There is almost no feeling as terrible and painful as regret. It often comes from knowing that you could have done better, or that you could have made a wiser choice, or you could have taken the opportunity more seriously. You will be surprised to know that a lot of the regrets in life are not caused by lack of abilities, but by simple lack of discipline. Discipline may feel difficult at the moment, but at the end, it will save and protect you from the pain of regret and disappointment. In life, you may feel like doing what you like and how you like it, but the question is "is it the right thing to be done?"
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I remember some years back, when my friends and I went for a vacation job during one of our school's vacation. It was just for about 2 months and a couple of days. That particular vacation job was such that we were paid daily after the day's activities. So some of my friends would just spend the whole money on things that are not necessary, with the hopes that they will still be paid the next day. While some of us would save a part of the money. Over time, we accumulated a considerable amount. By the end of the vacation period, we had saved some money, while the others that spent unnecessarily did not have savings. While we resumed school, we were told that we needed to undertake a practical field trip, and we were to pay a certain amount of money for it.
At that point, the other students were running around looking for how to raise the money, and some started reaching out to their people for assistance. We that saved some money during our vacation job simply dipped hands inside our savings and paid for the field trip. You see, it was the discipline to save at that time that later saved us from the impending financial challenge. When we were saving, it was not convenient, and it was even difficult, but our discipline to save kept us going, and then later, we saw the benefits in it.
Just to let you know, discipline is the ability for you to do what should be done even if you do not feel like doing it. Which means, it is making a choice of long-term goals even if you have to sacrifice your short-term comfort. This is because, the comfort may feel good at the moment, but it may also be temporary, while discipline will create a result that will last long-term. The truth is that, everyday you live, you will be faced with choices to make. You may have a freewill to make the choice, but you will also open up yourself to the effects or consequences. You either choose the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.
For example, as a student, studying constantly and consistently may feel stressful and uncomfortable. But not studying and failing will open you up to a much bigger stress and a deeper kind of pain. Waking up early to pursue after your dreams may feel uncomfortable, but not doing it and living a docile lifestyle may come with regrets at the later years. Discipline demands that you put in efforts today, so that your life will not be controlled by regrets tomorrow. If you do not want to pay the price of discipline today to do what is right and what is required, it may lead you to paying a much bigger price in the future; the price of regret.
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The rewards of discipline may not be immediate, and it may also take a while, but it will surely come. You may not even notice any difference or any change after the first day of efforts, but being consistent with the discipline will produce powerful result with time. It is sad that so many people quit too early because they focus more on the present discomfort instead of on future rewards.
Discipline also has a way of protecting your future opportunities. It is worthy to note that it is your actions of today that will shape the opinions that will be available for you tomorrow. When you constantly develop yourself, stay committed to your goals, manage time wisely, you will create opportunities for success and for growth. This is the benefit of discipline.
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