Gimmick Yourself in the name of Self-Governance

I was actually preparing myself to post an article that I have been wanting to post for a long time now, a post on Ronaldinho Gacho – a “phenomenon” as described by his coach and a great inspiration to any professional practice. But then, I thought by making it more generic in nature, I would reach out to a wider & a better audience. I know how my dear football friends would crib about this one line itself; forget the prospect of agreeing to an entire article dedicated to the man from Brazil. I still have it on my desktop though, so might as well post it any day.

So, why the thought of relating “motivation & self-governance” to Ronaldinho? Its very simple, he is one man who I admired and adored, and I still do, for his passion for the beautiful game and desire to be the best in the World, and in a flash, over 3years everything tumbled from He being branded the “World’s Best Player’ to “Football’s Bugs Bunny”, and how ironic that media played a pivotal role for such a dramatic turn around. But lets not discuss that for now, I shall come back to illustrate his case at a later part in this post.

Self-motivation & self-discipline, how important parameters are these in our day to day lives. Could we ever understand the need to be self-governed with these principles? So, what exactly is Self-discipline? It is an ability to control your behavior. That’s it, simple isn’t it? Yet, most of us don’t feel that we own our behaviors. We feel out of control, that we can’t subject our own actions to our conscious minds. The picture portrays a sense of joy and emotions driving her senses. The act of joy can sometimes motivate you more than anything else.

When you define self-discipline that way, then the common equation that binds self-discipline to the ability to stick some rigid regime disappears. Of course, self-disciplined people can stick to rigid structures. But when you gain true mastery over your own actions, then you don’t need some set of rules or protocols to decide how you act. You don’t let any other entity beside your conscious mind to drive your actions, except for carefully chosen habits that you either leave in or instill in your system. This creates the sense of freedom you are finally free to decide exactly what to do with yourself. You’re not enslaved to some habits that you can’t unlearn or emotions that you can’t suppress.

Self-discipline and self-motivation can be quite hyper-intentional, yet floating around like a leaf in the wind may be equally harmful. The difficult thing about self discipline (at least in most cases) is that it feels like something one should force him/herself into it. Of course you can do it. And you must have done it many times, but the problem is that, in the long run you shall inevitable slip. Why? Because you can force yourself out of your balance only for period of time. And that’s it. You can’t keep a sustained effort indefinitely.The moment you relax, you naturally return to you point of origin. The solution is obviously changing your “point of balance”, changing your habits instead of forcing yourself not to follow them. That of course is very challenging path that will require lots of “self discipline” again, at least at the beginning.

Mastery over your own actions can be practiced and cultivated by challenging yourself to a certain routine, like any physical or mental action. The more victory you experience over other forces trying to control your behavior, the more you trust your consciousness to control your actions. Besides, habits can be formed even around things you initially think are hard to do.

I do believe, however, that you make a case for balance within the frame of what I refer to as “mind vs brain.” Over the course of time, the will of the mind can overcome the desires of the brain. Forming good habits takes time and attempting to do this quickly may be self-destructive. Each of us have a certain potential and we cannot reach it without some form of self-discipline. Success is no accident. We simply need to find our own balance to find it.

Now here comes my favorite section of this post, cribbing about my adulation and inspiration for Ronaldinho. Wow wow wow…do not be apprehended, as it wouldn’t be too long. I am reminded of the Engineering Management course during the final spring of my Graduate studies at University of Tulsa. A course taught by Dr. Marcus O Durham, which involved two business attire presentations to improve corporate management and control. One of those presentations was to be on any topic chosen from his test book, and I chose “Motivation”, rather changed it to “Self Motivation”.

And I remember, taking Ronaldinho as an example for a reason that was justified based on his accolades and achievements at that time. A 5min time frame which was not suited for my style of presentation and given my adulation for Ronaldinho, 5mins was too short. Towards the end of the presentation, annoyingly Dr. Durham was fizzling his hand asking to crop it short. To his surprise I did not even look at him and continued staging on how self-motivated could Ronaldinho be for him to perform at the highest level week and week out.

To perform at the level that he does is something no ordinary sports person can dream about. For those who are not aware of club football in Europe, there are National Club Championships, League Cups and also the glorifying European Club Championship. And take all this away you still have the World Cup Qualifiers, International Friendlies, etc. So for him to perform at his best in all these competitions without fatigue and with enthusiasm and given how erratic could Spanish fans get, he had to be very well motivated and disciplined in himself. But for such quality to deter and ruin his career, it would only take his own actions. His fanfare and celebrity status overtook his impulsive play and brought him well below the ground in shame. His move from FC Barcelona was not liked by his and Barca fans, but lack of fitness and motivation led to his exit.

His then coach at FC Barcelona, Frank Rijkaard said on Catalan TV: "You would have to think so. It is a shame, but I am with him. Nobody should forget everything that he has done for this club. I truly hope that he can go out and show the world that he can still play. That time will come and he will need to react well. One must remember everything the way it happened. I did not over-protect him. He is a player that never caused any problems."

He grew fat and was not able to move around freely. People thought that his desire for football is no more and his actions had proven their words more so often. The picture on the right compares Ronnie before and after an injury cum pleasure driven ride. He was often seen clubbing late nights before a game and would always turn in late to the training. Like you read above, Frank was only trying to protect him but not over-protect him. I now wonder if the only cloud on the Ronaldinho horizon is whether he will be deemed too ugly to advertise Viagra in his retirement.

Although I boast about writing this post, some of my goals are still in the waiting. I have hit the gym after a year long gap and feels very nice to be able to do things my way. There are still certain things I crave about doing and disciplining. Waking up early is still a challenge. The earliest I have been able to do on a daily basis is 6:30AM. I believe I could use the hour if I do 5:30AM.

I always recall the following quote:

“The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret”

Burn this quote into your memory, and recall it whenever you find yourself being tested. It may change your life.