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In high school, I used to shoot free-throws from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. at school.  My mom is a teacher, and we’d get to school before anyone else, so I had the gym to myself.

In four years of high school, I can’t estimate the number of practice shots I took.  Thousands and thousands.  My practice was a discipline.  I loved the results of my practice — I became the best free-throw shooter on the team.  And, here’s the crazy part I was thinking about today:  I loved the practice!

I actually miss that practice.  I don’t play competitively anymore, but I’d still love to be able to shoot hundreds of shots a day — just for the discipline of it.  There’s something satisfying about knowing that I’m doing something that few others are willing to do.

So why don’t I find discipline in my finances enjoyable?  Or, discipline in my eating habits?  Or, my prayer time?  The value of these things far outweighs shooting some free-throws.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• I view self-discipline as unenjoyable, so I don’t make any effort to find the joy in other activities.  Maybe I should start looking for what is “fun” about these other things to create a sense of fulfillment in the practice itself.
• I don’t stick with anything long enough to make it a real part of my life.  Instead, I dabble in a “little of this, little of that” discipline.  I shot free-throws for four years — I don’t think I’ve every done anything else that long.
• I don’t take scheduled breaks from other self-disciplines.  I took breaks from free-throws on holidays and in summer when school was out.  I wonder if I could schedule certain “breaks” from my other practices that would allow me to keep it fresh.
• I don’t have confidence in myself.  With free-throws, I felt completely at ease that if I shot a lot of free-throws, I’d get better.  I’m not sure I believe that not eating donuts will make me any healthier, or saving more money each month will make my future more secure.

I’ll have to think about this some more.  Can any discipline be made enjoyable?