discipline is choosing

I tend to wake early, in the predawn hours of the morn, a habit left over from my paper route days as a kid. What I enjoy most then is to sit quietly with a hot cup(s) of coffee and read my newspapers: the New York Times (provides coastal elite liberal bias), the Wall Street Journal (a sad, pale shadow of its pre Murdock purchase days, devoid of much if any investigative journalism and full of barely recycled press releases but a conservative bent to balance the NYT), and of course, my local paper, the Gainesville Sun.

BUT, as much as I enjoy my morning read, I rarely read the newspapers in the morning, usually reserving them for the evening. Why? Because I’m a morning person, my personal rhythm is such that those early hours are when my brain is sharpest, my energy freshest, I do my best strategic thinking, my clearest planning, gain the greatest clarity of vision. I know that I can read in the evening and still gain the same knowledge (I was raised to believe it is the patriotic duty of every citizen to remain informed about the affairs of the republic and this means from reliable sources, not internet rumor mills that traded in unverified gossip/propaganda).

Much of success comes from the ability to bend impulse to the power of one’s will, to manage and direct one’s moods, to appropriately prioritize the long term over the short term, to choose what you want MOST over what you want now.

Closing Quotes:

“Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping? I’m working.” – Will Smith

“Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.”
– William Arthur Ward, 1921-1994

“Successful people have the habit of doing the things unsuccessful people don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either, necessarily, but their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” – Albert E. Gray (in his essay ‘The Common Denominator of Success’)

As always, I share what I most want/need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier