Quite recently I was talking with a friend who wants to do everything. Party on Friday, go on a jog on Saturday morning, have fulfilling relationships, have one night stands, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, have incredible health, have six-pack abs an eat burgers every day. Well life is about doing what you want isnt it? So is he right here?
I thought somewhat similar until probably the 4th course of the undergraduate degree. I studied and I partied. In the end I finished University with Second Class Degree Honours but, I know I could have done better. But Second Class is also fine isnt it? So I didnt take notice and further in life I continued working, working out and drinking alcohol all at the same time. Then I started noticing that I get results but they are mediocre or too slow. I wanted more. I started analyzing and suprisingly answer came from an unexpected source. If I am not mistaken, I read one of Tom Hardy’s interviews where he said that by alloting time to one activity you take away time from another. Simple idea right? But it hadnt occured to me until then. I thought I was young and invincible. I thought that general rules do not apply to me. But, in reality we all have 24 hours a day, out of which we sleep from 6 to 10 hours. So we are left with 14-16 hours a day for productive activities. If we also substract time for commuting between work and home, time for eating, time when our attention drifts we will probably get at something like 8 hours a day. Not much. So I thought is it all so hard, and one has to be focused in order to achieve desirable heights. I started learning and researching timetables of different athletes, prodigys and businessmen. And I came to the conclusion that Malcolm Gladwell provides us with. There are no geniuses in this world. Genius is the person who has or had enough discipline to tediously practice/learn and then practice some more and learn again. Discipline is the key for high achievements.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment – Jim Rohn
BigEconomist's Blog 