Message From our Chief Executive
CEO’s Message October 2011
Self-Discipline
Why are some people more successful, happier, and wealthier than others? What is their secret of success? What is the mantra? While there can be 999 reasons for success; the reality is that without discipline none of them will work. The common bottom line is self-discipline. Successful people are disciplined people. Without discipline success and happiness will not happen.
The popular viewpoint is that discipline is the absence of freedom. The word discipline is traditionally associated with punishment, fear, strict obedience, and Do’s and Don’ts, and is imposed from above by authority figures such as parents, teachers, and society. The opposite is true. Discipline is freedom. Unless you are disciplined you are not free.
Discipline is about self-management, about moderation, about self-esteem, about being capable of leading yourself first. In order to walk the path that you have chosen, you will need self-discipline – a set of principles, guidelines and rules of behavior that you voluntarily impose upon yourself. Self-discipline enables you to:
Act rightly in accordance with values you believe in.
Achieve your goals in school and in life.
Behave respectfully towards yourself and others.
Exercise moderation over your speech, emotions and desires.
Take responsibility for your actions.
Be happy.
In most cases we look for shortcuts. We want to be rich and happy the easy way. Given a choice between going up an escalator, and climbing the stairs, nearly everyone will prefer the escalator. Everything in life is fast forward – immediate gratification (I like this and I want it now), speed yoga, speed dating, speed reading, speed money.
At the same time, we wish to seek excellence in life, in whatever we do, whether it is for ourselves or for others. Now excellence comes at a price. Even indulgence has a price. There are no free lunches either. To seek excellence you have to climb the stairs!
If you seek excellence in any walk of life, you have to climb the stairs by pursuing challenging goals, sheer hard work, persistence, and discipline. This is why student discipline is a prerequisite for high performance. Self-discipline outdoes IQ while predicting academic outcome. Research has confirmed that to achieve mastery in any field one needs to put in 10,000 hours of effort in ten years. I put in this effort in the first ten years of my military career and I have never looked back. Even when I was on a long range patrol in high altitude, I would read with a candle in the pup tent and write notes on strips of bark of the silver birch.
So what do you need to do to be disciplined?
Write down one academic and one personal goal before you go to sleep, and make a plan to implement it. I will speak to you on goal-setting next time.
Schedule the entire day and week; and stick to it. Be punctual and make it a habit.
Divide time between work, play, and relaxation. When examinations are around the corner, or when you are in senior classes, get serious about studies.
Listen carefully to what others are saying.
Our minds are like wild horses that are galloping all over. Try and control and quiet the mind with meditation, to focus on what you are reading, thinking, and writing. You just need to focus your thoughts and arrange ideas of what you have read or achieved.
Be respectful to yourself, and your parents, teachers, and elders – people who care about you, by not always agreeing to what they say. You can disagree respectfully.
Take care of your personal appearance. Better grooming builds a better life and boosts one’s confidence and self-esteem. Take pride in wearing the Indus uniform, take pride in dressing well. We expect this from young leaders like you.
Self-discipline is the master key to your personal greatness. When you write your life story, your autobiography, or when you reflect upon what you have achieved, what will matter is not what wealth and fame you have accumulated. What will matter most is what you have become. To become is more important than to be.
With warm regards,
Lieutenant General (Retd.) Arjun Ray, PVSM, VSM
Chief Executive Officer
Indus Trust
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