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Yep, that’s the word all right. I did not misspell it. "Musterbation" is a word that Dr. Albert Ellis( a renowned American psychologist) described a kind of frame of mind that we whip ourselves with a lot of "shoulds" or "oughts." When we "musterbate" we flagellate ourselves with a set of rules and standards, lots of "musts", "oughts" and "shoulds" that we feel intense pressure to perform. It’s as if you are forcing yourself to do the tasks. We defeat ourselves by the way we force ourselves to get moving. We feel like an ex-convict under a tyrannical probation officer. Every tasks seem unpleasant and dull we can’t stand to face it. For example, have you experience desperately wanting to lose weight but ironically you ended up lazing around not exercising and stuffing yourself with greasy hamburgers and sinfully rich chocolates? How about telling yourself that you ought to write and finish that report tonight, so...

“He who conquers his self is mightier than he who conquers a city.” I forgot who said that line but the message stuck with me. It means have control over yourself first before you can have control over other things outside of yourself.. Private victories precede public victories. It all starts within you. Self- discipline and self control are major components if you want to master yourself. Self-mastery is a pre-requisite to transforming yourself into changed and better individual. The words self discipline and self control are enough to make you cringe. It means deprivation. It means loss of freedom. Sacrifice. Delayed gratification . But think of the rewards when you are able to discipline yourself. It’s enough to get you motivated. What separates the winners from the average people is that the winners reach a level of self-mastery accomplished through self discipline. Winners do not lose heart and become devastated by their misfortunes. They don’t become slaves to bad habits. They...