Freedom Is Found in Discipline, Not Rebellion

When young, we are asked to follow rules that often lead us someplace we do not care to go. No wonder so many people learn to — in one way or another — rebel against rules.

In following your Dream, however, you will probably notice that you have more rules than ever before. What's going on? Isn't your Dream supposed to bring freedom?

Yes, and freedom is found in discipline. Discipline comes from the word disciple — being a devoted student. Think of discipline as a container. Once a container is constructed — and maintained — it can envelop your Dream.

A rule is a tool, as a drinking glass is a tool. Using the drinking glass, we can hold, carry and consume water. Yes, rules are restrictions, just as a drinking glass is a restriction. If we say, "I don't want any rules, because I don't want any restrictions," then we can also say, "I don't want any restrictions on my drinking glasses, either." An unrestricted drinking glass holds no water.

There are rules — lots of rules — to the things we use daily for fulfilling our Dream: walking, talking, reading, writing, and so many others. When we accept the rules of a given discipline and make them our own, we are no longer the disciple — we take a step toward mastery.

What Have You Learned?

No, this is not a book review, nor an essay exam — "Write a 10,000-word essay on 'What I have learned from this book.' "It's another one of those reviews of your entire life.

You've been fulfilling dreams for quite some time. They may have been your dreams, or they may have been the dreams of others. Either way, the process of dream fulfillment remains the same.

Review your list of accomplishments — the list you made about twenty years ago in the chapter What Have You Accomplished? For each achievement, ask yourself, "How did I do this? What did it take for me to fulfill that dream? What worked? What didn't?"

Begin to formulate your own set of "rules" on how you best achieve dreams. To fulfill our Dream, we need only examine our life, and do two things:

1. More of what works.

2. Less of what doesn't.

Nurture Yourself

It's important to nurture yourself while you're nurturing your Dream. In the large sense, of course, pursuing your dream is nurturing yourself. Along the way to your Dream, however, take time to be good to yourself.

Self-nurturing is not the same as self-indulgence. One of the most misused statements we've heard lately is, "I'm doing this to take care of myself." Usually, when people say this, they're running their old limitations under a new banner.

Succumbing to the comfort zone's demands is not "taking care of yourself."

Nurturing yourself means taking care of yourself while you do what needs to be done. This might mean working twenty hours on a project you could complete in fifteen. It does not mean not doing the project.

Learn to take the pressure off while you do what you do. When you think of recreation, think of re-creating your attitude toward the work at hand.

Rehabilitate your attitude toward words such as "work," "vacation" and "time off." The idea that we need "time off comes from working for another to fulfill another's dreams. Now your life is directed toward fulfilling your Dream. Why would you want to take "time off' from that?

There are some activities on your path that are more enjoyable than others. Alternate these more pleasant activities with the more bothersome ones.

Learn to seek satisfaction in a job well done, rather than seek diversion in activities designed to distract you from the "harsh reality of work." That sort of diversion may be necessary for those who work for others. Remember, however: you're working for yourself now.

True nurturing is learning to enjoy the path, the process, the journey toward your Dream.

Persistence

Nothing succeeds like persistence. The common denominator of all successful people is their persistence.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence," said Calvin Coolidge. 'Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

Coolidge could be a role model for those who think one needs a sparkling personality to fulfill a Dream. "Silent Cal," as he was known, was so, well, laid back, that when told of his death, Dorothy Parker asked, "How could they tell?"

"Let me tell you the secret that has led to my goal," wrote Louis Pasteur. "My strength lies solely in my tenacity."

This same message rings throughout history — to win: persevere. The ancients knew it. "He who labors diligently need never despair;" wrote Menander, "for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor." "The drops of rain make a hole in the stone," said Lucretius, "not by violence, but by oft falling."

The same message is given from Goethe to Longfellow. Goethe: "Austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the least of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irreversibly greater with time." Longfellow: "Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody."

Know what we've not had much of in this book? Poetry. Let's quote a persistence rhyme from Edmund Cooke:

You are beaten to earth?

Well, well, what's that?

Come up with a smiling face,

It's nothing against you to fall down flat

But to lie there — that's disgrace.

We will spare you what Napoleon, George Gobel, Churchill, Lincoln, Socrates, Orson Welles, Richard Nixon and the Lennon Sisters had to say about persistence. It's the same theme: "Keep going and you will win."

Persistence is a simple process:

1. What's the next step?

2. What's in the way of taking that step?

3. Remove the obstacle.

4. Take the step.

5. Go to 1.

Without persistence, we may end up imitating Marlon Brando: "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody. Instead of a bum, which is what I am."

 

Enthusiasm and Joy

Rather than comfort and joy, try enthusiasm and joy. Enthusiasm and joy are Siamese twins — it's hard to find one without the other.

Enthusiasm comes from the Latin en theos — one with the energy of the Divine. Here are some thoughts from Famous People, writing enthusiastically about enthusiasm.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," wrote Emerson.

"I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill," said Sir Edward Appleton.

"Every production of genius," wrote Benjamin Disraeli, "must be the production of enthusiasm."

Joy is a feeling we can feel no matter what else is going on. The way to create joy is to do things joyfully. It's one of the easiest feelings to create. We need only remember to create it.

Horsing Around

To sum up the book thus far:

1. Find your horse.

2. Discover the direction the horse is going.

3. Ride the horse in that direction. Happy trails!

PART SIX
LIVING YOUR DREAMS

This section will make more sense when you've had a chance to live the first five sections for a while. In following the suggestions in those parts, you either have your Dream, or are well on the way to achieving it.

The question then arises, "What next?"

That's what this section is about. "There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it," wrote Logan Pearsall Smith.

"Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second."

Choose New Goals

When your Dream is almost realized — but not quite — it's time to choose another goal.

The goal may remain the same, but the quantifying factors are raised. The goal to conduct an orchestra remains intact, for example, but the yearly salary increases from $100,000 to $200,000. Or, the goal may change entirely.

"Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties," wrote Samuel Johnson, "passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified."

When we realize one Dream, sometimes a deeper Dream reveals itself. At other times, a parallel Dream appears. The one that scares the hell out of you is probably it.

Just as the comfort zone knows no limits in keeping you from fulfilling your Dreams, it also has no limits on how large it can expand. It can grow infinitesimally small or infinitely large. It's your choice.

Our goals may change from one area of life to another, from Career/Professional, for example, to Social/Political— or any others. Or, they may stay in the same area.

In 1980, Sting said, "Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success." He got it. In 1990, he chose again, "Friendship's much more important to me [now] than what I thought success was."

Celebrate your success. Now that you know that all this works, you can be truly bold. Reread the book from the beginning. It will make a lot more sense. Do the exercises. Choose another Dream.

Dream on.

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