Turn Your Self-Delusion into Self-Discipline

“The worst of all deceptions is self-deception.”_Plato

When we fail to act in line with our principles, values and goals, we are not being true to ourselves. And to be incongruent is to live in disharmony.

We create internal conflict every time our actions don’t match with our professed intentions as the author of ‘Unshakable Character,’ Jim Rohn says: “Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.”

For most of us, this usually takes the form of giving in to distractions by doing what feels good at the moment, instead of doing the right things that we know deep down we really ought to do. 

Though we often want to justify our behaviors and convince ourselves we're still on track, but a deeper reflection would reveal the truth of our situation; we’re in romance with self-delusion.

Without question, our behaviors directly translate into our results. Even with best of intentions, to get ahead, we need to commit ourselves fully to self-discipline. Every true success is a product of responsibility, ownership and accountability. 

To believe in something, and refuse to act with purpose to ensure its realization is the sure path to cognitive dissonance; the direct consequence of self-delusion.

 

A Day Is a Slice of Life

A day is not just a tangible slice of our lives; it is also a miniature eternity.

If we goof away our time in one day and still think it doesn’t matter at all, then we are in a state of delusion. 

This is so for the simple reason that our entire lives are made up of a fixed number of days. Once a day slips away, the downward slope has been ignited.

Think about this: If we repeat our sub-optimal days, for the next five years, it is pretty easy to predict the direction of our lives; isn’t it?

Now, we need to be honest with ourselves and face the truth of our personal situations. We need to admit that we procrastinate a lot. 

We need to admit that we engage in low value activities at the expense of high value ones. And we need to admit that we rarely make the most of our days. 

It is only by being accountable enough to recognize our flaws can we begin to correct them. In the words of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, “I seek the truth...it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm.” 

In order words, we should decide to turn self-deception into self-discipline by forcing ourselves to do the things we need to do, when we need to do them, whether we feel like it or not.

At the end of the day, the only person who can hold us accountable for anything is ourselves. And to turn out well in life, we must develop the mental honesty to take full responsibility for our results by thinking right and equally acting in accordance with our positive thoughts.

In conclusion:  we have to stop lying to ourselves by turning every suboptimal element of self-delusion into a building block of self-discipline, going forward.