For Every Disciplined Effort There Is A Multiple
RewardThis third step is not meant to be instructional, but it is meant
to be one of life’s unique promises. It is one of the principles
covered in our Challenge to Succeed seminar and in a single phrase
it simply says: “For every disciplined effort there is a multiple
reward.” That’s one of life’s great arrangements. It’s like the law of
sowing and reaping. In fact it’s an extension of that biblical law
which says that if you sow well, you reap well.
And effort, a disciplined effort in the spring, in the season of
opportunity, will produce a reward come the fall. Now here’s the
unique part of the law of sowing and reaping: not only does it
suggest that we’ll all reap what we’ve sown, it also suggests that
we’ll reap much more. If you plant a cup of wheat in the spring, the
law says you’ll get a bushel of wheat in the fall if you’ve had the
discipline to plant in the spring and if you’ve had the discipline to
protect your crops through the hot season of summer.
Life is full of laws that both govern and explain human
behavior. But this may well be the major law worth studying and
mastering -- for every disciplined effort - a multiple reward. How
clever. If you render unique service your reward will be multiplied.
If you’re fair, and honest, and patient with others your reward will
be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your
reward is more than you expect. But remember the key word here,
as you might imagine, is discipline.
Everything of value requires care and attention. A child
requires discipline, consistent, unwavering discipline during his or
her early years. Or the sporadic, inconsistent teachings of the well-
meaning parents will create confusion and unpredictable behavior.
Our thoughts require discipline, because left to their own; our
thoughts will wander as though hopelessly lost in a maze. And
remember confused thoughts produce confused results.
It takes discipline to change a habit. Habits once formed
become like a giant cable, a nearly unbreakable human instinct,
which only long-term disciplined activity can change. We must
unweave every strand of the cable of habit, slowly and methodically,