Day 361: On Smilin g If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind. —Thich Nhat Hanh 361 Smiling is one of the easiest, and one of the hardest things to do. It’s natural to smile when you’re happy and feel good, and almost impossible when you’re in pain or feeling unwell. With increased self-control, your ability to do things in spite of what you feel like doing increases. Smiling can be an excellent exercise in this practice. I don’t want to downplay the negative things that may be happening in your or anyone else’s life. However, the truth is that we often resort to scowling, crying, worrying, and radiating negativity when we experience negative emotions, just because this state is easier to access than the positive one. When you think about it logically, it makes no sense to further ruin your mood after experiencing something negative. If you have a cold, you don’t go out naked in the middle of the winter to catch pneumonia, too. Yet, that’s pretty much what we’re doing anytime we decide to humor negative emotions instead of smiling despite them, or at least trying to lift our spirits a little. Obviously, it’s easy to say that. Some negative events are such that they can destroy a person from the inside out, and telling them to smile would be ridiculous. Apply this advice primarily to the small everyday struggles you encounter, where your negative reaction isn’t necessary. For the next week, try to handle every difficulty with a smile on your face. It doesn’t matter if your smile isn’t entirely genuine. The point is to make an effort in overcoming your default reaction of feeling negative and replace it with a more positive attitude.
Even if you fail to maintain a better mood for more than a couple of minutes, the exercise in itself will help you better control your impulses and might even lift your spirits slightly. And if you repeat it often enough, your brain’s pathways will change and make you more capable of feeling positive, even when bad things happen — and that’s not a bad ability to have, is it?
Day 362: On Professionalis m Amateurs think that if they were inspired all the time, they could be professionals. Professionals know that if they relied on inspiration, they’d be amateurs. —Philip Pullman 362 Inspiration is important to get you to start working on your goals, but you can’t rely on it alone if you want to pursue excellence and become a high performer. The keys to professionalism are: 1. Routine. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike you. In an ideal world you’d be inspired all the time, always pumped up to work. In the real world, you’re probably going to be uninspired more often than you’ll be inspired. Yet, if you want to become professional, you need to deliver on both good and bad days. Establish a routine of what you need to produce each day (whether it’s 1000 words of a book, playing the guitar for an hour, making 50 sales calls, or learning 20 new words in a foreign language) and stick to it, regardless of your mood. 2. Reliability. If you give a promise, you fulfill it — and that includes any promise you make to yourself. This also means sticking to deadlines and resisting the temptation to extend them just because they’re difficult to meet. 3. Constant improvement. Amateurs dabble, while professionals constantly improve their craft. Always seek new ways to improve your performance and avoid the laziness of rejecting new, possibly better methods, just because they can disrupt your current way of doing things.
Day 363: On Relying Upon Yourself It always makes more sense to concentrate on the direct alternatives — the things you do control. What others do is up to them, but there’s always a great deal you can do. Choose from the alternatives that require only your decision — not from among the many hopes that someone will be something other than what he is. To rely on your rights or on your ability to change others is far less promising than to rely upon yourself. —Harry Browne 363 One dangerous pitfall to be aware of when setting goals is to avoid tying them to the performance or willingness of other people. For example, I believe that the best business partner is yourself and nobody else. If you have a goal to build a successful business so you can eventually dedicate yourself to your children and your business partner doesn’t have such a strong motivation, it will be a source of conflict forever. You’ll need his or her approval for any business decision, and 50% of the success of your business will depend on the other person. Losing full control over the decision-making process means lowering your chances of success. In exercise, you might feel tempted to wait before you buy a gym pass until you persuade your friend to start exercising with you. Yes, working out with a partner is more effective, but if you’re relying on this person to establish a positive change in your life, you’ve already failed. And what if your friend drops out? Will you drop out, too ? Don’t wait for another person to change your life. You can hope that their desires will be in line with yours, but it’s a better strategy to rely on yourself by choosing alternatives that require your decision alone.
Day 364: On Books, Part Tw o Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to plead, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind. —Henry David Thoreau 364 On day 79 I shared with you three inspirational books and then, on day 158, I suggested some biographies to read. Today, now that we’re at the end of this book, I’d like give you some additional recommendations that you might find it valuable to read after you finish 365 Days With Self-Discipline . Here they are: 1. Make It BIG! 49 Secrets for Building a Life of Extreme Success, by Frank McKinney. Brilliantly inspiring and practical book written by a fascinating entrepreneur and philanthropist. 2 and 3. Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within, by Tony Robbins. Two self-help classics that everyone should read. 4. Essentialism, by Greg McKeown. If you’re struggling to identify your priorities and focus on what matters most, this book will help you. 5. The Obstacle Is the Way, by Ryan Holiday. An excellent book, loosely based on the Roman philosophy of stoicism, that teaches you how to succeed in spite of hardships . 6. How Not to Die, by Michael Greger. If you want to learn more about the why and how of healthy eating habits, this book is for you. Understanding on a deeper level how your unhealthy choices can affect your life can boost your resolve to finally make a change.
