Guest Post by Brian Tracy

Your ability to practice self-discipline in every area of your life is the key to the kingdom of success, the master key to riches and the true test of your character. 

Every day, you fight a battle between two forces: the power of discipline, and the pull of the path of least resistance. And the battle never ends.
 
Either you do what you know you should do, or you make excuses, procrastinate and delay. Which is it going to be? 

Fortunately, discipline is a habit you can learn, with practice and repetition, until it locks in and becomes automatic and easy.
 
The starting point is for you to resolve today to develop a splendid character, demonstrated daily and hourly in the forms of self-mastery, self-control, self-responsibility and self-discipline.
 
Here’s the good news: every act of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline. Practice is the key. There are ten disciplines you can develop to enrich and improve your life:

 
1. The Discipline of Daily Goal-Setting: Take the time each day to rewrite and review your most important goals.
 
2. The Discipline of Daily Planning: Make a list each day of everything you have to do, set priorities and always work on the most valuable use of your time.
 
3. The Discipline of Focused Concentration: Select your most important goal or task and work on it single-mindedly until it is 100% complete.
 
4. The Discipline of Continuous Improvement: Read in your field every day, listen to educational audio programs in your car, attend every course and seminar than can help you.
 
5. The Discipline of Excellent Health Habits: Exercise 30-60 minutes each day, eat healthy foods and fewer of them, and get lots of rest so you perform at your best.
 
6. The Discipline of Good Work Habits: Focus on the most important results expected of you. Start earlier, work harder and stay later.
 
7. The Discipline of Positive Relationships: Be positive, patient and encouraging with the people in your family and in your business life. Practice tact and diplomacy.
 
8. The Discipline of Money Management: Spend less than you earn; save and invest the rest. Get out of debt and stay out. Make financial independence your organizing principle.
 
9. The Discipline of Self-Responsibility: Accept 100% responsibility for your life, and everything that happens to you. Refuse to criticize, condemn, complain or make excuses. You are in charge! You are not a victim.
 
10. The Discipline of Optimism: Resolve to be a positive, happy person. Look for the good in every situation. Seek the valuable lesson in every adversity. Act as if it were impossible to fail.
 
When you practice these ten disciplines, you will feel terrific about yourself. Your self-esteem will go up. Your self-image will improve. You will feel in complete control of your life. Most of all, you will be respected and esteemed by everyone around you. You will make more progress in the next year or two than many people make in a lifetime. 
 
Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline, was born in eastern Canada in 1944 and grew up in California. After dropping out of high school, he traveled and worked his way around the world, eventually visiting eighty countries on six continents. His extensive personal studies in business, sales, management, marketing, and economics enabled him to become the head of a $265 million company before he turned his attention to consulting, training, and personal development. He is now the president of three companies with operations worldwide. He is married, has four children, and lives in San Diego, California.