Perhaps the most important function of self-discipline is to help you stay focused on any desired goal until you reach the goal. Only the strictest sort of self-discipline will help you master the eighth principle in the Science of Personal Achievement—controlled attention and concentration.
Controlled attention is the act of coordinating all the faculties of the mind and directing the combined power to a given end. Control is the key to this thought power. Attention that is not controlled and directed may be nothing more than idle curiosity.
Success, in all the higher brackets of individual achievement, is attained by the application of thought power properly organized and directed to definite ends. Power, whether it be thought power or physical power, is attained by a concentration of energy. The greatest of all forms of thought power is what is developed by the application of the Master Mind principle. For here, the power of many individual minds may be concentrated on the attainment of any given object. The scientist concentrates his mind on the search for the hidden fact and secrets of nature. Lo, the combined powers of the universe seem to conspire to reveal them to him. Military men concentrate on organized warfare, and through their search for new and more effective weapons of warfare they uncover new and better means of production in industry; new formulas in chemistry, physics, biology, psychology; and many other shortcuts to desirable ends in the business of living. Concentration of military power, at a given point, is the means of major importance by which victories are gained.
In business and in industry, the principle of concentration is the keynote of success. William Wrigley, Jr., concentrated on the manufacture of a five-cent package of chewing gum and lived to see the entire nation of people take up the habit of chewing gum, not to mention the fortune he accumulated for his efforts. F. W. Woolworth concentrated on the operation of five- and ten-cent stores and accumulated a great fortune from the sale of gadgets and trinkets in the low-price field of merchandise.
John D. Rockefeller concentrated on the refining and sale of oil, and he made it deal him a fortune sufficient for the needs of 10,000 men whom he employed. Henry Ford concentrated on the manufacture and distribution of a low-priced, dependable automobile and became the directing head of one of America’s greatest industrial enterprises. Edgar Bergen concentrated on a block of wood called Charlie McCarthy and made it bring him fame and fortune far beyond his ordinary needs.
Madame Curie concentrated on the discovery of the source of radium and kept her mind on that purpose until nature was forced to give up the secret of radium. The signers of the Declaration of Independence concentrated on the desire for liberty and personal freedom for the people of the United States. They concentrated so effectively that liberty and freedom may become the common property of all the people of the world.
Andrew Carnegie concentrated on the manufacture and sale of steel and remained steadfast in his purpose until he ushered in the great steel age, which was destined to change, for the better, the living habits and the standard of living of the people of an entire nation. His efforts yielded him more money than he could give away during his lifetime.
Wilbur and Orville Wright concentrated on the building of airplanes, and lived to see the product of their brains become the master of the air. Thomas A. Edison concentrated on scientific invention. Though he was practically without formal education, he lived to see the products of his brain serve humankind in no less than a hundred different ways. To him the world is indebted for the great electrical age, which has improved the entire American way of life by lessening the labors of men and women.
Henry J. Kaiser concentrated on the building of ships to fill the emergency needs of a country at war. Though he had never built ships before, he concentrated on his job so effectively that he amazed the entire shipbuilding industry by his speed and efficiency, excelling the efforts of men who had been engaged in shipbuilding all of their lives.
Last but not least, the Nazarene concentrated on the task of teaching people how to live with one another in peace and harmony. Though his efforts have not yet reached their intended climax, his teachings have become the greatest single influence this world has ever known.
Source: The Science of Personal Achievement by Napoleon Hill