Diligence

A stone is broken by the last stroke of the hammer. That doesn’t mean that the first stroke was useless!

Living in a world where instant gratification is the name of the game, has lead to a society that rarely knows the meaning of discipline and diligence. We are surrounded by a “quick fix” and “quick reward” mentality that often makes it difficult to commit to a long term goal, let alone pursue it. These days, if we don’t enjoy something, we don’t do it. If we don’t see immediate results, we don’t pursue it. The reason why there are so many unhappy and unfulfilled people, is because we have the unrealistic expectation that purpose can be found in a hurry and without any effort.

The thing about discipline is that it is rarely enjoyable. That’s probably why, in my 30 years of teaching around the world, so few students enjoyed discipline at the time it was enforced. Us adults don’t even enjoy it. However, I have had so many students contact me a few years after leaving school, thanking me and letting me know how their view of discipline had changed once they reaped the benefits of it; once they realised what it would do for them! (This is a link to a video a past student of mine made to let me know: https://youtu.be/YkSM5zIqMs8 ) The problem with wanting immediate gratification and enjoyment, is that it robs us of the opportunity to make us a better version of ourselves. Because we only grow, when we experience challenges. And we don’t experience challenges when everything is easy in our lives.

But to become the best person you and I can be, and to really live out our true potential, we need diligence. Diligence means taking one step further than discipline. It means that we do, what we don’t feel like doing, but we do it well because it will make the world around us, a better place. Any form of success requires hard work. Any form of true success requires discipline. Any chance of changing the world requires diligence. And that is also what God desires from us. Nobody enjoys persecution and suffering because of faith, but that often happens to us as Christians. Does that mean we need to turn our backs on God because the world thinks we are crazy and it would be a quick fix to the problem? Certainly not! Jesus was the epitome of discipline and diligence. He did so many things that He didn’t feel like doing, but knew, had to be done, to make the world a better place. If it was important to Jesus, it is important to me.

Have an awesome day exercising discipline and diligence.