Chad Schapiro: THE D WORD

I got what I consider to be a high compliment from a friend of mine who told me I was very disciplined. And I guess it fits — over the years I've come to the conclusion that the old saying is true: Either I pay the price of discipline or the price of regret.

This was not a sudden revelation — it occurred over time. And it wasn't always the case — in the past I was a pretty "normal" guy who just went along in life, neither excelling nor failing, just getting by. But this way of living was eating away at me — I asked myself, "Why is it that a lot of people are way ahead of me in life when I am at least as smart and talented as they are?" And it dawned on me that these people had decided where they wanted to go in life, and then developed the discipline to get there, whereas I had not decided where I wanted to go, which led me to where I was at the time ... NOWHERE.

I became more disciplined in my focus, studying, health, gratefulness, and giving. All of these are planned out in my goals that make up my life on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and lifetime basis. This has not always been easy nor my natural way of doing things. But I'm sure glad to be SOMEWHERE THAN NOWHERE!!

I guess it boils down to not fearing the "D" word — I mistakenly thought that being disciplined would mean I would have to force myself to do things I hated to do, rather than enjoying them. And that came from a fear of the "C" word — Commitment. At some point it dawned on me that I was afraid to commit because I thought that if I made a commitment, I'd be trapped. What I came to realize is that I was trapped by my lack of commitment — once I got clear on what I wanted, and decided to do what it takes to get it, I was free.

That clarity also allowed me the assertiveness to say NO to anything that didn't fit with my purpose and say YES to everything that did. This turned "Discipline" into a couple of other "D" words: Determination and Dedication — qualities that I needed to be a winner in the game of life. Having lived on both sides of the fence, there's NO WAY I'd go back. Make sense?