This article will be extremely boring and repetitive if we decide to start it like all others (about Self-Discipline) that have been written before. Everything you expect will be there, and you will read every line with a prescient eye, yawning occasionally with a knowing smile playing on your lips since you already know how the article will end!

Oh no! we want to avoid that.

So we want to write this article naturally. We want the words to flow unrushed, like we are seated facing you; with one of our hands on your knee, looking you in the face, while we give you sincere advice, in the manner we will address our own brother on a dark quiet night.

On such a night, put this in your imagination now; we will probably start our imaginary discussion by stating “man, you need self-discipline,” and you will suddenly look us in the eye with a querulous face, but your silence will urge us to continue.

We will quickly add, “we are not saying you are not disciplined” because we can already guess what is going on in your mind: your mind has immediately rejected the statement while at the same time, conducted a soul search of itself to check if it has erred on its discipline recently.

We will continue. “You are a unique person living in a unique time. A time of distraction. A time of much for the mind and little for the intelligence.” We will say that to you. But you will continue looking at us with slight perplexity, wondering what we mean by all these.

“You are an infovore.” “And not just any Infovore, but an Infovore of the 21st century.” Some understanding will now dawn on your face as we add that. But your quietness after it will show us you don’t exactly understand where we are getting to.

We will continue.

“You have been born and raised in a time when information has become the driver of economies and policies, of fortunes and ruins, of startling success and spectacular failures, of mass behavior and individual misbehaviors.” You will keep watching us while we continue, “You are positioned to positively tap into the wealth of information around and get an improved life and psychology as a result.” “But look around….” We will excite you from your state of complacent acceptance of everything we have said so far. “Look around! How many people like you, born in this century or raised within this century, are profitting from the wealth of information available?”

You will keep listening to us. Then we will let the rest of our words flow out unrushed, unstopped, and like a son in front of his father, you must listen to it all:

“The internet is the biggest revolution of this century. It has become the engine of business and pleasure. And yet, as many are profiting their pockets and intellects through it, many more are loosing their time and intellect through it too.

“Haven’t you seen how almost everybody is on the internet one way or the other but only a few have been able to use it to impressively improve their lives?

“Haven’t you noticed how proliferated books are on almost any subject but few read?

“Haven’t you noticed the great number of productivity tools in many people’s hands while only a few are productive?

“It all boils down to self-discipline.

“Self-Discipline is the habit that must be imbibed by all Infovores if they are to make a meaning out of it all.

“Most of the people we admire today for their success and skills are products of quiet hours of hardwork, practice and self denial.

“Whether it’s success in their personal or professional lives, a lot of sacrifice have often gone into it, requiring them taking persistent short term steps to achieve long-term goals.

“Self-Discipline is beyond just self-denial. It requires keeping a tight control over almost all expressions that makes us human: our habits, thoughts, emotion and behavior must be regulated and kept in check if we are to truly become self-disciplined.

“In every corner of our lives, we all have rivulets that we want to grow into rivers, hills that we want to transform into mountains, backyard projects that we want to transform into mega projects spanning the globe! It’s a common dream. While many of these dreams will persists in all dreamers minds, only a handful of them that have applied self-discipline in the pursuit of their dreams (and got lucky) may ever see their dreams come to fruition.

“We need to accept that self-discipline is the key to making our endeavors a success – It goes beyond just having the knowledge and skills. Disciplining ourselves in every of our expressions and putting a tight control over our weaknesses might be the propellant needed to make our efforts rocket up to success.

“Self-Discipline has been the gospel truth taught to every generation that is ready to sacrifice the discomfort of the present for the comfort of the future. It is nothing new. It is what each successive generation of humanity have noticed reflects off its heroes.

“Either they say it in their words or not, the role self-discipline has played in the success stories of the heroes of our society become obvious for all to see sooner or later. While many may have equal or greater skills than them, or even possess more opportunities than them, the adoption of self-discipline will usually separate the genuine hero of life from ordinary beneficiaries of fortunate accidents and it will separate permanent heros from the trasient superstars!

“The truly successful ones are those that have learned to inculcate self-discipline in the achievement of their dreams. They are those that have learned to endure in the face of odds and be patient upon adversities. They are those that are ready to pray the price of acclaim.

“To achieve their goals and see their projects through, they are the ones that changed their habits and repair their weakness. Yet do not do these just for the selfish reason of having their way, but rather, they see their change as a deliberate permanent revolution in their lives.

“They are the people that have recognized that no achievement is sure to be permanent if not backed by self-discipline. Self-discipline is the maintainer of achievements. How many are flashy heroes that have been destroyed because they lack discipline in their behaviors, habits and emotions! The world soon cast their achievements aside because they lack self-discipline.

“Life is a continuous stream of daily events and activities. We live it freely without fear, at least most of the time. Behind all our activities and events lies a goal. This goal is clear in the mind of many of us, while we are sure it might take us years even to achieve it. The irony of this is that whatever we do today in our daily events and activities might well determine the outcome of our goals, whenever we meet up with it in the future.

