Self-Discipline is what separates the best from the rest.
Although many believe to ways ,to build self-discipline, I like to call them Habits!!
From the ancient times there was one ability or skill , whatever you want to name it, that separates the best from the rest and its called self-discipline, many like to call it also self-discipline.
Let me introduce you 9 habits to master self-discipline and be able to accomplish anything you want in life!
” Motivation gets you going, but Discipline gets you growing!”
Self-Discipline Definition
One of my favorite Self-Discipline definition is this :
Self-Discipline is about leaning into resistance. Living a life by design, not by default. Taking action in spite how you feel. But most importantly, it’s acting in accordance with your thoughts – NOT your feelings.
Self-Discipline is tough. It is an inner fight of how you feel towards an action and doing it despite that. However We can build tho the ability to listen to our feelings and do the action no matter what.!
Discipline and self-discipline is the ability to stick to what you want to do no matter what obstacles you encode, no matter what excuses your mind may find!
I strongly believe that self-discipline is an ability that we all can practice and acquire. Mastering self-discipline will have a huge impact in our lifes.
” If discipline were practiced in every home,juvenile delinquency would be reduced by ninety-five percent.”
_ j.Edgar Hoover.
1. Gratitude.
Well this one might seem a bit philosophical , but trust me in the long run it does work. It is an inside out change!
Gratitude is the well known to all of us feeling of appreciation.
We spend time wanting things and even when we get them we want more. Wanting creates a state of lack that has a downside to our discipline, because It decreases our mental energy and capacity. Therefore it enhances the action according to our feelings.
Start appreciating things in your life, small things because small things add up.
Being grateful improves our mental health, our emotional wellbeing, and our spirituality. But most importantly, it helps us to move away from a state of lack and towards a state of abundance.
Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie
Self-Discipline through Gratitude.
Just take 5 minutes or less every morning. Make a list of 3 things you are really grateful for. Although writing them down helps a lot, I personally found that even thinking/feeling of them has the same impact. Choose simple things from the previous days or a great feeling you got or even the breath. Try to use at least on different every morning , if not all of them.
2. Be aware of yourself.
If i had to choose only one skill or ability or whatever you wanna call it , it would be hands down Self-Awareness.
Despite the positive impact of self-awareness in life , it also helps in building self-discipline.
Self-Aware is Being. It means to be able to see through your self, your feelings, your actions, your motivations etc. . Then you can understand/realize why you did or felt something but without judging it.
Judging is a trap and you must avoid it. On the other hand you can always analyze yourself to understand even further. Understanding and apprehension is the key here.
Once you get it, you will be able to change your actions, despite the feelings. For example why you decided to play a video instead of work on a project important to you.
Self-Discipline through Self-Awareness.
Self-Awareness is the best way to learn from your mistakes and use fail to make progress. And as I know that applies to everything, from self-improvement, self-development etc.
Watch what your reactions and feelings are during a fail or a success. Watch your reactions and feelings after you got some discipline and compare to a non discipline self of yours.
Self awareness does not stop you from making mistakes, it allows you to learn from them.
Notice how you feel when you actually did the thing that required self-discipline. Did that make you feel more confident about yourself? Wouldn’t you like to get that feeling more often?
That way you learn and understand things about you, that you never before noticed or knew their existence.!
Be self aware, rather than a repetitious robot.!
Bruce Lee.
Practicing Meditation will improve your self-awareness. Give it a shot, it takes time to see the benefits of meditation but it totally worth it.
3. Set clear and simple goals.
Setting clear and simple goals makes them easier to pursue and achieve.
Imagine setting a goals to build a well trained body. Despite the fact that it is achievable in whatever shape you are at, you need to chunk it up. What I mean is you can’t start your day having that in mind. It is way better to set a goal like ” I will do 30 minutes work out today”. Automatically our brain thinks that it is waaay easier than to build that well trained body.
Self-Discipline Through Setting Clear and Simple goals.
