[Music] I used to belong to the 97% who couldn't be bothered, even if it was easy. Here's my advice to you today: walk away from the 97%. Don't talk like they talk, don't act like they act, don't go where they go, don't specialize in what they specialize in.
Throw away the blameless they cling to. Start you a new life. You say, "Well, is it as simple as getting a library card and joining the 3%?
" And the answer is, of course, of course that's how easy this stuff is. This is so easy; it's so simple. It's not complex.
You don't need a 2,000-year-old guru; you don't need multi-track affirmations. I'm telling you: don't—affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. Don't let somebody sweep you into some contrary way to nature itself.
It says unless you labor, the miracle of the seed and the soil and the seasons and God and all the other stuff—that's available: sunshine and rain—that's not available to you by affirmation. It is only available to you by labor. So labor well, learn well, discipline yourself well, and you can have all the treasures you want.
This stuff's easy and simple; it's not waves and seagulls. First thing, you know, this whole scenario for you is spinning up instead of out of control on the negative side. This is all you've got to do: it's as simple as this.
It's as simple as starting—committing yourself to life change. And once you start down this road, I promise you, you'll join the 10% and the 3%. Guess how many people can retire from the income of their own personal resources when it comes time to retire?
Answer: 5%. In the most independent country in the world, 95% are dependent; 5% are independent. Take charge of your own retirement.
I'm telling you, if you take charge of your own retirement through personal development and all these skills we've taught today, you can multiply it at least by five, maybe by 10, maybe by 20, maybe by 100. Let the government take care of it; let some company take care of it. You've got to divide by five.
Take charge of your own life, take charge of your own day, take charge of your own conversation, take charge of your own family, take charge of your own possibilities, and learn these skills. Develop this kind of strategy, and I'm telling you, life will open up for you. Join the 3%, join the 10%, join the 5%.
Walk away from the 95%. Find out what poor people read and don't read it. I'm telling you: don't talk like they talk.
Lend a helping hand, but don't fall into their poor philosophical scenario. Don't blame what they blame; don't use the excuses they use. It's called the language of the poor.
Switch gears; switch language; switch ideas; switch strategy. Start with the simplest of discipline, and don't be mean about any of these disciplines. The smallest of disciplines starts the process of life change.
And if you'll invest in this thing called discipline, you can have whatever you wish. It's called the beginning of a miracle. We all must suffer one of two pains, regardless of your choice of life style and what you want to do.
We must all suffer one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. And what we suggest to everybody is to consider the disciplines because, because, disciplines weigh; regrets weigh tons. You don't want to substitute a discipline for a regret—in our opinion, that would be a poor choice.
Now, you can do it, but some things are poor trade-offs. The old proverb said, "What if you gained the whole world but it cost you your soul? Would that be worth it?
" And with a bit of intelligence, we say no; that doesn't seem worth it. Even if you got the whole world; if you traded your soul, that experience would be so bitter and so awful and so devastating, it wouldn't be worth it. What if you got some gain by greed instead of legitimate ambition?
I'm telling you, it might taste good up front, but it's going to turn bitter in the belly. Our world is and always will be a constant battle between the life of ease and its momentary rewards, and a life of discipline and its far more significant rewards. Each has its own price: the price of discipline or the price of regret.
We will pay one or the other. One of my key phrases for the whole day: disciplines work miracles. Disciplines work miracles.
And here's the first piece that works miracles: do what you can do. Do not let neglect grab you by the throat. Don't let neglect stall you on your path toward prosperity and health—being able to become powerful, influential, rich beyond your wildest imagination.
Don't neglect what you can do. If you can read, read. If you can change, change.
If you can grow, grow. If you can take one step, take one step. Do not neglect to do whatever you can do at the moment.
Of course, you can't run a multi-billion dollar business today; Mark couldn't either ten years ago. Mark couldn't either five years ago. But I'm telling you today, he can do it because step by step, year by year, he took on what he could do.
He didn't neglect it; he did the meetings he could do, he made the calls he could make, he read the books he could read, he took the classes he could take, and step by step, he got himself ready. I'm telling you: do not neglect to do whatever you can do because it'll work miracles of personal development. First, productivity.
Second: now do what you can. Here's two: do the best you can. If it's a foggy night.
. . And you can only see 100 feet.
How can you see another 100? Answer: Walk the first 100 feet. Walk as far as you can see, and then you can see some more.
