By Chief Kola

Developing Discipline and Willpower

Discipline is strengthened by practice. Willpower is fueled by your motivation. What is your motivation? Why are you doing this? Let that ultimate goal be the reason you hold yourself accountable to improve yourself for the masses. The colony perverts discipline, making you think it’s something to be feared, or hurtful. Discipline can be a preventative treatment for future consequences or painful consequences for not preparing ahead of time. Know that discipline is not painless or comfortable but it also does not restrict. Discipline is liberating. Discipline is not meant to break you down, but build you up.

Instant gratification weakens discipline and willpower. Regardless of how excited you are to complete a challenge, as soon as it gets challenging the temptation to distract yourself creeps up. It only grows when those temptations and distractions are shiny, loud, engaging, and within arms reach. Why work hard and wait for that fulfilling reward when a cheap imitation is at my fingertips? Willpower is not selling out the long term goal for short term interest. 

Colonizer researchers have found that self discipline is a stronger indicator of colonial academic success than “IQ” is.

How psychologists define willpower:

• The ability to delay gratification, resisting short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals

• The capacity to override an unwanted thought, feeling, or impulse
• The ability to employ a “cool” cognitive system of behavior rather than a “hot” emotional system
• Conscious, effortful regulation of the self by the self
• A limited resource capable of being depleted

How psychologists recommend building willpower:

• Avoid temptations
• Make a plan
• Monitor your progress according to your plan

How Revolutionaries Lay Out Developing Willpower & Discipline

What we need is an enthusiastic but calm state of mind and intense but orderly work

-Mao Zedong

Look with excitement, happiness, peace and positive emotions that you are molding yourself into the revolutionary needed for your people. The more you dread doing what is necessary, the more difficult it will be to complete

Communists should set an example in being practical as well as far-sighted. For only by being practical can they fulfill the appointed tasks, and only far-sightedness can prevent them from losing their bearings in the march forward

-Mao Zedong

Without preparedness, superiority is not real superiority and there can be no initiative either. Having grasped this point, a force that is inferior but prepared can often defeat a superior enemy by surprise attack

-Mao Zedong

Keep the end goal in mind. You made a plan, hold yourself accountable by following it and when doubt arises, think of the reason you’re doing this. Discipline improves preparedness.

We must thoroughly clear away all ideas among our cadres of winning easy victories through good luck, without hard and bitter struggle, without sweat and blood

-Mao Zedong

The colony conditioned us to work hard to build up our “video game avatars” because we see those results quicker and more prominently than when we put that work into our real lives. There are no cheat codes or guide books to life. Victories come through struggle, and your “level up” may not come with new gear or music, but it will be hard work and it will be worth it.

Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so ‘safe,’ and therefore so shrinking and rigid and afraid that it is why so many humans fail. Most middle-aged adults have resigned themselves to failure

-Malcolm X

As we are learning and practicing discipline, we won’t always follow the plan exactly. Don’t be ashamed to fail, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t succeed on the first try or the 10^th try. Keep trying, discipline is in always getting up and learning from the experience.

Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression

-Malcolm X

You’re using your power (and your willpower) to be disciplined for your people, to take down white power. Lacking discipline is relinquishing your power to bad habits. By not consciously using your power (exercising discipline to grow), you’re unintentionally perpetuating white power.

Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your — your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action

-Malcolm X

There are two ways to achieve ideological unity and inner cohesion: criticism and self-criticism. Everyone, from the top down, must use them to achieve ever closer unity and greater progress -Ho Chi Minh

…the truth can be quickly received, or received at all, only by the sinner who knows and admits that he is guilty of having sinned much. Stated another way: only guilt admitted accepts truth -Malcolm X

Be honest with yourself. How did you plan on being more disciplined? How is the plan going? What is working and failing. Change comes from being honest with oneself . Inner cohesion and peace come from being honest, acknowledging what you deny about yourself (because the colony conditioned us to feel shame for being human) and letting what is affecting you go, or changing what can be. Without degrading yourself, acknowledge your role and power in the situation, be accountable for your actions, and take steps to make change.

While putting all his mind and energies in service of the common success of the collective organization and clearly realizing his function and role in the common cause, each cadre must accomplish his personal responsibility assigned by the organization with his greatest efforts and with self-imposed discipline

-Le Duan

Discipline can be forced externally, but it is your responsibility. In the colony, the plantation didn’t baby you to fall in line. It didn’t call you to wake you up to get to the plantation on time, or “incentivize” (give you a huge bonus) you to come to work. Fear of being without a job and losing your home fueled that discipline. Fear of the consequences for not falling in line created that discipline in you to wake up for your alarm and do the job according to their rules. Fear of the future led to setting up structures in the present. What is your long term goal? How disciplined are you to achieve it?

If you are ready to be more disciplined for your goals, and for revolutionary work, than you are for your colonial job, then join Black Hammer Organization!

Use your writing talents to further the Liberation of all Colonized People by joining Black Hammer Times today! We are looking for journalists, reporters, poets, and more, so do not worry; there is a spot on our team for you.

You can also submit your work to us, and as long as it unites with our 4 Principles of Unity, you will see your writing published on all of our platforms.