Good morning and happy Wednesday. I hope that you are having a great first week of November. Last week we focused on Gratitude. This week we turn our attention to the virtue of discipline.
This week I have been writing more than I ever had. It is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. NaNoWriMo is an yearly online creative writing assignment that occurs during November. NaNoWriMo challenges contributors to write 50,000 words of a new novel from November 1 until November 30. I had always wanted to participate but found excuses not to. This year I am taking on the challenge. But the challenge does not come without complications. One of the complications I am facing is to become and maintain discipline to the writing process.
Discipline is a term that has a broad definition. It can be used to describe a field of study; training that amends, shapes, or improves the mental senses, moral character, or skill; control attained by implementing conformity; arranged pattern of behavior; restraint; and a rule leading actions.
How do you maintain a sense of discipline in your work?
Wisdom Wednesday Quotes: Discipline
- “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”—Zig Ziglar
- “Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It’s the sure-footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life. ” ― Ann Landers
- “Why is discipline important? Discipline teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire. Saying no to our impulses (even the ones that are not inherently sinful) puts us in control of our appetites rather than vice versa. It deposes our lust and permits truth, virtue, and integrity to rule our minds instead.” ― John MacArthur
- “If you only write when inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you’ll never be a novelist.” ― Neil Gaiman
- “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”—Buddha
- “Whether our action is wholesome or unwholesome depends on whether that action or deed arises from a disciplined or undisciplined state of mind. It is felt that a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering, and in fact it is said that bringing about discipline within one’s mind is the essence of the Buddha’s teaching.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
- “True discipline is really just self-remembering; no forcing or fighting is necessary.” ― Charles Eisenstein
- “The first and best victory is to conquer self.”— Plato
- “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.”— H. Jackson Brown, Jr
- “A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to himself . . . . He belongs to whatever can make captive of him.”— John Foster