A great tip here is a To-DO list. Get a piece of paper before bed and a make a To-Do list for the next day, it’s better to do it at night cause you want use willpower the next day (I explain willpower in this post).
This list may contain up to three simple and clear goals for the day and one a bit harder and clear one.
for example :
To-DO List:
- buy potatoes and a chicken
- read 15 pages of my book
- organize my office
- hit the gym for at least 30 minutes. (<– this is the harder one)
The harder one of course differs from person to person, I believe that organizing my office is harder than hitting the gym but you think the opposite. We need some self-awareness here…
Don’t forget to “x” your done things in the list. That way we get the feeling we achieve our goals for today . So we build self-discipline as long as we keep doing this.
Clear goals is definitely a must. A goal is clear when we can visualize it clearly. We can never get it 100% right but you get my point. Instead of “I will go to the gym 3-4 days a week if i have the time or the strength” we may say “I will go to the gym 3 days a week on Monday – Wednesday – Friday”.
Make your vision so clear that your fears become irrelevant!!
4. Persistence.
At the beginning persistence and discipline seemed to me the same thing. As I went on I realized something really useful.
” Persistence is self-discipline in action”
VagZag
They are linked. But they are not the same thing. You can imagine them like two ropes wrapped.
Use persistent in order to build self-discipline. Even if you fail to persist something at your fullest just keep going. Do not be frustrated if at some point you feel overwhelmed. That amount of self-discipline you will build while you being persistent will stay in you longer than any other activity, because of the strong connection between self-discipline and persistence.
5. Don’t wait for it to “feel right”.
I can say only one thing… I was on that like hell.
If I didn’t feel it right I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t be more wrong .
There is no perfect day to start or worst day to skip. Set a goal and start NOW. Persist it. It will feel right later.
Be happy with what you have,
Be excited about what you want!
Alam Cohen
If you believe it’s something you want to do and it is the first time you try it, just start doing it. Action creates motivation for more action. That constant action is part of self-discipline.
It does’n matter if it is hard or completely new to you, just act. After all it is later that we realize that it wasn’t that hard.
Our mind gets confused when we don’t feel like doing something, let your thoughts be and do it no matter what. That’s a powerful way to build self-discipline. Go against your own mind, it’s ok.
I can understand if you don’t believe me, but just trust me and take action no matter what. That’s self-discipline.
6. Forgive yourself and Move Forward.
No matter the effort, our best try, the excellent planning it will happen and happens to all, we will fail. If it doesn’t happen in the beginning it will happen later. It is part of any process in life.
The key is to keep moving.
Don’t let the feeling of guilt, anger, anxiety, frustration take on. Let them come and pass, it’s natural. If you don’t let them be and pass, these emotions will drag you even further down,and most importantly away from your goal.
Acknowledge what caused the stumble. Be sure to learn from your mistakes and move on, go on!
A part of self-discipline is to, no matter what, keep moving on, keep going on, Keep Improving!
THE TRUTH IS,
Unless you let go,
«» you forgive yourself,
Unless you forgive the situation,
«» you realize that the situation is over,
YOU CANNOT MOVE FORWARD.
Dr. Steve Maraboli
7. Healthy life Helps in Self-Discipline
Healthy life that affects self-discipline can be summarized in 3 categories:
- Eat healthy
- Exercise
- Sleep
Eat Healthy
Eating healthy can improve the performance in whatever target we aim for. Our body craves for healthy food. We can’t realize that unless we try it for at least one month and try to listen to our body. Our mind needs the same, healthy food, but craves for unhealthy, care!
Also, the amount of energy we have plays a huge role in how focused we are. Being focused means we can approach our goals with discipline. When we’re too comatose from the food we eat we unable to focus so we are counterproductive.
A more specific thing is that food can change the neurochemical makeup of the brain, and has a large influence on the mind-body connection. Opt for raw, healthy when you can and limit your intake of junk.
