Ian Tuhovsky - The Power of Mental Discipline: A Practical Guide to Controlling Your Thoughts, Increasing Your Willpower and Achieving More (Positive Psychology Coaching Series Book 20)

M ental discipline is one of those traits we hear a lot about. Go ahead and check out any motivational page on social media, any guide to gaining success/wealth/lovers, or any list to successful people and itll come up almost every time. Youll see words like work hard, dont stop, and believe in yourself. These are the actions you need to take, but they all stem from the same place. Its a place Ive spent plenty of time working on in my own life after the people who mentored me drilled it into my psyche. Even now, I can remember the first time I heard the words clearly when one of those mentors a former special forces operator was being asked about the most important individual trait to possess in the special forces world.

Self-Discipline

Quite clear and concise, isnt it? But what does it mean? Well, the journalist wanted to know too, so the answer was explained. The exact words have been lost to time, but the message was simple; its the ability to push yourself with no outside encouragement or instructions. Its the ability to persevere and believe when all else seems to be falling apart. Its the ability to stay positive and adapt in the face of challenges or to push yourself when nobody else is watching.

In a nutshell, discipline is the core trait behind those skills, which will make a difference in high-pressure situations. Special forces units are trained to deal with the most extreme high-pressure situations in the worst of settings. These soldiers could find themselves deep behind enemy lines when things go wrong, with almost no help of any type. They are specialists who can deal with these situations and still get the job done no matter what goes wrong along the way.

What Mental Discipline Means

People will often ask a successful businessman or athlete how they manage to keep on driving through to achieve their goals. After all, we all think we want to live the lives of the super-rich. The truth is that most people are only looking at the rewards and not the work that goes into getting there.

Elon Musk is a great example of this. Hes mega rich, being worth over $20 billion, and is known all over the world already thanks to his innovative creations. To top it off, his last few relationships have all been with young, super attractive actresses and singers. There are plenty of men out there whod love to have these perks and many women whod love the opposite too.

What they dont see is that Elon has always had an insane work ethic. He taught himself how to program a computer at age 10 and had sold his first program at 12. Read that again. He didnt only succeed as a programmer at age 12, but he taught it to himself in 2 years! He also overcame teen years full of relentless bullying, then left the country against his dads wishes to start fresh in Canada age 17.

The high-risk plays continued with several business launches, and Musk invested a ridiculous amount of hard work to get where he is today. Even now, 30 years later, he still keeps a busy schedule. Word is that he has cut back a little though, having easier 90-hour work weeks.

Imagine if you had $20 billion, 5 kids, and an insanely hot girlfriend to see how tough would you find it to get out of bed and take on a 14-hour day early in the morning? Or to crank it up during important times and take to just sleeping in your office so every moment was spent on work?

What is it that keeps Elon Musk going day after day, instead of just riding into the sunset and enjoying his rewards?

Its discipline. That powerful, self-imposed trait of mental discipline is what keeps somebody like this going. Its what made Michael Jordan one of the greatest basketball players of all time when he continued the habit of constant practice from childhood into his late career. The Williams sisters also grew up living the sport of tennis day after day, before and after school, to become the dominant players they became.

All of this comes under the ability to motivate yourself, to discipline yourself into doing whatever is necessary. That might be long, hard practice in the times when nobody is watching. It may mean making your own plans and taking the chance without instruction from the outside. It can mean digging deep to endure any level of pain or hardship as you continue pushing through regardless - much like the soldier mentioned earlier would have done.

See, mental discipline is the underlying factor that fuels the traits of successful people. Its the reason they can endure, its the driving force behind the desire to learn, its the biggest reason why successful people will continue to work hard when they could just as easily quit and cash out.

Effort Versus Talent

The biggest problem with many people today is that they believe success generally comes down to either luck or talent. It doesnt.

Firstly, luck is a random factor. Of course, there is going to be a very tiny minority who will actually succeed purely to luck. These are the lottery winners, the lucky gamblers, and the reality TV stars of the modern age. For most of these people, success will be fleeting. Lottery winners, for example, have a tendency to go broke. This is because they never learned the ability to handle money on the way to their riches, nor did they learn the value of the work that would go into it. Because of that, they tend to waste the cash and run out long before they should have. Other times its lost by descendants, on poor ventures, or the cash simply runs out because there isnt an ability to earn more with it.