Steps To Achieveing Self-Discipline

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By Rosie Kinsella

“Discipline is when one uses reason to determine the best course of action regardless of one's desires, which may be the opposite of excited. Virtuous behaviour can be described as when one's values are aligned with one's aims: to do what one knows is best and to do it gladly”.

In life, there are many different qualities and skills one can own or learn to allow success to contribute to their happiness; self-discipline is one of them. Self-discipline is the one learned skill that can sustain long-term success in all aspects of your life. Whether it’s fitness, finances, work ethic or relationships.

The reason for people finding it difficult to achieve self-discipline, is that you are ultimately the one in control of your behaviour's. You monitor them, and must make conscious decisions to engage or not to engage. To act or not to act. To speak or not to speak. You are fully accountable for your situations and circumstances. It is a learned behaviour that is repetitive throughout your daily life. Self-discipline also means you must master your thoughts. If you cant master what you think, you cannot master what you do.

Multiple studies have been carried out, and 90% of the time it is proven that individuals who are self-disciplined easily outperform those that are not. But how do you become self-disciplined? What are some of the key steps to getting there?

I would say the first step for most people who are looking to be self-disciplined, is to understand what it is you want in life. Without knowing your purpose, the goals you want to accomplish – what are you being disciplined for? If you don’t yet know what it is you want to do with your life, or anything you want to achieve in another aspect of it, you need to find out. You need to be confident in what it is you are seeking. You must really want it, more than anyone else. You must find it, and be willing to work for it.

This then allows you to focus on priorities. Prioritizing means you are developing effective strategies for managing your time, which is one of the most important steps. If you are pointlessly using your time without any conscious management, wasting it on unproductive antics, or spending it on the wrong things, you are going to fail. You cannot set the goals you want to achieve, without applying descriptive clean steps.

People will complain that they are not where they want to be, or that they are not achieving what they want to accomplish, because they cannot apply a critical eye to themselves to recognize why they are experiencing failure. For example, your ultimate dream in life is to be a CEO. You are studying a degree in Marketing, your schedule is very 9-5. After your day is finished, the problem is that you are accepting that it is finished.

Coming home from your timetabled lecturers, to then spend hours engaging in meaningless habits such as scrolling through Twitter or playing video games. Spending 4 hours of your evening exercising your thumb on the screen of your phone when there’s plenty of more important things to be doing. Watching interviews with current CEO’s to gain an understanding of how they run their business, reading books, extending your knowledge, listening to podcasts, researching the stories of business men and woman, working extra hours on a project.

You then have the audacity to find fault, when you are the one in your own way. You must identify your errors, and create an action plan on how to stop making them. You cannot just float through the weeks with an argumentative and critical outlook on why you’re not being successful. The first steps to overcome this problem, is to create a time log. Write down everything you do in a week and identify the areas of your life where you waste the most time. Then begin to write down ways in which you can improve your time usage, things you can start to do to benefit reaching your goals.

You have to be willing to get up at 5am/6am. You have to be willing to be the one prepared to stay behind working late when everyone else goes home. You have to be willing to stay awake working until 3am, to then have to get back up at 6am to go back to work. You have to be willing to go without some of the things you want for a while. You have to be willing to put in the time.

To those that are focused yet experiencing defeat, sometimes failure stems from not identifying the important goals or breaking them down into discreet steps. By creating so many at a time, the build-up of stress leaves you overwhelmed with what to complete first. You must create a clear set of goals, with the most important ones at the top of your list.

Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same thing; it doesn’t necessarily matter how many goals you achieve, if you’re not achieving or focusing on the most important ones. Don’t forget, you don’t need to have one primary route to achieve your goal if you don’t want too. Map out six or seven resultant plans to help you.

Your mind-set is an extremely important factor to conquering self-discipline. Making emotional decisions, not showing up or doing something because you don't want too, having a negative outlook on your abilities are just a few of the biggest faults people face when trying to be successful. You need to change your thought processes and the way you think, to allow for success to be attracted to you. You must master your moods and remember that the main focus is to achieve.

Practice. You must practice what it is you want to excel at. Unfortunately, you can’t just wake up one day and be equipped with the skills you need. Enthusiasm does not make up for preparation. It takes time, it takes patience and it takes dedication. To be self-disciplined requires a significant amount of realized potential, to then be able to manifest your desires and showcase your talents. We achieve things by training ourselves. Over the course of training, we form habits. The habits that you create allow you sustainability. Talents and inspiration will only take you so far.

The key to your habits, is making them disciplined ones. For example, if you want to be an effective leader, you need to start identifying their type of qualities so you can incorporate them into your own life. You then begin practicing these habits. Ask yourself, “What can I do in the environment I’m in right now that will allow me to gain the characteristics I need?”. It could be something as simple as extending your understanding on this skill from watching interviews or reading books. Do this every night before you go to sleep. Create a routine.

Perseverance is the next greatest step to achieving self-discipline, because it keeps you from giving up. Keep going when things don’t go right, and develop strategies to deal with failure. Remember, you’re allowed to fail. Without failure, you wouldn’t experience some of your greatest lessons. Perseverance is usually the most difficult thing to do when things are going wrong, yet the easiest when things go right. You feel like it’s easier to give up and make up 101 excuses, rather than accept your defeat. It takes more strength and courage to keep going. You’re allowed to have your moments. You’re allowed to be frustrated, angry, scream, cry – but don’t give up. Your patience and faithfulness to your hustle will be greatly rewarded one day

Self-discipline would be pointless without creating your Action Plan. It’s important you set clear intentions about what it is you want to gain. For example, you’ve chosen a career you wish to enter. Second plan of action: working out a strategy to help you enter this career e.g.; interview, application process or required qualifications. Step three: developing the skills you need to enter your craft and be successful in it, and so forth. Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How do I get there? A great way to start is following an action model, many can be found online.

Another factor to contribute to self-discipline would be the removal of distractions. From social media, to partying, anything that is wasting your time. It’s OK to miss a few parties, to not be present online when someone breaks the internet. It’s OK to say No to your friends, It’s OK to take time for yourself and focus on what needs to be done.

It’s also important to schedule breaks and treats for yourself. The journey to achieving self-discipline is one you must complete alone, so you become the one most aware of the time you’re spending on working hard. It’s necessary to take a day to claim your peace of mind, treat yourself to dinner or a shopping day, or do absolutely nothing. The mind and body needs rest to be able to function at its best performance, so don’t overwork yourself!

I urge anyone reading this who is aware that they need to begin the journey to self-betterment, to start now. Not in 2 minutes, not in 2 weeks, but right now. Get out your notepad, and map out your goals. Your dreams and your vision. Eliminate the bad, focus on the good. Forgive yourself for not starting sooner, and accept that you are now going to embark on a journey that is going to benefit you for many years to come. We are given one life in this era, it’s crucial we use the precious gift of time so wisely. If you want to be excellent, it’s time to take responsibility for your life. Life is so short, don’t waste any more time wishing or complaining. Start doing.