How To Master Self-Respect
“No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect.”
George Bernard Shaw
Imagine for a moment two different scenarios:
The first scenario involves your most hedonistic self. You jump at every opportunity to experience a pleasure.
Your values take a hit because of your obsessive need to feel good within the moment.
The second scenario involves your most disciplined self. You consciously choose to experience pleasure occasionally, but not at the expense of self-control.
Your North Star is to become a better human being, and the last thing you will do is get in your way because of short term gratification.
The latter version of yourself doesn’t experience self-respect.
The former version of yourself feels the power of doing what’s right, and with that comes admiration for oneself.
Self-respect stems from self-control.
You don’t respect yourself because you are a slave to pleasure and emotion.
Think about how much influence these two forces have on your decision-making process.
Food: If you’re like most people, the food you choose depends on how pleasurable it tastes instead of its quality.
Sleep: If you act like most, a night of forgettable experiences comes at the expense of adequate rest.
Training: You avoid any form of exercise because it’s not enjoyable when you’re pushing the body to its limit.
Here’s a reminder:
People who prioritize discipline always respect themselves because they care about their future.
Others who prioritize pleasure despise themselves because, deep down, they know that they aren’t giving themselves the best chance to thrive.
Every single time I’ve chosen pleasure over discipline, I felt terrible about myself because I understand that I’m losing out on my potential.
Now, that’s not to say you cannot have fun and enjoy yourself.
The most common argument for people who don’t want to practice self-control is that it will take away from their pleasurable experience.
But that’s precisely the point.
If you’re addicted to having fun and don’t like the feeling of that lifestyle, you must logically choose a better one. Only then can you refer back to pleasure and create a healthy relationship with it.
You are always in a fight with two enemies.
The greatest battle takes place within yourself.
What are the greatest enemies to preventing you from living well?
- Chronic Pleasure
- Unquestioned Emotional Impulses
These two things cause most of your problems.
On Chronic Pleasure.
As I previously mentioned, pleasure is not the enemy. It is the addiction to it that creates nasty problems, hence the word ‘chronic.’
There is an old saying:
“The dose makes the poison.”
It’s an adage intended to indicate a fundamental principle of toxicology. It is credited to Paracelsus, who expressed the classic toxicology maxim, “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it, so a thing is not a poison.”
There’s nothing wrong with the goal of having fun. We all love to enjoy ourselves at the moment and have a blast.
But there is a fine line between pleasure and pain, and most people do not know how to deal with it.
Discipline is the solution to this painful experience. You can be in control of yourself while also letting go of it occasionally.
When in doubt, it’s best to make the most emotionally tricky decision within any given situation.
On Unquestioned Emotional Impulses.
I have a significant issue with people who advocate trusting emotion and intuition at all costs. It’s a slippery slope into self-deception.
The majority of your emotional impulses should NOT be trusted, and the decisions you make based on these hurt you more than they help.
There’s a reason why you are your greatest enemy.
Questioning your decisions and the emotions that created them is a priceless life skill to develop. It will save you a lot of time, energy, and money.
There is only one solution to self-hatred.
As you can guess, self-control is the answer to the problems that you have with yourself.
I have never met a disciplined person who despises themselves.
Discipline beats any negative feelings about yourself out of you because you are doing what’s right. There is immense pleasure in knowing that you’re giving it all to becoming excellent.
Once you control the lifestyle, self-esteem and respect become a natural part of your character.
Here are some crucial areas to think about:
- Sleep
- Diet
- Training
- Relationships
- Earning an income
- Stress Management
- Time Allocation
The more you implement discipline with these categories and the other ones not mentioned, the better outcomes you will experience.
Where there is discipline, there is self-respect.
I’m confident that you will be able to rise to the occasion because that’s what I did.
I’ve been in some dark place, but self-control was always there to help me, and it will continue to be there in times of need.
Show yourself some respect with a disciplined lifestyle.
You will feel on top of the world and be ready to manifest what you desire.
