“In the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves.” ~ Bernard Baruch

Discipline: it sounds like such a harsh word, such a restrictive word—at least to a creative individual like me. It sounds like I’m about to be punished. I like words like imagination, transformation and manifestation—words that seem almost mystical. But really, we could use the synonyms vision, process, and outcome to say the same thing.

• Imagination (vision) is the idea, the end results, where you want to go.
• Transformation (process) is the step by step journey that will take you from where you are to where you want to be.
• Manifestation (outcome) the end results.

But what ties it all together? Yes, discipline.

I have a friend who is a professional boxer. When he’s training for a fight, he’s a machine—absolutely focused. The necessity of this is obvious, right? You can’t sit on the couch, eating potato chips, watching reruns of the Simpsons, and expect to achieve any level of success in a boxing ring.

What if we took that focus, that determination and applied it to other areas of our lives—academics, finances, social networking? What if we demanded that our minds operated with the same efficiency as an athlete’s physical body? Would we be willing to cut the fat? Would we be willing to do what needed to be done even when we didn’t feel like doing it? Are you ready to manifest your destiny? I am. Let’s embrace discipline together and see it for the mystical word it really is—cultivation!