EmploymentScape Chief Executive Officer, Harrison Barnes discusses the role of discipline in your life and success.

One of the most popular misconceptions in the world is that the people who end up being the most successful somehow achieve this success through short cuts, not working hard and other miracles of fate. People want to feel that they can get a lucky break, suddenly get extremely rich and never have any worries again for the rest of their lives. This is so rare and occurs so infrequently that the examples of people who were able to achieve this are almost legendary.

You cannot achieve anything in your life just by thinking about it. Instead, you need to actually get out there, do the work, and continue doing the work that is going to lead to the results that you are seeking. People want great things for their life. Lot of motivational books make statements like “you can do and be the things you set out to do and be.” People love believing these sorts of thoughts and they are very comforting. However, what most people miss when studying these lines of thought is that you cannot do and be anything without discipline.

The Protestant Work Ethic that developed according to Weber’s analysis holds that only through hard work can we achieve our desires and dreams. The idea is that there are really no short cuts, and in order to realize long-term success it almost always requires long-term discipline. The most important thing you can do for your ultimate success is to have and apply long-term discipline to your work and life. The more discipline you have, the better long-term results you are likely to get.