”Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life.” Proverbs 8:32 (MSG) 
“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves? Self-discipline with all of them came first.” Harry S. Truman
This past weekend at a Halloween party I was talking with a friend about crocheting. It then brought me to talking about my knitting projects. I taught myself how to knit a few years ago. I get started and then eventually after a while I stop and never finish the project. I don’t know why I do this because I honestly do enjoy doing it, although I have wondered at times if I am still doing it right! I turned 25 earlier this month and with that I made a 30 before 30 list. One of the items on there was for me to start and FINISH a knitting project. I gave myself five years, I would think that I could accomplish this goal in that time. I did get inspired today on Pinterest when I saw a knitted coffee cup sleeve. It’s eco-friendly, small and would work for my completed project. I guess only time will tell!
My husband was reading this book called Quitter. While he was reading it he mentioned one of the points in it and it has really stuck with me, discipline begets discipline. Wow! I hadn’t really thought of that. You are always taught growing up to be disciplined, hard-working and so on. But, did it ever occur to you or were you ever told that the way to do this is practice? Think about it… if I want to be disciplined in a certain area of my life, say working out regularly. It won’t happen just because I want it to. It will happen when I start to make discipline a part of my everyday life… getting up on time, a schedule for the day, a budget for our home and so on. People do not make changes over night because it’s a good idea, the changes that they make are because they were already disciplined enough to make those changes and they stuck! Think about all the times people go on “diets” but only last so long before breaking it. Its easier and more successful to make a lifestyle change with how you eat than to diet.
This idea of discipline brought me back to my silly little knitting project. In general I feel that I am a pretty disciplined person, we have a budget, I am a vegetarian (as a way of life, not diet), I work out and my son and I have a great routine daily. But for some reason I can’t seem to find the discipline to sit down and do something I actually enjoy long enough to complete the project. Perhaps I need to make a more conscious effort. Go ahead and ask me in a few days if I have done any knitting. I’ll be honest, and I hope the answer will be yes!
Photo Credit: Steven Depolo
