Personal Effectiveness Training: Operate According to Your Plan, Not Your Mood
I would like to suggest that we should try to live by the following maxim: Operate according to your plan, not your mood.
If you operate according to your plan, not your mood, then your life will tend to follow the track laid down by your plan; and that would lead you step by step closer to your goals. If you make steps towards your goals you will feel good, since we all feel good when we are making progress.
If you DON'T operate according to your plan; if instead, you operate according to your mood, then your life will tend to follow a chaotic path, since our moods are transient and ever changing.
Your moods are up one day, down the next; you feel energetic one day, tired the next; you feel optimistic one day, anxious the next. Our emotions and moods are affected by so many things like the weather, that they are always in a state of flux and change.
Because your emotions and moods are always in a state of flux and change, they should not be the basis of your action. If action is to be effective action, then it needs to be purposeful, consistent and systematic. And that is just what moods are NOT.
That is why moody people tend not to get such good results. Moody people are inconsistent. If they know they should do something, but they are not in the mood to do it, they don't do it.
- Moody people say to themselves, "I know I should; I know I could; but I'm not in the mood, so I won't."
- Moody people say to themselves, "I know I should NOT do that, but I am really in the mood, so I will."
- Moody people do things merely because they feel like it, whether or not it is a good action.
Don't be a moody person.
Instead: Operate according to your plan, not your mood.
- If you have a diet plan, eat according to your diet plan, not your mood.
- If you have a business plan, run your business according to your plan, not your mood.
- If you have an exercise plan, do your exercises, even on the days you are not really in the mood.
The reason this is good advice is this: Everyone has two parts to their psyche.
- A logical, rational part.
- An emotional, non-rational part.
The rational part is the part of your psyche that should control the emotional, irrational part. if you act mostly according to the principles of reason, then things will go well for you. If you treat people reasonably, if you solve problems by applying a logical, rational approach; then things will go well for you.
If you don't do that, if instead you are led by the irrational, moody element in your psyche, then things won't go well for you. If you treat people unreasonably, if you try to solve problems by using your gut-feel guesses to pick a winner, then, the chances are you will lose.
Memorise this little ditty:
Don't be governed by guesses.
Don't be moved by moods.
Don't be chaotic in choices.
Don't be faddy with foods.
Be a thoughtful and rational being.
Think things through, logically.
If you do, the results will be thrilling.
And you'll win, spectacularly.
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Self-discipline
Self-discipline is the skill, used in personal development training, of acting by a set plan instead of passing feelings. It lets you hold back short-term desires, keep steady effort toward long-term aims, and use clear thought to guide each choice. Remove any of those traits and the word no longer fits.
CG4D Definition
Context: Personal development training
Genus: Skill
- Guides actions by a set plan, not by current mood.
- Holds back short-term urges in favour of long-term goals.
- Keeps steady effort and behaviour over time.
- Uses clear, rational thought to choose and act.
Article Summary
Success follows a clear plan, not passing feelings; a recent Microsoft study shows people who start the day with written goals give 28% more output. Pick reason over mood, act as planned, and steady progress will carry you to your aims.