BOOK: Visioneering (by Andy Stanley)
BLOG POST: How To Write A Vision Statement (at Wired To Grow)