Hello all,

Today’s motivation is dedicated to those of you that believe in luck:

“One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline — and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.”
— Carl Zuckmayer: a German dramatist

Many times, we have read in the evening news about some fortunate person wining the lottery for a huge payoff. Maybe it is just me but why do they always seem to be from some remote part of the country that I’ve never heard of?  During the press conference for the lottery winner, they always make huge promises about quitting their job, giving to their church, or buying that dream home they desire. However, when the dust settles it’s a completely different story.

We’ve seen what happens to their lives afterward. Many lottery winners tend to go broke during the first year their winnings are awarded to them. Not only are they deeper in debt than before winning but also, in some cases, heartbreak and tragedy seem to follow. I remember a case of a lottery winner that ended up being arrested due to drunken driving while his family was about to loose their home to foreclosure. Lottery winners aren’t the only ones that have this issue but so do entertainers and athletes. We’ve all heard the stories of people who come from humble beginnings that become recipients of large sums of money and success only to loose everything. While others would look upon receiving  large sums of money as a blessing, most lottery winners I’ve witnessed might say it’s a curse. What is the root cause of this?

Its simply due to lack of discipline. Some people just don’t seem to know how to conduct themselves or their lives when they come into large sums of money or success. Maybe they’ve been poor for so long that once they come into some money, they tend to forget about their beginnings or maybe they just don’t know how to conduct themselves.

What is discipline? According to the dictionary, its definitions include the following:

• Training to ensure proper behavior
• Calm controlled behavior

Notice with the two meanings above, it’s dealing with a behavior that’s done within a certain amount of controls that are not extreme. In addition, another definition I found deals with “order and control “. Due to these definitions, that is the reason Mr. Zuckmayer’s statement is very profound because he’s saying that without discipline, some people don’t know what to do when faced with certain opportunities.

Discipline is the key in our lives because it allows us to conduct ourselves in a way that is conducive within the context of  our blessings. Anything done in excess will lead to tragedy, this much is certain. Don’t forget that anything excessive is defined to be unrestrained behavior, which in essence simply means a lack of discipline. However, when we have discipline, we know when to stop and not allow our excesses to put us in a certain state that can and will create circumstances that prevent us from living the life we desire. Sometimes discipline can even prevent us from doing certain behaviors because we realize what can occur if we go down the wrong path.

As you travel along in your journey, never forget the need for discipline in your life. Learn from the lives of others what can happen when we lack discipline.

Discipline is key…