Walk as far as you can see, and then you can see some more. So, what you've picked up here is to just do it as far as you can see it. I promise you, if you'll execute as far as you can see it, you'll be able to see more.
Do that, and you can see more. Finally, get in tune with doing the best you can, and you'll have the activity that will develop the disciplines that will set this so that you can say it doesn't matter how the wind blows; I'm prepared. For some people, they see discipline as sort of an ugly word.
You know, "Don't talk to me about discipline. " But what you must understand is discipline is a most incredible creative force. Discipline builds a career; discipline develops good health; discipline forms the most incredible marriage; discipline puts together a friendship that won't quit forever; discipline develops skills that can be magnified, you know, and touch the world.
Discipline opens up music. You know, you can't have incredible music without discipline. In fact, we call them the disciplines: we call architecture and music, we call playing an instrument, we call sculpting, we call painting, we call writing, and we call composing.
We call those the disciplines. The disciplines give us the indication that yes, it doesn't come except by discipline, but it also means that discipline is the open door to the creative process—to turn nothing into something and to turn imagination into reality. So, here's what you must learn to do: appreciate the disciplines and welcome the disciplines.
Here's a good question to ask: What other discipline could I begin that would open up a whole new expression in my life of turning imagination into reality? Without discipline, there is no enterprise; without discipline, there is no magnificent structure; without discipline, there is no music; without discipline, there is no health; you know, there is no advantage; there is no future. So, discipline is all when it comes to imagination—having something real, believing in it, and turning it into reality.
The key to development is to be all that you can possibly be. I don't know what your talents are; I don't know what your skills are. But here's what I probably am right on: you're behind on an accelerated effort toward your full development.
I would suggest that now, for some of you, I know that's probably really not true. But even as I look at my own life—because you know, I'm tempted to procrastinate just like everybody else. You know, I should have written 30 books by now; I've only written four or five.
You know, I should have done a lot of things, but I haven't. You know, I got distracted, and all of us have these challenges. But what could I become?
What could I become? I had one of my dearest friends—I've lost him. He died at age 53 one day.
He drank a little too much. David drank a little too much, but he did all kinds of things. He was a builder, and he was a dreamer, and he did a lot of things.
But his drinking sort of kept him in a fog for like years. About six years ago, he was sitting at the yacht club, and he was in a fog, and suddenly it occurred to him: I wonder what I could have accomplished all these years if I hadn't been in this sort of foggy state? And he said that did it.
In the last six years before he died, he was free and accomplished some incredible things—those last six years being all that you can be and not letting habits drag you down, not letting things sidetrack you from the full development of what you have the capability of being. What could your heart encompass if you really had the chance and really had the disciplines and really got to it? What could you really become?
What could you earn? How healthy could you really be? How many books could you write?
How many poems could you write? So, here's what I would ask of you: If you feel that you're a little bit stalled wherever you are in your progress, I'm asking you to correct that. I'm asking you to see if you can't possibly be on a more accelerated track toward your possibilities and your full development.
Here's what life is all about: to become all that we can possibly be—the full development of all of your potential. That's number one. Number two is the wise use of all of your resources.
That's what life is all about—discipline. If there is a magic word that stands out above all the rest, this is the one: discipline. Discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment, the bridge between inspiration and value achievement, the bridge between necessity and productivity.
Remember, all good things are upstream. The passing of time takes us adrift, and drifting only brings us the negative, the disastrous, the disappointment, and the failure. Failure is not a cataclysmic event; it is not generally the result of one major incident, but rather a long list of accumulated little failings.
Failing in life is failing to think today, failing to act today, failing to care, to strive, to climb, to learn, to keep trying day by day. If your goal requires that you write 10 letters today and you write only three, you are down seven letters. If you want to make five calls and you only make.
. . One, you are down four on calls.
If your plan calls for saving $10 today and you save none, you're down $10 today. Now, the danger is looking at an undisciplined day and concluding that no great harm has been done. It doesn't seem like such a bad day, but add up these days to make a year and then add up those years to make a lifetime.
Perhaps you can now see how repeating today's small failures can easily turn your life into a major disaster. Success, on the other hand, is just the same process in reverse. If you plan to make 10 calls and you end the day making 15, now you're up five calls.
If you then get up a few on letters and move up to savings numbers, you can see what a massive difference it could make in a year and what wealth and accomplishment await for a lifetime. Discipline is like a set of magic keys that unlock all the doors of wealth, happiness, sophistication, culture, high self-esteem, pride, joy, accomplishment, satisfaction, and success. The first key to discipline is awareness of the need for and the value of discipline, and especially the discipline to make the changes.
