Self Discipline: The Key to Success or Failure

Go to any bookstore and you find rows of books on “The Hidden Secret to Success”.  Everyone wants to know how people became rich and powerful. Why don’t you see books titled, “The Key to My Not So Secret Failure”? Success and failure are simply different sides of the same coin. In truth, knowing why people fail is just as important as to the reasons people succeed, maybe more.

Sometimes the best plans fail, and the worst plan succeeds. How much does talent, persistence, and luck play into every endeavor? By examining where people fail we learn more about ourselves than through other peoples successes. As we learn about failure, we have to ask, “Given the same set of circumstance what would I do?” Where the obstacles in the way insurmountable, or did the person simply quit?

Many have heard that Thomas Edison made over 2000 attempts to create the light bulb before he was successful. Edison had both time and financial backing that allowed for his persistence. Edison was also brilliant and had unwavering confidence in his abilities. Now think about the guy who gave up after his 1999 attempt. Maybe he had a better light bulb, we will never know.    

The keys to success and failure are not simply intelligence, finances, perseverance, or luck. The key is self discipline and it sets effective leaders apart from others. A self made millionaire once told me, “When I came to America, I couldn’t speak the language. I had no skills, and look at me now. In America if you are intelligent, have courage, and most importantly have self discipline you can be a success.” Self discipline sets the stage for success. It also allows someone to turn a failure into a success. I have seen people snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory simply because they did not have the self discipline to follow through to complete projects. Sometimes, people have the self discipline to start a project, but go too far, because they don’t realize what success looks like. They reach the pinnacle success and then go over the hill, because they don’t know how to stop.

Self discipline sets the table is the thin line that separates people who are successful from those who fail.