Benjamin N. Woodson had some good things to say about self-discipline:
“For my part, I have concluded that the quality which sets one man apartfrom another—the factor which lifts one man to every achievement towhich he reasonably aspires while the other is caught in the slough ofmediocrity for all the years of his life—is not talent, nor formal education,nor luck, nor intellectual brilliance, but is rather the successful man’sgreater capacity for self-discipline.”
Mr. Woodson offers a great suggestion:
“All you need to do is this: Beginning this very day, stop doing some onething you know you should not do.” After you have written this one thingdown, stop doing it!"
Now the second part of Mr. Woodson’s suggestion is this, “Start doing each day some one thing you know you should do!” Write down one thingthat you are going to start doing that you have been meaning to do for along time but that you just haven’t gotten around to. I don’t know what itmight be, but place into your life, beginning tonight, one thing that youare going to do that is going to make you a better person.
What do you think? What helps you stay committed to your goals?
https://www.lds.org/new-era/2004/03/go-for-it
Amazing talk! I absolutely loved it and I'm excited to use it for a FHE lesson! I love making and achieving goals because it gives us a sense of accomplishment. This was one of my favorite sections in Preach My Gospel, which states, "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith." I love that goals helps us to gain the desires of our hearts, and I know they are only accomplished when we are constantly trying to achieve them.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, we had our FHE lesson on goals this week. We made big goals in the beginning of our marriage about what we wanted to achieve and then accidentally forgot most of them. So we recently decided to review our goals every first Monday of the month and then make new ones or smaller goals to achieve the bigger goals. Travis and I have had many conversations of goals that we hope to obtain. We have experience, business, financial, family, spiritual, travel, giving, missionary, and physical goals. Some of these goals can be obtained now and others will take another fifty years to accomplish, but we like to think that we are heading in the right direction.
So I think setting goals and reviewing them is a good way to achieve goals. Like Elder Ballard said, "I would suggest that if you want to have success in the goal-setting process, you learn to write your goals down. I would even put them in a prominent place—on your mirror or on the refrigerator door." I just need to be reminded of my goals to keep working on them.
I don't know... Mr. Woodson's suggestion kind of overwhelms me. Start doing one new thing every day? I think the biggest thing that keeps me from accomplishing my goals is trying to do too much at once. Over Christmas I ordered and read two new books--one about home organization and one about finances. Both of them talked about "baby steps" as the way to be successful in improving one's self. I liked that. At least for me, the only way to accomplish goals is by taking baby steps. Take one baby step, and then once you master it move on to another one. Like it says in the Book of Mosiah, "It is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength." (I'm probably taking the Woodson quote out of context; I haven't read the entire article yet.)
ReplyDeleteNori, I like the PmG quote. It made me realize that goals are really an exercise in faith and hope.
ReplyDeleteEm I agree with you and Mr. Woodson. I think that is what he is saying: every day pick a tiny goal and make a baby step (has anyone seen What About Bob?).
I'm sorry, but I just had to look up the "What About Bob?" clip and it pretty much made my day! Love it! I also liked what ya'll said about goals and just working to progress a little bit everyday. Progression is a process of perfection and goals help us get there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JPa2mvSQ4