I am no guru but I try hard to walk my talk. To me, having self discipline has been a big part of my success. For over 35 years I was getting out of bed at 2am, and I never missed a day. People would often say to me ‘How do you do it?’ Self discipline!

I found a big part of that is disciplining my mind as well. That self talk, that little voice that chatters away inside your head all the time, saying things like ‘You’re the boss, have a sleep in’, ‘Go to the party, they won’t miss you at work’, etc. At times I would have loved to stay in bed but I had that discipline.

I have to tell you, I still have my struggles, my frustrations and my fears, I am still a work in progress! I have no extra skills or talents than anyone else. I just do what has to be done, when it needs to be done. Self discipline is all about not allowing the question of whether I feel like it or not to even enter my head.

At times I can be slack, inefficient and a bit lazy, but when I have a really productive day I feel terrific, it makes my life a lot more interesting. And those days happen when I have the self discipline to buckle down and do what needs to be done. The more I exercise my discipline, the stronger it gets. And the stronger it gets, the more confident I become. Every day that I am in Beechworth I walk in the bush for one hour, rain, hail or shine. It’s all about self discipline.

Being a baker I absolutely love all bakery food; vanilla slices, cream cakes, pies, bread, biscuits, the whole range. So when I walk in that door I have to be disciplined otherwise I would be the size of a house by now.

I’m also always asked how I keep motivated. I have found that if I have exciting & challenging goals I am motivated. Great goals get me out of bed full of energy. Yet most of us don’t dream big enough. Motivation is a lot like BO – if I don’t shower each day I am not fun to be around, so every day I have to work on my personal hygiene. Motivation is just like that: I have to work every day on staying motivated, so I need to keep having goals that will stretch me! Now goal setting comes back to having self discipline. Most people don’t have the discipline to write down their goals.

To keep motivation going strong, I need to see myself in a positive light, I have to be in love with life and raring to go. Self discipline and motivation are like that old song about love and marriage: they go together like a horse and carriage.