Why You Need a Life Blueprint

By Jim Fannin

Sorry to be so negative. However, without self-discipline, your failure will be all but guaranteed. This is especially true if your dream or vision is lofty and out of the ordinary. Self-discipline is the first step toward greatness.

“Why are you great?” was asked of 100 world champions from the areas of business to sports. Although responses varied, the underlying theme was the same. “I had a vision.” “I saw my future.” “I had a dream.” Regarding their respective vision quest, each champion stated in their own way, “I became disciplined in my routines to stay focused and on track.

Self-discipline is the willingness and commitment to executing a task(s) to reach well-defined gaols that lead to your vision

Self-discipline is the only effective form of discipline. Armed with a steely commitment, a success blueprint can now be created. With a map tucked under your arm, you’ll more readily enter  the Zone and the Zone will give you an edge in all that you do. 

Achieving self-discipline is the biggest stumbling block for most non-champions. The lack of it spawns aimlessness, indecision, procrastination, disorganization, confusion, and eventually the tendency to give up or quit. With a high level of self-discipline, you will be able to reduce your thoughts by 30 to 40%. A champion’s clarity, simplicity and balance will follow.

Self-discipline is the willingness and commitment to executing a task(s) to reach well-defined goals that lead to your vision

Repeat this definition several times to yourself. Know it and own it. At any given time you possess a high or low level of the powerful intangible of self-discipline. It can and highly-likely will fluctuate. However, having self-discipline greatly increases your odds of success.

What is the level of self-discipline in your job? Do you have a vision with measurable goals? Are you disciplined before you get to work? Are you ready to accomplish the tasks at hand? Do you remain disciplined throughout the day? Do you stay on course with patience and perseverance? 

Are you disciplined as a manager or boss? What is the level of self-discipline on your team? Of course, it is your own self-discipline - the leader - that ultimately sets the tone for your team’s self-discipline.

What is the level of your self-discipline as you play golf or other sports? Do you maintain daily tasks and goals for each performance?

Self-discipline will set you apart from the competition and place you on a path toward of success. It is this intangible that collectively forms a winning team or company. 

There are three keys to self-discipline: 

1. Commitment to a future vision

2. Separating the vision into measurable goals with timelines

3. Creating and executing synchronized tasks for goal attainment

Vision: Champions know exactly what they want to accomplish. They visualize embracing this place at a  time in the future where success resides.  This image of accomplishment awakens the champion each morning and puts them to sleep at night. The absence of this vision will set in motion a roller-coaster mindset that can foster negative feelings of “no control.”  However, with a strong vision it will become easier to control your thoughts, regardless of tough circumstances, situations, and or conditions.  

Your vision is the beacon of hope that illuminates your path toward success

Upon meeting any prospective client, the immediate questions are  “What do you want? Why are we here together, right now?” These questions have stymied many young athletes and entrepreneurs.  

Your vision must be crystal clear. See it in every minute detail. Envision how you’ll feel once it’s reached. Make your vision come alive in your mind’s eye as if you were watching a 3D movie.

After identifying your primary vision, you must now commit. Commitment is a personal pledge, vow or promise of daily effort. A committed athlete, for example, feels a personal obligation to do what it takes to succeed.  

The challenge with commitment is not everyone in your inner circle or on your team will share the same level of commitment. This can easily frustrate the would-be champion and eventually throw them off their game. Commitment is personal. If you must go it alone, so be it. Good fortune favors the bold.

It typically takes 7 to 10 days and nights of literally seeing, simulating and knowing your vision before the automatic pilot of your subconscious is activated. Thereafter, your subconscious will guide you through, around and over challenges. It will pull you up when knocked down. It will harness your energy and channel it until you arrive at your destination. Once your subconscious takes over, it’s game on!

Goals: The next step is to separate the vision into bite size goals with very stringent timelines for accomplishment. Goals with timelines create “good stress.”  This is called eustress. “Eu” is Greek for the word good, as in the words euphoria or eureka. Eustress is completely manufactured by you and for you. Eustress induces a natural flow of cortisol to enter the bloodstream and with it a narrowed, tunnel vision focus ensues. 

Accomplished goals act as stepping-stones to your vision. Make sure each is measurable, reasonable and attainable. Get busy with synchronized goal-setting.   

Tasks: Each goal to be achieved requires certain tasks or units of work to be completed. Most people have self-discipline with basic, daily tasks or routines.  These are predictable, well-organized and repetitive units of work. We brush our teeth the first thing in the morning and right before bedtime. We eat two to four meals at approximately the same time each day. We also go to work, school or our extracurricular activities with a schedule in place. However, do you have repetitive mental tasks or routines? 

Mental routines will take you from good to great

For example, to write a best-selling novel you need more than talent. Writing every day from 8:00 to 10:00 AM is the disciplined task required to produce chapter after chapter until the manuscript is complete. 

In order to develop your putting stroke into a world-class, formidable tool, your motion must be able to withstand tournament or match play pressure. The putting stroke must be replicated with the exact same technique, regardless of the situation or condition. 

The tasks needed to accomplish any goal (especially a world-class putting stroke) must be clearly identified. These tasks eventually must become routines. Rolling five-foot putts end-over-end 100 times in a row to well-defined targets within the cup is a technical routine. Putting accurately in your mind’s eye everyday for 10 minutes is the mental routine. 

Develop mental, physical and technical routines in all you do. Execute the exact same routines before you perform. Use routines of adjustment when things don’t go your way. Finally, exercise evaluation routines for learning, regardless of winning or losing.

Self-discipline is the willingness and  commitment to  executing a task(s) to reach well-defined goals that lead to your vision

Indeed, the definition of self-discipline has been repeated multiple times in this article. Repetition is crucial for executing your routines and staying on a path toward success. 

Carve some time out from your daily grind and create the blueprint for reaching your personal vision. Choose only one arena in your life for now. Select a well-defined timeline for the vision and add corresponding goals and tasks.  Commit time, energy and possibly money to your blueprint. Allow nothing to get in your way. 

Upgrade your self-discipline. Success will follow!