What will it take? What must I do? And what must I become to get all I want from my life?
The second key is the willingness—more than that, the eagerness—to maintain your new discipline deliberately, wisely, and consistently. The third key to discipline is the commitment to master the circumstances of your daily life, to see and harness the opportunities to make something of the sun and the rain, the good as well as what comes in the guise of misfortune. Discipline does many things, but most important of all is what it does for you.
It makes you feel better about yourself. Even the smallest discipline can have an incredible effect on your attitude, and the good feeling you get—the surging feeling of self-worth that comes from starting a new discipline—is almost as good as the feeling that comes from the accomplishment of the discipline. Second, a new discipline immediately alters your life direction.
You don't change destinations immediately—that is yet to come—but you can change direction immediately, and direction is very important. Third, discipline cooperates with nature. Everything strives; it is a common life function.
How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it can. Everything strives to become all it can possibly be, and that striving to become is what discipline is all about—disciplining ourselves to fulfill our natural potential to become all that we can be.
Finally, discipline attracts opportunity. Opportunity is always looking for ambition, skill, and action. Discipline taps the unlimited power of commitment.
The human will, in action, driven by inspiration, enticed by desire, tempered by reason, and guided by intelligence, can bring you to that high and lofty place called the good life. Get some momentum going on your new commitment to the better life. See how many activities you can pile on in this first day.
Go all out. Break away from the negative downward pull of gravity. Start the thrusters going.
Prove to yourself that waiting is over, hoping is past, and that faith and action have now taken charge. It's a new day—a new beginning for your new life. With discipline, you can't believe the list of positive moves you can make in the first day of your new beginning.
Here's the time to act when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong. That's the time to act. You say, "Mr Run, I'd like to have a library like yours.
" See, if you feel strong about that, what you've got to do is get the first book and then get the second book before the feeling passes and before the idea gets dim. Action. Prompt action.
Immediate action. As soon as possible. Because if you don't, here's what happens: we call it the law of diminishing intent.
We intend to when the idea strikes us; we intend to when the emotion is high. But now, if you don't translate that into action fairly soon, now the intent starts to diminish—diminish, diminish—and a month from now it's cold, a year from now it can't be found. So act.
Set up a discipline when the emotions are high and the idea is strong and clear and powerful. That's the time to set up the discipline. Somebody talks about good health and you're stirred.
You say, "Right! I need to get a book on nutrition. " Get the book before the idea passes and before the emotion gets cold.
Go for the book. Start the library. Start the process.
Fall on the floor. Do some push-ups. Action!
Got to take action; otherwise, the wisdom is wasted. Otherwise, the emotion soon passes unless you put it into a disciplined activity. Capture it.
Discipline is how to capture the emotion and how to capture the wisdom and translate it into equity. Now here's what's important about disciplines: all disciplines affect each other. In fact, here's a good philosophical phrase: everything affects everything else.
Nothing stands alone. Don't be naive and say, "Well, this doesn't matter. " I'm telling you: everything matters.
There are some things that matter more than others, but there isn't anything that doesn't matter. Okay? We all pity the man who says, "Well, this is the only place I let down.
" Not true. The key to take home: every letdown affects the rest of your performance. Every letdown affects the rest.
This is part of the educational process on personal development. If you don't take the walk around the block, you probably won't do the apple a day. If you don't do the apple a day, you probably won't consistently start building your library.
If you don't build your library, you probably won't keep a journal, and you won't take. . .
Pictures, and you won't do this; you won't do wise things with your money, you won't do wise things with your time, you won't do wise things with your possibilities and relationships. And the first thing you know, six years of that accumulates, and we say you have messed up. So the whole key to reversing that process now is to start picking up these disciplines.
Now here's the positive side: every new discipline affects the rest of your disciplines. Every new one affects the rest. That's why action is so important.
The least action, the smallest action—take it! Because when you start accomplishing, and the value starts to return from that one action, it'll inspire you to do the next one, and the next one, and the next one. You start walking around the block; it'll inspire you to get an apple.
Get an apple; it'll inspire you to get a book. Get a book; it'll inspire you to get a journal. Get a journal; it'll inspire you to grow and develop some skills.
All disciplines affect each other. Every lack affects the rest; every new one affects the rest. The key is to diminish the lack and set up the new, and you've started a whole new life process.