Overall eating healthy gives a good feeling of being and energy to accomplish all the things we want.
Exercise
We all know, either if we exercise or if not, that we are made to move our bodies. We are made to use those muscles more than just, go to work and sit on the couch.
Exercise must be a habit. A habit that makes our life filled with good and positive mood, with energy and motivation. Exercise is a keystone habit! That means making exercising a habit will help i building more good habits.
Nowadays many people are busy, trying to get things done in the day. Too busy that they consider there is no time left to exercise. I would recommend to take 30 minutes at least for 3-4 days in a week and exercise (in any type). Do it for yourself, no one else can.
Although it requires self-discipline to stick to an exercise routine, it creates a huge amount of self-discipline itself.
Sleep
Sleep is directly connected with our ability to discipline ourselves. When we don’t get enough sleep, it affects our mood, ability to focus, our judgement, our diet, and our overall health.
Sleeping for at least 6-8 hours per day is vital for every day’s activities and challenges. We can’t build self-discipline if don’t have the energy and a well-rested body and mind.
Sleep is the best Meditation.
Dalai Lama
Overall, the benefits of getting enough sleep are way more. It will improve your memory, curb inflammation and pain, lower stress, spur your creativity, improve your grades, sharpen your attention, help you avoid depression, and limit your chances for accidents.
8. Build Willpower.
Great heart will not be denied.
J. R. R. Tolkien
I wont lie on that, I had no idea for its existence. Yeah I had a feeling that something was there. Willpower exists and it’s like a muscle, the more we train the more willpower we will.
People do not lack strength;
They lack will.
Victor Hugo
According to studies the amount of willpower a person has is also determined by his/her beliefs. If we believe we have a limited amount of willpower we mire likely to feel exhausted easily and we probably wont be able to surpass those limits easy. Instead if we don’t place a limit we are less likely to feel exhausted and we will be able to surpass our limits eventually.
Understanding the concept of willpower and how to use it will help a lot in self-discipline building.
You are your only limit.
VagZag
9. Meditation.
It is a trend these days. But trust me it does more than you can imagine. I could go on and on , on the benefits of meditation. (read more about meditation).
But in this post i will align it with self-discipline.
Meditation keeps and puts our minds at ease and calmness. It reconnects body and mind in one being.
The goal of meditation is not to control your thoughts,
It’s to stop letting them control you.
It has the potential to improve our self-discipline in a enormous amount and capacity. It clears the mind’s palette and sets the perfect tone for the day coming.
Also meditation helps in improving our physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual health all at once, because it allows you to bring some of the biggest results at a very short period of time invested.
It sets the right mindset and clear vision to organize and simplify things to a lower effort and maximum performance!
The thing about meditation is :
You become more and more you.
David Lynch
At its practice meditation varies. One simple vary is this: 10-15 minutes per day take 3 deep diaphragm breaths, nose inhale mouth exhale, and close your eyes, then take a minute to feel the gravity and notice the noises , smells around you (without judging). Take a quick 30seconds scan of your body, just curios for every part. Then the last part focus on your breath, the loft of your body during a breath. And that’s all. It goes simpler to just do the last part. Morning is the best time to do that, but anytime during the day will do.
From my experience of meditation the above technique is the one i use and it has a tremendous impact to my life!
Conclusion
I could add many things to that list, but I included only things I believe have the greatest impact in self-discipline.
A fair question is where the hell I should start with all these things. Hmm and its a tough one.
I believe that it is impossible to try all these things at once. And definitely someone would quit after 3 days…
So if i had to point out 5 :
- 2. Self-Awareness
- 3. Set clear and simple Goals
- 5. Don’t wait for it to “feel right”
- 7. Healthy Life
- 9. Meditation
Self-discipline is what separates the best from the rest.
It isn’t an over night process. It takes time. But it worth it!
Don’t step back and give yourself a little push every-time. Track and Enjoy the changes and the progress you will make.
Keep it simple, keep it going, Keep Improving.!