Giovanni Dienstmann - Mindful Self-Discipline: Living with Purpose and Achieving Your Goals in a World of Distractions

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Mindful Self-Discipline

Living with Purpose and Achieving Your Goals in a World of Distractions

By Giovanni Dienstmann

@2021 Giovanni Dienstmann

Published by LiveAndDare Publications.

Interior layout and design by KUHN Design Group.

Edited by Melissa Kirk and Dolores Woodroom.

ISBN: 978-0-6451389-1-7 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-6451389-0-0 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-6451389-3-1 (eBook: ePub)

ISBN: 978-0-6451389-7-9 (eBook: iBooks)

ISBN: 978-0-6451389-9-3 (Audio Book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021906551

To order the book or learn more about the author, visit MindfulSelfDiscipline.com.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansmechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the copyrights holder.

CONTENTS

Special thanks and acknowledgements:

To my wife, Sepide Tajima, for all the support in this journeyfrom her insightful feedback on the early drafts to giving me advice on the book cover to taking great care of our little one so I could focus on this project for months.

To the several readers and meditation students who gave me feedback on the ideas, exercises and designs of this book.

To my coaching clients, who made me realize just how vital and transformational self-discipline really is.

To a publisher, who must remain unnamed, who contacted me in mid-2019 asking me to write a book on self-discipline for them. That project didnt happen, but the seed was planted in my mind.

To all my haters, doubters and critics, for reminding me to be a light unto myself and stand for what I believe.

To all the yogis and meditation masters, who inspired me to follow the highest and finest disciplines, and shaped who I am.

To my spiritual teacher, whose name I will keep private, for encouraging me in this process and assuring me of its success.

M indful Self-Discipline is much more than just routine, building habits, managing your time, and keeping on track with your goals. Its about living a fully engaged life, expressing your potential, finding fulfillment, and dying without regrets. Its about self-actualization and wellbeing. Its about being a purposeful human.

Purposeful Humans have clear and powerful aspirations.

Purposeful Humans take full responsibility and believe in themselves.

Purposeful Humans think long-term and prioritize fulfillment over comfort.

Purposeful Humans practice meditation, self-reflection, and conscious living.

Purposeful Humans cultivate pausing, awareness, and willpower in their life.

Purposeful Humans persevere on the path until they achieve their goal.

Purposeful Humans are kind to their present self and their future self.

Purposeful Humans have consistent habits and a powerful morning routine.

Purposeful Humans have a plan, work for success, and get up when they fail.

Purposeful Humans have an uncompromising commitment they go Never Zero on.

Purposeful Humans know how to deal with procrastination, distractions, excuses, and doubts.

Purposeful Humans live in alignment with their highest goals and values, day after day.

If you found yourself saying yes to some of the above, then welcome. Mindful Self-Discipline is for you! Turn the page and lets begin this exciting journey.

S elf-discipline is one of the most important and valuable traits to cultivate. In this wise and wonderful book, Giovanni Dienstmann brings together his extensive knowledge of ancient spiritual traditions with an impressive mastery of modern psychological research. If you recognize that your life would be better off if you improved your self-disciplinesomething that is true for the vast majority of ushere is a clear, well-written, well-informed guide to how to make that improvement happen.

Self-discipline is often used as a synonym for self-control, and other times it refers to a big part but not all of self-control. Regardless, the two are strongly connected. I bring this up because in the psychology research literature, there is much more discussion of self-control than self-discipline. Even so, much of that research is fairly recent.

To put the work in perspective, we can ask, what traits make for success in life? I started my career with a heavy interest in self-esteem. Like many colleagues, I thought that many people were held back by a lack of self-esteem. We hoped that raising peoples self-esteem would lead to all sorts of benefits. Some people still believe that, but the accumulation of data was not kind. Self-esteem seems more a result than a cause, its benefits are few and small, and efforts to raise self-esteem did not produce broad improvements.

When I tried to size up what psychologists really found to be the most important traits, only two really had ample support: intelligence and self-control. Intelligent people are more successful in their careers than other people. And not just careers like being a professor or scientist. Intelligence seems to improve performance in just about every career that has been studied, including waiter/waitress, janitor, repair person, etc.

Self-control came along later, at least in the context of psychology research. But in a short time it has amassed a truly impressive record of benefits. Many of these are documented in my book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength (with John Tierney). People with good self-control are more successful than other people in school and at work. They earn more money. They have fewer psychological problems and are less prone to smoking, alcoholism, and other addictions. They commit fewer crimes and are less likely to be arrested. (Even convicted criminals with better self-control are less likely to be arrested again after they are released.) They have better physical health and better mental health. They are more popular with peers and teachers. They have stronger families and happier relationship partners. And they live longer.