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What does a word “fool” mean to you?

I started this blog with an idea of exploring good and wise money saving habits and extra income generating ideas. Then I realized that it would not matter if you lack discipline. This post is about laying a good foundation for everything in life, not just about saving money.

Recently I got curious about the meaning of the word “fool” and I asked few friends on what does it mean to them. The answers were similar and vague: one who lacks common sense; one who makes unwise decisions; one who is naive and easily fooled. But all these descriptions are biased because they are based on each individual personal opinion – some decision might seem foolish to one and wise to another.

Then yesterday I was looking at my notes from 2008 futures trading seminar, back then I went for a private tutoring with trader Joe Ross in Texas. Joe is in his 70s and one of the  most respected mentors in the trading industry. I came across Joe’s definition of a fool written in my notes and it started me thinking. I don’t remember how we came onto this topic, but I remember Joe saying: “For me, a fool is a person who cannot follow his own advice and who blabs about his affairs to anybody who would listen.” I wrote it down.

I completely agree with Joe’s definition. Think about it: if you know what is the right thing to do but then you go ahead and still do a wrong thing, then you are a fool. Many would call this a self-sabotage or a lack of discipline, it is both in fact and many other things, but how would you call such a person? What if somebody tells you: you know this guy, he did this foolish thing knowing it was bad, then if you agree, you say, right, he is a …

The second part of Joe’s definition is about blabbing. This one is simple, if you don’t tell anybody about what you are doing, then there will be no embarrassing if things don’t work out. By keeping your mouth shut, you keep your ego in check  and your priorities straight. On the big scheme of things, talking about one’s affairs without other party expressing interest about it first, is a a lack of discipline.

Further thinking got me to the conclusion that a fool generally lacks self-discipline. For myself, I changed Joe’s definition to a simpler one: ” A fool is a person who lacks self-discipline.” Everything else can be derived from that. You know it is right not to eat three pieces of birthday cake but you do; you know it is not right to tell your criticizing pessimistic uncle about your new project, but you still do and get an avalanche of negative comments on why it wouldn’t work which make you almost quit… List can be endless…

Now, let’s get to the next logical question. How do you stop being a fool? The answer is simple: become disciplined. Don’t tell anybody about it, and I mean nobody. Do it for yourself. You will see that things will start changing.  Take one baby step at a time. Say no to a piece of cake just once. Fool yourself – tell yourself you will have two pieces next time. You will like the feeling of raising self-esteem if you don’t eat it and you will forget the two piece promise.  If somebody insists on you having it, do not explain anything to anybody, just say that you don’t want it and politely decline. You see, a lot of people like to put other people down. And if you tell such a person that you don’t want the cake because you started new diet or trying to lose weight, they will sabotage you by saying something similar to: ” Oh, just this once, it won’t hurt you.” Do it with everything when building self-discipline.

Peter Clemens has this great post on his blog PickTheBrain.com: “Self-discipline involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment.” Completely agree,  he also gives many nice pointers on how to start building self-discipline in this post.

If you are serious about the subject, I highly recommend this book: “Self-Discipline in 10 Days: How to Go from Thinking to Doing” by Theodore Bryant.  This book is more a workbook with exercises than a treatise. It walks you through the fear types that hold us back and teaches you how to overcome them at the moment when action is needed. Take it on faith and just do the exercises.

Good luck on your journey!