Self-Discipline is a Key to Many Doors
Do you remember your school days, when your teacher told you that you should have self-discipline to be successful at school and you just rolled your eyes? Now self-discipline is what matters.
But what is self-discipline? Self-discipline is about training yourself to follow standards and rules that help you to achieve your goals. It improves not only your productivity, but your self-confidence. Self-discipline helps you to stay focused for a long period of time.
First steps for developing self-discipline
Self-discipline isn’t a feature that is given at birth. It’s like a muscle that you should train. So you have to expand some effort to get it into the habit.
First of all, you need a reason why. A strong desire, motivation and inspiration are fuel for self-discipline. Without them, there is a little hope to develop self-discipline. You should ask yourself:
· What is my goal?
· Why do I want it?
· Why should I make efforts?
Personal standards
Personal standards matters when you work toward your goal. They influence your behaviour, actions, choices thought the day. That’s why you should outline standards that you’ll uphold. Ask yourself:
· What standards will I uphold?
· What standards will I not accept?
· What choices will I accept when I get off track?
These questions are very important to make agreements with yourself. It’ll make your life path easier.
With stakes and incentives
I mentioned the situation when you may get off track. Of course it may happen, because our motivation often ebbs and flows. In order to avoid that, you should establish penalties and rewards system. For example, you may reward yourself for the particular kind of the behaviour or for making right choices.
Here is a motivational video to stay the course:
Preparations are completed!
So when you finished above mentioned steps, you’re ready for developing self-discipline! Here are some efficient ways that will help you:
1. Without doubt
I think you understand that this path involves an enormous effort, because it’s hard to change yourself. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, explains that “habit behaviors are traced to a part of the brain called the basal ganglia — a portion of the brain associated with emotions, patterns, and memories. Decisions, on the other hand, are made in the prefrontal cortex, a completely different area. When a behavior becomes habit, we stop using our decision-making skills and instead function on auto-pilot. Therefore, breaking a bad habit and building a new habit not only requires us to make active decisions, it will feel wrong. Your brain will resist the change in favor of what it has been programmed to do.”
So, work hard and you’ll undoubtedly achieve your goal!
2. Identify what do you want
You should clearly understand what you want to change or get. It can be a habit that you want to develop or a accomplishment that will help you succeed at work. So ask yourself the important question, “What do I want?” And the answer should be clear.
3. Start with small things
Every year people say that this year will be different. You can do this year different, but you can’t change everything in your life at once. And after you decided to develop self-discipline, you’d not wake up as a different person. Arm yourself with patience and pick just one thing.
4. Make a list
You should clearly understand what you must do to achieve your goal. In order not to keep it in mind make a list. And start your day day with a list of tasks that you need to accomplish. It can be not just a to-do list, but a plan for a day. It should contain everything- from checking emails to shopping. Keep track of your accomplishments to see the progress.
5. Use Technology
If you use technology not for procrastination, but in order to improve yourself, it’ll be an efficient tool for self-discipline. But I’m not speaking about Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. There are a lot of apps for the phone that will help you to become better. For example, ZenZone, a brain fitness trainer. The official site describes it like that, “ZenZone offers Apps that provide a wide range of solutions and each App is focused on achieving a different and specific objective (like reducing stress or mindfulness skills).”
Motivation
If you’re really want to change your life remember you’re an adult. Adults don’t sit around and wait until someone tells them what to do, they just do it. Only discipled people are succeed. So keep calm and work hard!
What are your ways to develop self-discipline? Is it hard for you?
