Remember the movie Grease? The title song goes, “Grease is the word, is the word, is the word.”
Well, my word for 2013 is not “grease.” While it’s a perfectly good word, it really doesn’t do much for me. It’s just a bit, well, greasy.
Discipline, on the other hand, is what I need. And not nearly as greasy.
Recently, I read an interesting article on fitness parks. Apparently, they’re popping up all over the place. They’re a collection of free exercise equipment located in public parks. In other words, it’s a free gym that’s open 24-7. You can read about them here: USA Today article on fitness parks
Here’s the problem with these parks. The only people they benefit are the ones who are disciplined enough to use them. Availability is not really the issue. In fact, I’m a bit of an expert on this.
A few years ago, I paid a personal trainer to show me what I needed to do to stay healthy and physically fit. He claimed that my body was in decent shape, but not in “competitive” shape. In other words, if I tried to play basketball or tennis in my then current state, I would likely injure myself. So, he showed me a lot of different exercises to get my body into better competitive shape. It was a fantastic experience and I was in the best shape of my life.
After a while, however, it got costly. So, I did the calculations and determined that if I bought the necessary exercise equipment for my home, I could do everything my trainer taught me and over time, I’d save a lot of money.
And that’s exactly what I did.
But what I failed to realize was that proximity did not equal results. I knew what I needed to do. I had the technology (obscure reference to the Six Million Dollar Man). I had the motivation. I did not, however, have the discipline.
My exercise routine sputtered after about six months and never recovered.
This is the key to most things in life. If we are disciplined, we can accomplish a great deal. Discipline leads to success. Success motivates us to continue being disciplined.
Lack of discipline can lead to unachieved goals. Unachieved goals is discouraging. Discouragement leads to a lack of discipline.
Can you see a pattern here?
My goal for 2013 is to be disciplined. While I have other specific goals I hope to accomplish, my number one priority every day is discipline – from start to finish. If I can achieve that one goal, the others should fall into place much more easily.
So, grease is not the word for 2013. It’s too slippery. Discipline on the other hand will keep me on solid ground.