DISCIPLINE

Life Planning includes Financial Planning, Career Planning and then all the other things we need to plan to do or to get.

In planning our life we make choices and decisions we make these everyday and we make them without any thought. Can you remember actually brushing your teeth this morning or do you just know for sure you did?  Well life planning is different much different you need to be aware of every step in the planning process in order to attain the goals you set.

Most people fail not because they plan to fail it is because they fail to plan.  What are you willing to endure to attain your goals?   I know that to attain ones’ goal you need to be discipline and discipline will require a certain amount of pain.   The pain of discipline will grant your desires. What would happen if you choose not to be discipline which requires a certain amount of short term pain, you would have the experience of the PAIN OF REGRET which one would you prefer.  The pain of Discipline will last a few months at most a year whereas the pain of regret will last a lifetime.

LET’S LOOK AT THE TWO TYPES OF PAIN:

The Pain of Discipline

What is the pain of discipline?  The pain of discipline is the pain that you must endure to create the habits that will grant you your desires.  Only through right habits can you succeed; it is right habits alone that grant you your desires. 

Right habits come through pain.  Fortunately the pain of developing right habits is a temporary pain, but the benefits of right habits will last a lifetime.

It takes about six to nine months to form a sustainable habit.  I didn’t say three weeks; I said it takes about six to nine months, depending on what the habit is.  You may be thinking “That’s hard,” yeah, well so is a lifetime of regret.

 The pain of discipline is a small pain to endure, when you consider all that it promises. You will be able to have the money you need to live the life you want at a later date. The choice to enjoy a relax retirement, a home that is paid off and money in the bank to do what you want when you want. The pain of discipline over the next year is not as grievous as the pain of regret when you are 60 years old.  The pain of discipline is temporary.

 The Pain of Regret

…And then there’s the pain of regret.  The pain of woulda-coulda-shoulda, the pain of next time I’ll do it, the pain that you are forced to realize because you have not yet committed to changing your habits.  

When we talk about changing your habits, we’re talking about changing your roots.  We’re talking about changing the kinds of fruit that you produce.  Do people gather oranges from apple trees, or grapes from a pear trees, No; every tree produces from its kind. 

Your life will produce results based on your kinds of habits.  You can’t produce a successful life, if you don’t have successful habits. 

When you don’t create the right habits, when you’re not committed, it causes regret.

Why do you have regret?  Because you know on the inside of you that you are capable of achieving more.  You’re not regretting the impossible, you’re regretting what you know you could achieve; what you should achieve.

Which pain will you choose?

When you’re on your deathbed, your dreams and your goals will stand by your bedside, if they have not been fulfilled, they will demand to know why.  They will insist on knowing why you choose the pain of regret over the pain of discipline.

Don’t let your dreams down, don’t disappoint your goals.  

Decide today to create the habits that will give you the life you desire, decide today to deal with the temporary pain of discipline.  If you do, you won’t have to live with the pain of regret, you will live knowing that you did your best.

Get to your bank and make all your savings automatic it will just take one hour of your time and you will save yourself a lifetime of regrets.

Tessa- Marie Shillingford is the author of Controlling the Debt Monster.  She is Personal Financial Planner, with a designation from the Institute of Canadian Bankers, and a Financial Counselor certified by the institute of Canadian Banker. She is presently a Program Facilitator of Financial Literacy at JVS Toronto.  Tessa- Marie was employed by TD Canada Trust for twenty years in the retail section of the bank.  During her tenure at TD Canada Trust she held various positions interacting with customers of the bank.   As a Financial Advisor and Manager of Financial Services she led a group of Financial Advisors in helping customers of TD Canada Trust successfully manage their finances. Details of her book… Controlling the Debt Monster, can be found at http://www.controldebtmonster.com