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Discipline and Commitment: Two Important Motivational Accessories to a Healthier Life

Motivation—if you don’t have it, accomplishing anything seems doubtful to impossible; if you do have it, at its best, it can seem like anything is possible. You need some degree of motivation in daily life, even for things as simple as getting out of bed in the morning.

Commitment runs along the same lines. Trying to accomplish anything without commitment makes the accomplishment cold and joyless. Lack of discipline in any endeavor leaves you rootless and confused.

A healthy, long, and vigorous life certainly takes discipline and commitment. You certainly can’t live your life eating banana cream pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and expect to be healthy and vibrant in your later years. You may love banana cream pie; it may be your secret passion, but if you are motivated and committed to a healthy lifestyle, summoning up the discipline to push the pie away won’t be as heartbreakingly hard.

Putting your ambitions into words makes it easier to summon the discipline and commitment needed to achieve them. Writing them down on paper may make them feel more real to you. Sit back and visualize what you desire and describe it in words. Do you want to be around, strong and vital, when your children are grown and start to have children of your own? Do you want to reverse what seems the genetic pattern of your family’s heart problems? Do you simply want to look smashingly lean and wear your clothes well? All are lifelong commitments and ones that require strong commitment and the discipline to see it through.

What will you need to do to accomplish these goals? Does something need to happen before you can begin, such as losing weight or stopping smoking? Here is where discipline is learned and utilized. You will definitely see just how committed you are to your goal and learn exactly how much commitment is needed.

Even if you feel tremendously committed, the will to succeed will be thoroughly tested. That’s why they call it willpower! You may want with all your heart to be as slim and elegant as Angelina Jolie, but there are banana cream pies calling your name! The simple fact is discipline needs to be exercised before it can be the formidable friend you need. As a little green wise man in Star Wars once said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” That means exactly what it says; you will either conquer your temptations or not. Those who have quitted smoking know exactly what that means. You may chew nicotine gum or wear a patch or use some other kind of aid, simply, you either will or will not put the cigarette in your mouth. Slowly, heartbreakingly slowly, the overwhelming urge will decrease until one day you will find that the urge will still be there, but now it is manageable.

Losing weight is much more difficult because whereas with smoking, where you refrain from any kind of tobacco, you need to eat several times every day. That kind of commitment and dedication needs to be on hand all the time. The trouble is, your brain and taste buds remember in vivid detail what a piece of chocolate cake or a bag of potato chips taste like, and they are reminding you in a demanding way. Here’s where your discipline and commitment are needed big time.

The only entity that can control your impulses is you. This can be an incredibly empowering or profoundly depressing fact. But, again, the only entity that can choose which reaction is you. Discipline and commitment, though hard won, will help you choose which path you follow.