“This means we must watch the habits we are forming, the emotions we are allowing into our consciousness, our behavior towards others and the outlook we are developing about life in general. All of these daily expressions that flits in and out of our personality contributes to the kind of person we become in the future. This might affect our goals for better or for worse.

“There is no maximum in self-discipline. But extremism is not allowed. The greater you discipline yourself, the likelier you are to be undeterred in achieving your goals. The goal might be little or mighty, but achieving it fully is always sweet.

“However, if every person do not have a minimum self-discipline, the world would be plunge into chaos! Anarchy! Self-discipline is the pillar holding all laws upright. In fact, self-discipline is among the pillars behind all laws.

“Bad habits, exaggerated emotions, bad behavior and an undisciplined outlook on life are antithetical to self-discipline. Bad habits are contracted from bad companions – watch the friends you make.

“Exaggerated emotions are contracted from looking up to useless values, especially deliberately avoiding reality (fans of films and pulp fiction tend to look up to useless values) – Be realistic, let objectivity be your goal when you are accessing any situation.

“Bad behavior can be hereditary or contracted, it can be changed by working on adopting what any given society considers as good behavior.

“As for having an undisciplined outlook on life, it is hard to cure. A combination of factors like the environment and personal experience can engender an undisciplined outlook about life in an individual.

“Ideally, being self-disciplined is a noble attribute. Only the strong and the resilient can achieve it. It is admirable to all men of a noble heart, but not all who aspire to be self-disciplined ever achieve it. It is a long term process, and it requires stoic dedication and commitment. Many are those who get exhausted on the path of achieving self-discipline!

“Habits are not easy to change, and yet, it is an integral part of what will make up the personality of self-disciplined individuals. Thus, it is not surprising to see sincere individuals who are trying to change their habits reverts to to their old ways soon.

“Same goes for emotions. Many of us are helpless in the grip of certain emotions. And yet, the presence and absence of certain emotions in an individual is what can make us describe him as self-disciplined or not. Still, long repressed emotions can still come to the fore even in the most self-disciplined of individuals! Indeed, emotions are hard to repress but they can definitely be controlled. Control of emotions is part of successfully achieving self-discipline.

“Habits, emotions, behavior and outlook are intertwined variables governing the make up of a disciplined individual. They are also the variables those who aspire to self-disciplining attempts to tweak.

“Habits die hard. Emotions never completely dies. Behavior can be put on and off just like a cloth, and outlooks often follows the thinker to the grave.

“Nothing can change any of these variables to achieve self-discipline through them except by making a conscious attempt to do so.

“Being grateful and showing gratitude at all times is a magnet for self-discipline. Do you know people often spend a lot of time wanting more things than being grateful for those they already have? Being grateful shifts our focus on what we have rather than what we lack. Being pleased with little is one of the attributes of self-discipline, and the journey to self-discipline is assured as soon as the habit of gratitude is cultivated.

“Being grateful have a great effect on the psyche. It furnish a psyche formerly obsessed with depletion with a renewed sense of fullness and satisfaction. It facilitate the conversion of a sense of lack into a sense of abundance.

“A mind that focus on lack find it difficult to be disciplined. An undisciplined mind tend to score impermanent achievements. A mind focused on lack spends a great deal of time lamenting over what it lacks but belittling what it has. It lives in constant apprehension and unfounded fear.

“In the same way, unfounded hate is a behavior that stands in the way of achieving perfect self-discipline. Learning to love rather than hate is in itself the epitome of self-discipline. The fire of hate can burn up all shreds of self-discipline that is found in any human being!

“An ability to easily forgive is self-discipline. And it can be learned.

“The ability to easily forgive others is often overlooked as an aspect of self-discipline. Yet, it is one of the most visible attributes of a disciplined individual! These kind of individuals do not let painful matters take a root in their mind, grow and fester till it consume their being!

“21st Century Infovore! Self-discipline is crucial, and overlooking the mistakes and misdeeds of others is part of it! It makes you a higher man. The trait is so small it will rarely be noticed in your personality, and yet so strong it will be the thread holding your self-disciplined personality together once you achieve self-discipline. You have a lot of others’ misdeeds and mistakes to overlook if you want to grow.

“You will find a lesson to learn from every misdeed you suffer if only you look closely enough, and it will make you a better man. Being an Infovore requires an insatiable yearning to learn more and more. Learning from life and its people is among the best learning path around.

“Also, please watch how you eat and what you eat. Being a glutton and being self-disciplined never go hand-in-hand.

“Eat more of fruits and vegetables than other classes of foods. They help the body fight against infections and provide it with valuable minerals. The body requires also a lesser energy to break them down, and this means more energy is left for you to think and read. Fruits (especially bananas) and vegetables are also sources of energy in themselves.

“Self-Discipline requires you watching what you are consuming. For the kinds of foods you eat influence the kind of person you will be. As an Infovore, you will always need energy to pursue knowledge and generally improve your life. Taking foods that takes more energy away from you during digestion (like proteinous foods) may make you sluggish to go through the day, limiting your productivity.

“If you follow all these advice, you are on the path to self-discipline my friend.