High School Dropout teaches High School? Wha??
This is a post about the transformative benefits of self-discipline and 100% responsibility, with the intention that my sharing offers the possibility of new openings and appreciation for self-discipline and my personal credo “putting off what I want now, for what I want most.”
So… this is not really a story about a high-school drop out teaching high school. But I guess it is. I did both. I dropped out of high school and I taught high school.
Say what?
How does that work?
Let’s begin with self-discipline.
I believe self-discipline is the most underrated code of behavior.
OK, Where to begin?
For me, the only place to begin any story from my past is inside the space only I can create for myself, and that is SELF-DISCIPLINE and 100% responsibility, or lack there of.
Suffice it to say, it was a very “event-filled” time of life for me. But more importantly, it was what I created for myself from all the events that unfolded, that I garnered a full scholarship from our country’s first women’s college, Mount Holyoke College (MHC). Yes. A full-scholarhsip. Full, though I did earn a GED.
The criteria at the time that I was accepted to MHC was to be able to demonstrate high motivation and ferocious tenacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity across time. OK, I could do that. But not so fast. I was NOT accepted on first application because I could not yet provide enough academic background for them to assess my capabilities and aptitude. (sigh)
But this IS when the force of self-discipline steam started to really amp up.
Though my mind let my dream of attending go, of what felt to me like “my” “Yale University” in the woods who “cared” for women, women like me, my heart never let go. Mary Lyon, the foundress of MHC, pulled at me even before I was accepted with her guiding words to alumnae, “go where no one else has gone, do what no one else has done.”
So with no solid academic foundation at all, I began to take classes at a nearby state university and took 1 or 2 class at a time and did nothing else. Nothing. I dove fully into my new world of academia with laser focus. I was determined and my determination required self-discipline on my part. Oh sure, I maintained some balance with family, work and fitness, but I knew that my weak academic background required full-throttle discipline on my part. This is very likely when my, um… kind of “freak of nature” obsession for self-development and self growth began to possess me.
What came first the chicken or the egg? What came first, the power of decision, the force of 100% responsibility or the strength of self-discipline? All important qualities to cultivate and grow, but the first two were ineffectual if I did not harness the strength of self-discipline. I could make really great choices, I could take on 100% responsibility, but with no follow through, what would I ever accomplish.
This “game” of sefl-actualization began to feel like a really fun puzzle to put together.
Personal development became my entertainment of choice and self-discipline, as a key player in this new game directed my course.
I went on to earn an MEd at Boston College and post-graduate work at Cornell. I earned certification at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and participated extensively in transformation, success and personal development work with Landmark Education and Robbins International. I’ve enlisted Spiritual directors, personal mentors, accountability partners, and literally 100s of success teachers. I studied with Dr. Bob Marshal and was certified in Quantum Reflex Analysis, which is a healing modality that incorporates both Eastern and Western philosophy. Heck, I walked on fire several times at Anthony Robbins events, traveled abroad and now I am building a business of contribution and service that is beyond the dreams I ever had.
What did I sacrifice? Immediate gratification?
Self-Discipline = Freedom
Self-Discipline is Non-Negotiable. I can create goals. I can intend to achieve this or achieve that all day long, but without self-disciplined follow through #fuuugetaboutit
Darren Hardy, editor of Success Magazine offered me a formula that really resonated with me because it was a formula I already learned. Hardy wrote in his book, “The Compound Effect,” “Small, smart choices + consistency + time = radical difference.”
For me, this formula says, I choose to forgo what I REALLY want right now. I CHOOSE to do what I know I need to do right now. Repeatedly. Over time, and I can create a life that literally “moves mountains.”
This game, this obsession to be the very best me I can be, while here in this one lifetime, with self-discipline guiding my every decision transformed my whole life.
Anthony Robbins says “success without fulfillment is failure.” By making small smart choices, repeatedly over time, I created the privileged opportunity to literally be of service in the world in ways that I know makes a difference beyond my one little life and is great FUN!
You’ve tried. You’ve failed. You’ve tried again, to no avail, but you are eager to “pick your game up.” You are eager to blow out all the reasons that continue to stop you from moving forward every step of the way. You are EAGER to drop all the reasons that get in your way to CHOOSE again, powerfully. Join me, August 28th to learn about 6 very integral “tools” you can add to the powerful force of self-discipline to shift the whole quality of your life. Register here.