My son competed in another meet today- which earned him a 1st on tumble track, a 2nd on trampoline and a 3rd on double mini. He was really thrilled! He has been taking awards away from every meet lately. And these are the rewards of hard work and effort put in, the rewards of 6-8hrs of practice and discipline each week even through the Summer. There is an amount of conditioning and structured continuance with the program associated with reaping the rewards in the way that he is right now. There are very seldom any slack off times.

But it doesn't come without sacrifice also. He doesn't have time for other activities and recently he got behind on his homework and projects because of the evenings at gymnastics, and had to spend recess time catching up as well as certain evenings at home with no tv, which was basically giving up his downtime. Even through this though, he continues to love gymnastics and thrives on the success he is experiencing. 

Where I'm going with this is that discipline does come at a price, but if the rewards are worth it, the sacrifices eventually become meaningless in terms of being real sacrifices, they were perceived sacrifices at one point ... But that does change over time with perserverance.

Is your pleasure center more stimulated by the rewards of success resulting from discipline, or from the in the moment pleasures that offer no real goals or building blocks put towards something meaningful??

Have a great weekend!