It is said that in order to accomplish great things in life, we must constantly be learning and acquiring new skills. And while that is true, it is not all. Many people tend to leave out the fact that without consistency and persistence, acquired knowledge won’t give you much. It is the effort that you put in over long periods of time that will make the difference. It is the ability to make mistakes, to not give up and to keep working hard that will separate you from everyone else. So as you probably can guess, self-discipline is the key here.
Below you will find the seven tips on how to develop self-discipline in order to achieve more success. Enjoy!
1. Self-discipline is a habit
Building self-discipline means building a new habit. This is the very first thing that you must understand about the subject. Both discipline and the absence of it are habits that people form over a period of time, either consciously or unconsciously.
For example, if no one has ever taught you how to develop self-discipline, and you didn’t do it on your own either, you most likely have a bit of chaos in life. The chaos came to you naturally, in an unconscious way.
However, now that you have decided to build that self-discipline, you are going to make it a habit, and you will approach it in a mindful, conscious way. In other words, you will make an effort to form a new habit. You have to be prepared for this.
Becoming self-disciplined can mean breaking old habits and building new ones. The old habits may have formed over the course of your entire life, so it may be not that easy to let go. Similarly, building a new habit may also feel somewhat unnatural and might take time.
But please, don’t be afraid of these challenges. Once the new habit is formed, being self-disciplined will be second nature for you.
2. Set goals
Self-discipline comes through control. And control, from personal experience, is best created through goal-setting.
For example, you need to accomplish something, such as finish a school project by a certain date. You have created a deadline. However, even though you do have a deadline, there is still the danger that you will leave all of the work until the last moment. To avoid this, you have to create a number of goals leading to that deadline, the final goal.
On my path of self-development, setting goals was the very first thing I learned to do properly. It was then when I realized just how much of a difference it makes to have goals in life.
Only once you set goals, you are able to progress in life at a fast rate. They allow you to understand where you are heading and when you should be there. Moreover, if you don’t complete a set goal on time, it becomes an indicator that you are behind schedule.
Without goals, there simply isn’t a schedule to follow. Having deadlines and setting goals is one of the most powerful ways to develop self-discipline.
For goal setting, I use three basic tools. For everyday goals, I use the notes app on my phone, so that I can remind myself of the things I need to do wherever I go. The bigger goals I write down on a whiteboard at home. And finally, I can use a helper journal to keep track of how well I am doing on a weekly basis.
3. No temptations
When it comes to learning how to develop self-discipline, you have to remove all unnecessary distractions from your life. What do I mean by this?
Well, let’s imagine that you love beer (can be anything) more than anything else in life. You drink it on a daily basis. And even though you think that beer is the best thing the humankind has ever invented, you understand that drinking has become a habit and is beginning to negatively affect your health and life in general.
Of course, the only way to stop drinking the beer is to actually not drink it. No rocket science here. However, once you do make the decision to stay away from the nectar of the gods, it’s important to cut away any temptations.
So if you decided to stop drinking and are working hard to build this new sober habit, then it probably isn’t a good idea to go hang out with your friends at a pub.
Depending on your case, you have to be honest with yourself and know what temptations can break you. That being said, I don’t want you to feel restricted and as if you can’t have fun in life. All that I am trying to say is that while you are in the process of building a new habit, try to be a bit more careful with the choices you make.
4. Find your morning ritual
The fourth tip on how to develop self-discipline requires you to create your own morning ritual.
A morning ritual can be anything. It’s simply a behavior that you repeat every morning, the goal of which is to get you in the right state of mind.
I, for example, meditate as soon as I get out of bed. This calms my mind down and makes me stress-proof for the day. I also stay away from checking my email, because if I see there something nasty, it will kill my morning mood instantly. This is not something I want. Finally, I listen for half an hour either to some interesting audiobook or a podcast about motivation and entrepreneurship. This gets me excited for the day and makes me want to work hard on my goals. In other words, it helps me boost the self-discipline.
If you don’t know how to build your own morning ritual or what to include in it, you can get help here.
5. Positive reinforcement
As already stated, building self-discipline can get challenging at times. As a result, you may feel overwhelmed by the process and be inclined to give up. For this very reason, it is important that you put positive reinforcement into use.
Positive reinforcement means rewarding yourself for the hard work you do. It means celebrating your wins and giving yourself a treat when you hit a certain milestone.
For example, if you were disciplined for a whole week, you could do something fun on the seventh day in order to celebrate your success. By doing this, you connect the act of being disciplined to something positive, to something fun and pleasant. This way, you are teaching yourself to enjoy discipline.
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Aside from positive reinforcement, some people also like to use the punishment approach for the times when they fail to stick to the plan. It’s up to you whether you do this, but I personally don’t. Creating a new habit is difficult enough. I wouldn’t want to make it even more stressful.
6. Do it with a friend
If you can’t learn to be self-disciplined on your own, have a friend do it with you. Accountability is a great tool when it comes to setting goals and accomplishing them.
We can easily find an excuse for ourselves not to do something, but if there is another person to whom we made a promise, it is much more likely that we will stick to the plan.
7. Don’t stress over it
The last but not least tip on how to develop self-discipline is all about you not stressing too much.
Sooner or later, we all make mistakes and we all have setbacks. It is inevitable and is a normal part of life. It is important to keep this in mind and to know that if you aren’t perfectly disciplined 100% of the time, it doesn’t mean that you are doing bad. On the contrary, it means that you are learning.
Some people falsely believe that making a mistake is the same as failure, when in reality it’s not. I myself most of the time have the “all or nothing” attitude, the perfectionist approach to things. This kind of mindset pushes me to work hard, but it also often does a lot of harm. I may not succeed at something one out of ten times, but it feels as if I have failed completely and should just give up. It takes some effort to get over these times.
Therefore, don’t stress when your day is not perfect. Relax, let it go and make the next day a better attempt.
The goal of being self-disciplined is not about making your life difficult. It’s actually the opposite – it’s about making your life easier. By being more disciplined, you have less need to stress over things that don’t deserve it. By being more disciplined, you can focus on the most important aspects of life, on reaching goals faster than you would otherwise, and as a result, on having more success.
So take it easy and enjoy the ride. It’s good to work hard, but at the end of the day, life should be something you enjoy.
Thank you for stopping by and good luck!
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