Developing Self – Discipline.
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Developing Self – Discipline.
To obtain your goals and dreams, the one thing you need is Self-Discipline. Every successful person has had to work on disciplining themselves in order to achieve their goals.
We have become a spoiled society. We have become reliant on ‘instant gratification’ – fast food instead of cooking / cars instead of walking/ instant entertainment such as TV, ipods, internet instead of learning the skills to entertain ourselves.
to see a video on Self Discipline.
In developing self-discipline…
… you need to understand the 4 key ingredients.
* Self-control – This includes emotion, thoughts, actions and words. you need to identify the areas of your life which are out of control. Work on these one at a time otherwise you will be overwhelmed and doomed to fail. Start small and work up to big. For example – giving up smoking, change eating habits, do more housework, organise more time with the family,etc.
* Motivation – this is the fuel which drives success.This fuel drives your actions, thoughts and direction.You need motivation in order to do something.For example – ‘Why tidy the spare room?’ Because we have visitors staying for a month.You might find that the room looks so good, you will be motivated to tidy all of them.
* Persistence – this means that you keep on trying no matter what the difficulties.Small achievements fire up the urge to keep going. For instance – learning how to skip. You gave yourself time and put in lots of practise before you were successful.
* Goals – both short-term and long-term goals need to be written down and constantly read and revised.Write down the steps you are going to take to achieve these goals.
Developing self-discipline…..
… is important.
Since self-discipline is so important, how can it be developed?
Here are some practical tips:
* Start with the small things
Clean and tidy your room or desk. Create space for everything and learn to return everything to the correct spot when you’ve finished with it. After you’ve cleaned your room or desk, keep going and clean and tidy the rest of the house.Extend this activity to your workplace too.
* Be organised.
Create a schedule and stick to it. Make a list of things to do and cross them off when they are done. Write important dates on a calendar/ computer and then enter them into your iphone.
* Don’t look for entertainement.
In your free time, stimulate your mind by reading, listening to music, taking up a hobby, exercising, engaging in conversation. Be productive instead of lying around waiting to be entertained.
* Be on time.
Being punctual shows that you are organized. It reveals a person who is in control. It also acknowledges respect for the other person.
* Keep your word.
Don’t promise anything you don’t intend to carry out. If you say you will do something, then do it. This encourages trust between the two parties.
* Tackle the hard things first.
I’ve always done this. If the hard tasks are done and over with, the reward is the easier tasks which are usually more enjoyable. Prioritising is important here too.
List them in order of priority. Work through the list, but always finish one task before starting the next.
* Accept criticism.
Accept well-meaning criticism. You know the saying – ‘Learn from your Mistakes’. It’s true. Everyone makes mistakes and it should be looked upon as a learning tool. Your parent or boss is there to guide you. Learn from them.
* Learn to say ‘NO’.
This is a real test of self-discipline. Lots of us find it hard to do. Examples here are – Say No to the cake with coffee, the extra cigarette, the extra time lying in bed or in front of the TV.
Positive self-talk is essential in all of this.
Here are some great sites which you can go to for extra ideas on developing self- discipline:-
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
The steps outlined above are only a few of the things you can do in developing self-discipline. If any of these suggestions have helped you, please feel free to add to the list of ideas and remember to share.