Dawn Damon 0:00

But you had no picture on the cover of the box. You didn't know what it was. And you might work on it for a little bit. But I believe after a while, maybe very quickly, you would be frustrated and irritated, maybe even bored. Or maybe apathetic, like why bother or angry like this is impossible. But when you get the picture, then you're motivated, right? Without a picture. You will not do the puzzle you'll give up. And that's what the scripture is telling us. That's what life is without a vision, you will perish you'll throw off self control, you have no reason. So motivation comes as a result of having such a compelling vision that it wakes you up in the morning. Sometimes it keeps you up at night, you hit the floor running because you're excited about your life. Without a vision. You won't do that. But you know, you could have a great vision. But you need the second part and I'm going to share that with you today. And this word isn't nearly as fun but it's this word that starts with a D it's called discipline. Yes, if you had to choose motivation or discipline it's so awesome to have motivation but motivation does Don't show up. And so discipline will always take us further than desire discipline always Outlast motivation. And so when motivation isn't there, it's the discipline that undergirds us. The late Myles Munroe said this, find a vision that's so compelling. it imposes self discipline on you. In other words, you are so wowed and awed by what your life is supposed to be about, that it makes you want to reach goals, it causes you to develop habits that keep you on track, you use discipline to stay with your program, because moments of inspiration, they do common, it's awesome when they do, but they rarely come. Usually what happens is, activity happens first. So motivation follows activity, motivation follows your discipline, put those tennis shoes on and get outside, you know, one of the most motivated moments of my life is directly related to after I finish a workout, before I get ready to go to the gym and work out, I might be dragging, I don't really want to put on my tennis shoes. And I know that if I think it, if I spent any time in my head, wondering whether I'm going to go or not, I won't go. So I have to just move without thinking, I just have to get up, get my tennis shoes on, put my sweat pants on why I usually do it the other way around. Get out that door. Because if I stopped to think about it, I'm my brain will automatically give me so many reasons why I don't want to do it. But when I'm done, I feel so good. So empowered. I'm so motivated, I can't wait to get going with the rest of my day, I get my journal out. And I have to literally do a brain dump because I have so many ideas. There's so much creativity flowing through me. Now I have to calm myself down and just get some reading done and do some meditation and do some praying at because I just I I'm just ready to go go go, go go. So you'll never get anything done. If you rely simply on motivation. You're still obligated to do what you need to do and what you're meant to do, no matter how inspired you're feeling. So that's just how life goes. So we do we get uninspired, it happens we get tired, often in the pursuit of our goals. And that and often it will feel unexciting. So guess what, when we're battling that discouragement, maybe we're not seeing results fast enough, and we don't think it's working. That's why we need discipline, discipline, when Mojo doesn't show up. Our disciplined habits are designed to keep us on track. Now I have some habits that I do every day and I will not miss and I will not skip. And if by some chance I do, I feel the rest of my day is just off the main mental capacity, my outlook on life, it's just off, I find myself just kind of bouncing around, I often I don't eat right on those days, I don't drink enough water on those days, I find myself wanting to take a nap or a needy. I just I feel negative. And it's all because you know I've not followed through. So I hope you have good habits. I believe I have a podcast on how to develop good habits and how to get rid of negative habits. Make sure you look that up. But lean into the powerful habits that you put in place that keep you moving towards success. This is what keeps motivation, even when you don't feel like it. But see, you will reap the benefits you will reap a harvest if you don't give up. And I like Jim Rohn says this, everyone must choose one of two panes, you're going to choose one of these two things, the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret, which would you rather have, I don't want the pain of regret. I've had the pain of regret in my life. And it indeed is a pain. It is painful. And the problem with regret is that it's about something that you didn't do and you've missed that moment. You've missed that time. And time is one resource we can never get back. And when it's gone, it's gone. And so don't live your life with regret. Live with discipline. Live with a vision. Don't settle for a life of existence. Don't do it rather than a life of substance live

your dreams. You know most of us don't have a knowledge problem. Did you know that? We know what to do we know what the right thing is. Most of us know where we want to go. Some of us Don't we want, we need to get clarity on that vision that most of us know what we should be doing what we should be eating, we have an application problem, an application, we have a problem of applying what we know. We know stuff, just don't do it. And so we need consistent self discipline. So let me just give you a few things in the time that we have left together, that will help your self discipline some people, I'll tell you, you know, I know I have a lot of friends and I have children. And I can look at my one daughter, I mean, she is disciplined with a capital D, you know, she is going to do what she says she's going to do. And then you know, I have other children that they're they're more flexible, you know, it's more of a guideline, it's, I don't have to do it, I can do it. If I feel like it's Sundays I can do. And sometimes my husband and I are like that, like, if we go on an eating program, I'm disciplined. And he floats around a little bit. And then there's times where with exercise, he's so disciplined. And then for me, I can float around a little bit. So that's one of the first things that I want to share with you. If you need to build self discipline. How about getting some accountability, partner up with someone to help you. The one key that we often miss is our willingness to become vulnerable and accountable to someone and say, I give you permission to hold me accountable in this area. Will you call me and ask me how I'm doing? Will you prod me forward? If you see me doing something that I said I didn't want to do? Will you ask me the hard question, which the question could be, I asked, I tell my husband, hey, I want you to hold me accountable in this area. But I really don't want you to police me or tick me off. Right? So he asked me this. How would you like me to support you right now? And and I'll know what that means. Do you want me to talk you into sticking to your goal? Or do you want me to give you permission to go ahead and be flexible today. And both of those have roles in my life. But practice accountability, that's one way you can up your game in discipline. Another way and I do this, I love this, look at your goals every day. Without a vision, people perish. So look at your goals, have them in writing? Absolutely, you have to have them in writing a vision is something you have to see. You can't just think about it in your head, you have to see it. And so take what's in your brain and write it down on a piece of paper, and then look at it every day. remind yourself of what it is that you said that you want. And then the other thing is, know why you want it. Okay, this is your goal. So for me, if I have a goal, but I'm not really passionate about it, if my goal is simply Oh, I want to clean my closet today. But the Why is not that compelling. I won't do it. But if I say I want to clean my closet today, because I lost $100 Bill and I know it's in here. How motivated Do you think I am to clean my closet? Well, so make sure that you know what your why is? What?