“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves; self-discipline with all of them came first.” – Harry S. Truman
That is the quotation that had me thinking yesterday. Discipline, in particular self-discipline, is what will get us through most things in life; from writing this simple post to achieving greatness for you and I. You may ask, “Why is discipline important in writing this post?” For people who have tried writing, you would know how hard it might get sometimes to actually sit down and finish the whole write-up in one session without getting up every few minutes to get a drink, a snack or toilet break etc.
After I finished the last sentence in the previous paragraph, I went to put out the laundry to dry, took a seep of water from the refrigerator, had a piece of chocolate and took a toilet break before finally sitting down once again to write; I lacked the self-discipline to focus and concentrate on the writing.
Just with most things in life, often time we lack the self-discipline to see us through what we are hoping to do or achieve. One area where self-discipline is clearly important is in losing weight.
Some people are constantly looking for quick fix to their weight problem; they will jump at anything that gives them guaranteed weight lost in the shortest time. They may lose weight fast, but they will find the result short term especially if they do not change the way they live and the food they eat.
To me, I strongly believe that the best way of losing weight naturally is through changing our living habits and what we eat. Doing that will not only ensure keeping the ideal weight permanently (through continuous self-discipline), but will also give us the many health benefits that come with living right and eating right.
A friend’s colleague shared his experience going through the journey from 115 Kilograms to 56 Kilograms in around one year. Not only does he look fresher and younger, he has also inspired his wife and friends to follow in his lifestyle.
His journey of losing weight started from a trip with his daughter to the doctor for her check up. He playfully weighed himself on the weighing machine while his daughter was having the check up. The doctor saw his weight and made a remark, “If you maintain that balloon weight, you cannot see your grandchildren.”
That made him decide, “Enough is enough!” Not only that, he felt tired easily and his excessive weight made him feel like a walking balloon. In that moment of awakening, he made decisions to change his lifestyle and eating habits. To him, this is the one proven way to lose the excessive weight. “Seeing my kiddos help me stay disciplined.” He said.
How did he do it? He first calculated his Body Mass Index (BMI) and set the goal he wanted to achieve. Then he cut down on the amount of food intake as well as changing what he was eating (no junk food, no refined-Carbohydrate, less or no fried food). Eventually he becomes a Pescetarian. The second part is doing lots of Cardio-exercises from badminton to running to squash and just nature trekking sometimes. The trick is to do these Cardio-exercises regularly. He did it thrice a week.
In his own words, “There is only one way: in two parts to lose weight; eat right and exercise. And this is a lifelong thing.”
Another thing which probably contributed to his success in losing the excess weight were the moral supports from family, friends and colleagues. However, without him first deciding to lose the excess weight and then keeping it going through self-discipline, he would not have done it!
How about you? What were the things you were able to achieve through self-discipline?
Photo by coolza
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‘Person A was telling person B about her problems at work. Person B listened attentively and patiently while person A talked. At the same, person B was working out something mentally, which might help person A solved her problems. As soon as person A stopped talking, person B started to tell person A what she could do to solve her problems at work.‘ A typical scenario that can happen between a couple, family members and friends.
Do you have problems getting to sleep at night? No, I am not talking about insomnia – a short term or chronic inability to get high quality sleep – which can be caused by stress at work or home. Most people would have suffered insomnia at one point or other in their lives. I’m not talking about sleep apnea also, where your breathing stops or gets very shallow while you are sleeping.