Hebrews 12:11, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it poduces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a dreamer and I love helping others with their dreams. Just yesterday I was talking with a young man who is locked into his dream and he said “Jay I just need to create the belief inside of me to make the dream happen.” He discussed his goals from a faith, family, finance and fitness standpoint. I could tell his dream had turned into a burning desire to make it happen.
Over the years I’ve worked with and interacted with hundreds of people who’ve had dreams and desires but for one reason or another the fire burned out and they gave up. The problem is a dream is a picture, a desire is an emotion and a dream only fueled by desire will eventually wear out as no one has ever achieved great heights in his or her life by pure desire. There is a third “D” that must be added to the equation in order for your dream to turn into reality or as my friend kept saying “belief.”
I’ve discussed the third “D” many times on EagleLaunch. The third “D” is the action step that takes place after the dream and the desired state has been created. The third “D” is discipline.
Where most people I’ve helped over the years mess up the third “D” is they think discipline is all about doing; which a large part of it is. But the most important element in discipline is about what you stop doing.
If you want to get out of debt, stop spending money on things you don’t need. For years our family vacations amounted to a couple of weekends to my parents’ cottage at Indian Lake or a trip to Cedar Point or Kings Island. The simplest thing to do is to stop using credit cards if you cannot pay them off entirely every month.
If you want to get physically fit, stop eating the wrong food, stop staying up too late, stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm after you set it for 5:00 AM so you can get up to work out.
If you want to grow your faith, stop browsing the internet in the morning and start browsing the Bible. I have five different devotions that are emailed to me every morning and I go through those five emails before I even take a look at any of my personal emails.
If you want to grow your family stop being so into yourself and become more “present” in their lives. I’m not talking just physically but be engaged in your spouse and childrens’ activities. Know what is going on, help your kids with homework, help them work through their challenges.
If you want to grow your relationships with others stop taking and start giving. Stop hating and start loving…even when you have no desire to love. Stop expecting and start accepting.
Hopefully you get my point. What do you need to give up or stop doing in order to begin doing the things you need to do to achieve your dreams and fulfill your desires?
Dream + Desire + Discipline = A pretty Damn good life.
P.E.A.C.E.
jay@eaglelaunch.com
