Copyright 2021 Zach Mathews
First published 2021 by Zach Mathews Writing
The rights of Zach Mathews to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted to him in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any other form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-7377415-0-3
www.zachmathewswriting.com
To my beautiful wife, Bre.
You are my rock, my inspiration, and my best friend.
Youve always encouraged me to chase my dreams;
Now, thanks to you, its become a reality.
I love you.
Table of Contents
Introduction
How in the world am I going to pull this off? Thats what I thought to myself as I prepared to apply for jobs during my last semester of college in the fall of 2015. I remember it all too well.
Over the summer, Id gotten engaged to my dream girl. Even though we walked graduation together that May, I still had one more semester left before I officially graduated. So while she was about to start a full-time position at the infamous Water Tower Place in Downtown Chicago, I was back in Angola, Indiana taking online quizzes.
Thats when it hit me: Im supposed to be starting my career in less than four months . You know, that thing Id been working towards the past four years.
By the time the semester was done in December, I was expected to have a job lined up in professional sports (I majored in Sports Management). The only problem was that I had zero connections inside the professional sports industry and zero relevant experience to the job I would be applying for. When the employer took a look at my resume, it wouldnt exactly scream, Hi! Im the next Zig Ziglar of professional sports sales!
So what was I prepared to do to make that happen?
I remember hopping on one of the computers in my colleges library and researching how to get a job in sports. During my research, I came across a website that saved my life. It was (and still is) a site where all professional sports teams post all of the positions theyre actively looking to fill.
I made myself a promise that day: I would visit that site every day and apply to every entry-level position I could find; it didnt matter what league the team was in or where the team was locatedall I wanted was a chance.
I kept that promise to myself.
I logged on every day (often two to three times) and applied for every entry-level position. By the time December rolled around, I had applied to more than 200 different positions on that one website alone. I went on 30 first round interviews, 12 second-round interviews, and made it to the final stages of the interview process with three separate teams. As a matter of fact, I had two job offers on the table during the week of final exams.
Had it not been for what I call successful self-discipline , I wouldnt have landed a job in the sports industry. The two positions I eventually got offers from were both posted on a Friday night. It wouldve been just as easy for me to say, Ive worked hard all week, Im going to get an early start on the weekend. Instead, I kept doing small things to increase my chances of eventually finding a job. I ended up taking a sales position with the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale, Arizona, which is where my career began.
Thats the thing about self-discipline, folks: its all about your commitment to the details . If youre willing to stick it out and have a mindset of this will work! then theres nothing you cant accomplish.
Before you read this book, I want you to know that successful self-discipline doesnt have one distinct modelits different for everyone. This book isnt meant to fix you, because you arent broken; rather, its meant to give you a head start by clarifying what constructive self-discipline looks like. From there, you can use the content in this book to look yourself in the mirror, see what you do well, realize what needs work and discover a few ideas on how to implement change.
Self-discipline isnt about being a strict auditor of your everyday life, either; its about creating healthy steps towards achieving your goals in your faith, your family, your career and your personal lives.
Its my personal opinion that most people lack healthy self-discipline; we work for the weekends, not for our calling. Instead of prioritizing meditation and learning, we pick up our phones and scroll. Thats not to say that you should incinerate your smartphone and never use it again; Im merely suggesting that theres a balance to be had. You should prioritize your personal and professional growth over what your friends are posting on their Instagram stories. Instead of picking up your phone, pick up a new hobby!
Before you read on, I want you to accept control of your self-discipline. Successful self-discipline always begins by accepting the fact that you (yes, you!) control your path to success. While there are certainly factors outside of your control, you cant fixate on them. It all starts by envisioning the proper path for achieving your goals and understanding how self-discipline plays a role in that journey.
Climbing Your Self-Discipline Tree
When I was a kid, I used to love climbing trees. I was a hyperactive child, so my parents would send me outside to play on a tree that was located in the common ground next to our house. From what I can remember, it was a Bradford Pear tree, which meant the branches were low enough for kids to reach them from the ground. I spent many hours climbing that tree with my little sister, and other kids that lived near us.
Whenever wed go to the tree, I had one goal: to climb to the top. I always made sure I had enough time to make it up to the top (and back down again) before my parents would call me home. I cant tell you how many times I got stuck, scared or injured in some way; but no matter what happened the day before, me and all the other kids were back at that tree the very next day, with the goal of reaching the top once again!
This is a perfect representation of what self-discipline should look like in our daily lives. If the tree represents the goal you have for yourself, then the very top of that tree should represent the moment when youve accomplished that goal.
Theres only two things you need to do: First, identify the tree (the goal) you want to climb. Second, start climbing by pulling yourself up on the lowest branch.
Before you even start the climb though, know that there will be setbacks ahead. But heres a question for you: when you experience a setback while climbing the tree, are you the type of person to look up and see how close you are to the top, or look down and see how far you are from the bottom? Your answer says a lot about how you currently view your self-discipline.
If you consistently look down, you might quickly become uncomfortableeven scaredof how far you are from the safety and security of the ground below. However, if you constantly look up, youll increase your chances of reaching the top successfully by viewing the positive and reaching for the next closest branch.
