Successful people have a habit of doing what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.
“With self-discipline most anything is possible.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
The following section offers some insight and tips on self-discipline. More is offered in Chapter 7, Self-Discipline, of Water The Bamboo®: Unleashing the Potential of Teams and Individuals.
Great achievement and success are largely the consequence of self-discipline. Of course, circumstances and ability play a role as well, but research has shown that your daily actions will have a much greater impact on whether your bamboo grows than talent or luck. It really boils down to your own self-discipline.
Bamboo Rule: Get out of your own way.
10 Tips to Develop Your Self-Discipline
- Create your own Self-Discipline Development Program.
- Make it a goal to stretch beyond your current level of self-discipline.
- Start small. Take small doable steps and work your way up to more challenging ones.
- Stop the blame game. Instead, put more effort and energy into your own behaviors and actions.
- Visualize yourself performing effortlessly.
- Focus on the relief and sense of accomplishment not the difficulty of the challenge.
- Identify support: find a mentor or coach that can help you.
- Focus on one task at a time. Don’t scatter your attention and energy.
- Avoid the temptation to do what feels good instead of what is good for you.
- Identify ways to work on your self-discipline throughout the day.

Greg – I enjoyed your presentation at SSD today – it came at exactly the right time and I am excited to read your book. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and optimism. I look forward to learning more about your approach and ideas!
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Greg Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Suzie,
Thanks for the note! Enthusiasm and optimism are like food…we all should have a little bit every day.
Water The Bamboo,
Greg
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