Dec
30
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| Buy this on a Coffee Cup. Give it to a friend who loses heart too easily, or someone with teal colored hair. |
Day #4 of Resolution Week at The Napkin Dad Daily
In this quote it’s obvious that character = discipline.
Although I think of myself as a person of good character, I am not a great self-disciplinarian. I try to focus, to have lists, to have goals and stick to them, to keep moving in one direction for a set amount of time, to plan. And I achieve those things regularly. For about a day. Maybe a week. Then I forget about it. Then I come back to it. Then I forget about it again. Then something else becomes the priority and if I go back to those earlier tasks it would be because I am distracted from my current ones.
You know how diets sell to the same people again and again? I am sort of that way with list makers and project planners. I am too cheap to actually buy any of them, but I get the free versions and think THIS will be the mechanism by which I will become organized! Only it usually doesn’t stick. But who knows, this is a NEW year and I am a year older and wiser so why not try all over again, right?
Hope springs eternal!
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Cavett Robert, 1907-1997, founder of National Speakers Association
Apr
26
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As some of you know, I have been training for my first marathon over the winter and spring. I ran the marathon yesterday, and finished strong, running the whole way. I was the hardest thing I have ever voluntarily done in my life.
Many of my friends have said, ‘Oh, I could never do that’. And they are right. They can’t. I couldn’t do it either. But that was me of 2 years ago that couldn’t do it, when I hadn’t run at all. It was me of 18 month ago when I had only run a 5k and a 10k. it was me a year ago before I had run a 1/4 marathon or a 1/2.
When did I know I could do it? When I realize my goals had repeatedly been transformed into accomplishments by training. I had discipline and trained. That is all it was. I had a group, that helped A LOT! We supported each other immeasurably. But in the end, support or no, it was doing the miles in training. It was getting up each and every Saturday, in bitter cold, bitter wind, bitter rain and running. It was running alone on the days I couldn’t make it to the group. All that was discipline. I stuck with it. That is all it was.
So, if you are saying that about a marathon, a job, a skill, a school semester, a relationship, a goal of any kind, then you are right. You can’t do it. BUT if you train, if you discipline yourself and do the time, the work, the exercises, etc. then you CAN. That is how your goals become accomplishments.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Jim Rohn, 1930-2009, American author and motivational speaker
Nov
17
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This has probably been the hardest thing for me to implement in my creative life. It is why artists who think they are ready to be seen and heard really aren’t. It is why restaurants fail, why musicians don’t make it, why companies don’t prosper. It’s also known as ‘spreading yourself too thin’ and it lead to stress (see yesterday’s napkin) and frustration.
But the hardest thing to realize is that disciplining yourself also leads to stress and frustration. You purposely have to pull back from things that interest you and you know you could succeed at. You purposely have to forgo some possibly lucrative avenues when you really might need the money. You have to watch others succeed in those directions you decided against. You have to have patience and believe in spite of the current situation.
But, even though discipline AND lack of it can lead to stress and frustration, only one continues on past that forest and into a clearing. The route of discipline moves on, it reaches its goal. So, while you may see the world around you and want to indulge in all of it, if you stay focused and know what you truly want to see happen in one particular direction (ok, maybe two) AND you are willing to do the work, then you will find success on your path.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily blog
Quote by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., no record of date of birth – still alive, American author