WEEK 53 Day 365: On Sweeping the Floor My friend the philosopher and martial artist Daniele Bolelli once gave me a helpful metaphor. He explained that training was like sweeping the floor. Just because we’ve done it once, doesn’t mean the floor is clean forever. Every day the dust comes back. Every day we must sweep. —Ryan Holiday 365 As we’re about to part ways, I’d like you leave you with an important reminder: cultivating self-discipline, like training or sweeping the floor, is something that must be done daily. As incredible as it would be to build self-discipline just once and then enjoy it for the rest of your life, it requires constant work to maintain it so that it can aid you in your objectives. The moment you put instant gratification back on the pedestal is the moment you start losing your self-control. The moment you decide that it’s time to embrace the easy life and stay away from the challenges is the moment your life starts getting harder. The moment you decide that you’re already strong enough and nothing can break your spirit is the moment you start losing mental resilience. We’ve spent 365 days together, but your journey toward self-discipline doesn’t end here. Grab the broomstick and start sweeping!
Epilogue Our journey has come to an end and I don’t want to keep you here for long. I hope that you’ve gathered so many different ideas to apply in your life that you’ll be busy implementing them for a long time to come! As a quick final reminder, please remember that accumulating knowledge without applying it in real life is like reading cookbooks without ever actually following any of the recipes. What’s the point? Put on your chef’s uniform and get cooking; you have 365 different recipes to try! Finally, please note that I wrote this book to give you inspiration and offer various tips that apply to different aspects of self-discipline. I prioritized brief, universal suggestions over detailed how-to advice. If you want to get more specific, in-depth lessons about self-discipline please refer to my other books about self-discipline, which address areas like dieting (Self-Disciplined Dieter ), exercise (How to Build SelfDiscipline to Exercise ), entrepreneurship (Self-Discipline for Entrepreneurs ), impulse control (How to Build Self-Discipline ), and long-term habits (Daily Self-Discipline ).
Download Another Book for Fre e I want to thank you for buying my book and offer you another book (just as valuable as this one): Grit: How to Keep Going When You Want to Give Up , completely free. Click the link below to receive it: http://www.profoundselfimprovement.com/365 In Grit , I’ll tell you exactly how to stick to your goals, using proven methods from peak performers and science. In addition to getting Grit , you’ll also have an opportunity to get my new books for free, enter giveaways, and receive other valuable emails from me. Again, here’s the link to sign up: http://www.profoundselfimprovement.com/365
Could You Help? I’d love to hear your opinion about my book. In the world of book publishing, there are few things more valuable than honest reviews from a wide variety of readers. Your review will help other readers find out whether my book is for them. It will also help me reach more readers by increasing the visibility of my book. You can leave your review here (the link takes you directly to the review form on Amazon.com).
About Martin Meadow s Martin Meadows is the pen name of an author who has dedicated his life to personal growth. He constantly reinvents himself by making drastic changes in his life. Over the years, he has regularly fasted for over 40 hours, taught himself two foreign languages, lost over 30 pounds in 12 weeks, run several businesses in various industries, took ice-cold showers and baths, lived on a small tropical island in a foreign country for several months, and wrote a 400-page novel’s worth of short stories in one month. But self-torture is not his passion. Martin likes to test his boundaries to discover how far his comfort zone goes. His findings (based both on his personal experience and on scientific studies) help him improve his life. If you’re interested in pushing your limits and learning how to become the best version of yourself, you’ll love Martin’s works. You can read his books here: http://www.amazon.com/author/martinmeadows .
© Copyright 2017 by Meadows Publishing. All rights reserved. Edited by Sara Zibrat. Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. The author greatly appreciates you taking the time to read his work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help us spread the word. Thank you for supporting our work. Efforts have been made to ensure that the information in this book is accurate and complete. However, the author and the publisher do not warrant the accuracy of the information, text, and graphics contained within the book due to the rapidly changing nature of science, research, known and unknown facts, and the Internet. The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This book is presented solely for motivational and informational purposes only.
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[ ←36 ] Gautama Buddha, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta .
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