365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 18: On Higher Standard s

Hold  yourself  responsible  for  a  higher  standard  than  anybody  else

expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master

to yourself — and be lenient to everybody else.

—Henry Ward Beecher

 

17

The only standards that should concern you are your own standards. If

you act in accordance with the standards of the majority of people, you’ll be

overweight, unfit, unhealthy, lazy, hating your job, not having enough time

for your family, and in debt.

I sometimes get flak for my goals. “You’re already slim. Why do you

still watch your diet?” “Why do you save so much money? You should live

it up!” “Can’t you live like a normal person, instead of waking up at 5 a.m.

and going to sleep as early as 8 p.m.?”

By  the  standards  of  the  person  criticizing  me,  I  should  have  stopped

improving myself a long time ago. According to my standards, the growth

should never end. I always hold myself responsible for a higher standard,

and  this  allows  me  to  maintain  success-friendly  habits  in  my  life  and

achieve even more success.

If you allow yourself to have low standards, how are you supposed to

ever achieve excellence? Exhibiting self-control is one of the most powerful

demonstrations  of  having  high  standards;  letting  fleeting  emotions  and

urges  control  your  life  —  as  most  people  do  —  is  a  sure-fire  path  to

mediocrity.

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Day 19: On Fighting Well

The  important  thing  in  the  Olympic  Games  is  not  to  win,  but  to  take