Self-Control Is The Key

By Daniel Miessler on July 16th, 2006: Tagged as College | Diet | Personal | Psychology

I’ve been thinking lately about how I can improve myself, or, more accurately, what the barriers are to my growing at a higher rate. Interestingly enough, all indications point to a single source — self-control. I’ve thought for a while now that this was the case, but this article really laid it down for me. It’s true; it’s undeniable.

When I look at things I’d like to improve, they all hinge on my ability to tolerate mediocrity. And I suck at it. I have not succeded in life because I’m dedicated to success and am able to make sacrifices; I’ve done well because I’m pretty good at what I enjoy doing, and those things happen to be marketable. It’s luck, really.

To get to “the next level” I need to be able to grind. That’s what “regular” successful people do — they grind away at mandatory, tedious tasks until a goal is reached. Example? Diet. I am losing years off of my life because I can’t stand shopping and cooking. So instead I eat whatever’s within 6 feet of me when hunger calls.

Another example? College. Successful people grind away at often boring classes until they have a degree. I, on the other hand, started performing extremely poorly as soon as I figured out I loved computers. I couldn’t do the boring stuff anymore; I had found my obsession.

That’s lame.

I’m essentially not in control. I’m just really good at taking advantage of my abilities. If I didn’t have any abilities I’d be screwed because I am not good at grinding.

Exercise is another one. I don’t go to the gym often because I hate having to drive over there. It’s tedious. Not partaking of beneficial activities because they are boring is dumb. Really dumb. I really wish I could stop…not doing these things.

So what’s the answer? How can I get “into” these things. Shopping, driving to the gym, cooking a meal, etc. I desperately need the answer here. I know I can force myself to do these things once I get into the proper environment, but I need to be able to do them everywhere. The proper enviornment won’t always be there.

What’s the solution here? Is this teachable? I know the answer; I just want to know what you guys think…

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Marisol 2 years ago 1 point
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Not sure about the exercise, 'cause there's plenty of natural beauty here to MAKE me get out and workout. Not the case with my office gym. I'm making myself work out there and it's so difficult.

As for eating out, since it all really hinders on having the money to eat out, can you allocate that money that you've figured out you've been spending buying meals and automatically send it to an account that you don't have easy access to? I did that with my savings account, which wasn't linked to my debit card. In order to get money out of it, I had to drive to a bank. Nothing forces you to not eat meals out than not having the money to. That was the case for me a couple of years ago.

P.S. I haven't been perfect with the savings thing. I've since linked it up to my debit card, but I plan on cancelling that soon.

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Jason Ormes 2 years ago 1 point
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Have you read the book the 7 habits of highly successful people. I think you need to be more of what the book calls being proactive.

Jason

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http://www.skryking.net

Rob 2 years ago 1 point
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You might want to take a look at the book Body for Life as well. It is an exercise/nutrition book in the form of a self-help book. It is food for thought, whether you work out or not.

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Steve 2 years ago 1 point
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7:00 am Gold's Gym. I'll see you there. One down...

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