Pathwalking 208
Discipline for me does not come easily.
I have always had issues with self discipline. Whether it is my diet, my writing and editing time or anything else requiring focus and attention – I have regularly found it challenging to hold to what needs to happen to get where I want to go.
This week I will share with you my plans, and work out with you what actions I need to take in order to create the discipline I need to make them reality. I want to begin the coming New Year with more specific focus and specific goals in addition to my broader goals.
This week marks four years since I began Pathwalking. I believe that during these four years I have made some pretty cool discoveries about myself and whom I wish to be. I hope that as you have been along with me for this ride that you have also made strides in choosing the destiny you are after.
This began as part of my first New Years’ Actions. Rather than create an easy to neglect resolution I prefer to take an action to effect any change with the coming New Year.
Most of my actions over the years have been broad and generalized. It’s a lot easier to hold to something that is vague enough to be open to interpretation. This does not in any way lessen my achievements, but it does reflect upon sensitivities so that I more easily hit the target and accomplish what I want.
This year I am going to take actions that require more discipline to be achieved. These are going to require me to take more direct and specific actions than I have done in the past.
One of the most cliché New Year’s Resolutions people make is to lose weight. Whether it is our health or our vanity that drives us, people want to be in better shape. Nothing wrong with this goal, but more often than not it is approached too broadly, with no plan and no action in place to effect the outcome.
Those of you who know me in real life know I am not a thin man. For the sake of my health and wellbeing I want to get into better shape. Because consciousness creates reality, the first step here is approach. My thought is I want to be healthier, and be in better physical shape. This is not about losing weight, because when that is what you focus on you will be in a constant state of needing to achieve this.
Yes, I know that it might seem hokey, but the truth of this is that this sentiment is very real. I am always in this cycle because I am always in this particular mindset. If I focus on needing to lose weight, I get exactly that – I always need to lose weight. So change of thought – focus on being healthier and in good shape.
Isn’t this just a resolution in disguise? It could be – if I were not attaching very specific actions to this. The first is emotional – I need to feel what it will be like to be in better shape. Buying clothes in smaller sizes, no joint pain in my knees from excess weight, feeling comfortable in my own skin instead of bloated or sluggish.
The second is the specific actions to make this goal attainable. I will stop eating certain foods with the frequency I eat them now. I will think before I eat, and work on more control of my portions. I will get to the gym a minimum of two days a week, and I will fence once or twice a week.
This is where discipline comes in. If I do not discipline myself to do this, I won’t accomplish it. I have to focus on the combination of thought, feeling and action and REALLY pay attention to it all. This is the part that has so frequently escaped me.
What will I do differently this time to maintain my discipline? I have given this a lot of thought, and the conclusion I have reached is this – I need to keep some sort of a daily journal. I need to actively note what I am eating, I need to actively note my gym time and other activities. I must focus my thought, my feelings and my actions and document them.
Ask anyone who knows me – I am terrible at making lists, at writing down what I need to do, at tracking diet and exercise. Why? I have not disciplined myself to do so.
I may ask for your help in this matter. How? By accepting that I will add a new bit to this weekly post. By making myself accountable to YOU, and not just myself, I think I might have the impetus to maintain self-discipline. Pathwalking in its creation got me journaling, without fail, weekly for four years. I think that right there may be the proof that I can take action and achieve goals.
Starting with my first post in 2016 I will be sharing weekly the status of my new goal log. That’s what I will call it.
I do have one more personal action I am taking with the new year. I will write or edit at least five days a week. Not counting Pathwalking or Positivity. I have novels underway, and novels to be edited, and that requires discipline too. This will also be a part of the new goal log.
I do not believe I am striving for unattainable actions. I think the goals I am setting before myself are completely doable. Further, by making myself accountable, mostly to myself but also you, I believe I have the impetus to self-discipline and succeed even greater than I have before.
Thank you for continuing to be my companion as I walk these paths before me. It is my hope that my sharing of my own trials and my own successes and failures will help to show you that you are not alone in desiring to be the master of your own destiny, and that there are always options available to you.
What do you do to keep yourself on track with your own plans?
This is the two-hundred eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in walking along the path of life. I share this journey as part of my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.
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