I’ve been working out at the gym for almost four months now. I’m curling 15 pound dumbbells for 15 repetitions, 3 sets, three times a week. I can maintain a fat-burning heart rate of 145 on the elliptical for one hour. I can peddle 12 miles on a stationary bike in 60 minutes. I can push 120 pounds on the leg sled.

When I started however I couldn’t last 5 minutes at any pace on any piece of cardio machinery. I could only push an empty sled and only curl 8 pounds 10 times. The muscle changes in my body are subtle. My trainer and I are the only ones who see them, but I know they’re there.

Most people who don’t work out wouldn’t even dream of walking into a gym and picking up the big weights, let alone trying to do a full-fledged workout without training and working up to that level of proficiency. But they don’t hesitate to tackle other projects or goals without doing the same - training for it. We’re used to school, classes and on-the-job training where someone else acts as our *muscle* while we develop our self-discipline, but what happens when there is no one to help you build that muscle? What happens if YOU are all you’ve got?

I’ve been working with Lorraine Esposito of Peace-Maker Coaching for the past 8-weeks now. She’s a life-coach and one of the most self-disciplined people I’ve ever met! And she’s literally turned my life around with one thing - the kitchen sink. As I stood at the sink at 2:43 a.m. the other night, washing dishes and cleaning the sink before I went to bed, it struck me how much *resolve* and discipline muscle I’ve developed since she had me doing this. I’ve extended that discipline, step-by-step, to the gym, to my eating (still working on it but I have breakfast NAILED!!) and to my other tasks. I always assumed that sheer will power would enable me to get organized and disciplined.

I figured I just “didn’t have any” will power and that was why I failed so often. Not so. Discipline is a muscle, albeit a mental muscle, but it has to be developed just like our physical muscles - through use, practice and re-enforcement. So, I cleaned out the refrigerator the other night - a 30-minute task I’d been dreading forever.

To get motivated I convinced myself that it wouldn’t take any longer than cleaning the sink. THAT I could do. Thirty minutes was a manageable *weight* of time I’d been able to handle when I cleaned the sink. So I just imagined it was like cleaning the sink and just did it. I wasn’t crazy about it, but it got done - just like the sink gets cleaned every day. And it looked so good I also took out all the trash, cleaned out the pantry and wiped down the bookshelves and vacuumed the office! The momentum I developed from the fridge sparked me.

I realized today that what happened with the sink was I was finally seeing some *self-discipline* muscles starting to develop. Each time I “just do it,” I build that resolve and self-discipline muscle. Many of you are already World Champion’s in this arena, but remember, I was raised by wolves - parents who never took the time, and a school system that never took the time to teach this. So I’m learning it late in life! But I’m learning it!

Anyway, almost daily I bemoan my inability to do WORK tasks as well and as thoroughly as I clean the sink and photograph my garden. But today I realized that I’m making progress - more progress than I realized!! I didn’t just get on the elliptical and start cranking out 60-minute workouts. I started with one minute (yes, all I could manage day one), then two, then five, then ten, fifteen and so on in increments until I hit 60, then 90. Today I restructured my work load so I can do more there as well - more clients, more projects, more of my own books!

The biggest changes in our lives always begin small - seeds into trees. Intellectually I knew this, but now it’s part of my reality and my heart knowledge. And THAT is a huge difference! As my entire life, business and writing falls into step with my growing resolve, focus and self-discipline I’m excited and curious to see what the outcome will eventually be. The sky’s the limit! Are you building your resolve and self-discipline? How?