Self-discipline, unlike many other people, is not something that you just get, it’s a skill that you practice every day. Self-discipline is practiced every day, and it’s something you need to do even if you don’t feel like it. Two of the worst things you can is to have your life controlled by someone else or have your life controlled by your own emotions. If you are already an entrepreneur, then you are definitely over getting your life controlled by someone else, and you are the creator and leader of your own life. What’s left is perhaps even harder, and that is setting your emotions aside when you need to.
The Importance of self-discipline:
The Importance of self-discipline lies in the fact that you are going to do what you have to do regardless of what you feel like doing. Self-discipline is one of the most rational things you can practice daily, and it will lead to success.
Self-discipline is critical because it ensures that you are consistent with what you do; it gives you a clear vision of who you are and your worth as a person. With self-discipline, you can gauge and estimate your success because you are the only influencer in your life. In addition to that, self-discipline allows you to perform the best you can, regardless of your emotional state.
- Stop blaming other people for the state you are in:
One of the quickest ways to start being more self-disciplined to start blaming yourself for the situation that you are in. This can be very hard for people who have been brought up in an environment that does not have self-checking. This will ensure that your results are clear from any other influence and that what matters most is what you do on a day to day basis, not what people do to you. As a result, you will start to take action into doing things every day that will ensure your success because your misfortune or bad results means that you were the problem, not other people.
- Practice the 5-second rule:
The five-second rule is one of the most significant ways of making sure that you are over the frozen state. This is the state where you are not doing anything because it feels right at the moment to stay in that situation. An example of this is how most people stay in bed for hours after they wake because staying warm under the blanket in the darkness just feels right. Another example is when you are watching videos or scrolling through posts endlessly.
The five-second rule comes in handy in those frozen situations; all you have to do is to count loudly from 5 to 1. So you would say out loud, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then stop doing what you are doing and get up.
- Visualize ahead:
Wake every day and remind yourself of why you are doing what you do. Visualize how you want your day to go and how your current goals would end. Concentrate on that image of whatever you have been thinking about every single morning and keep that image in your head daily. This will save you self-disciplined and drive. In addition to that, you will also make sure you are doing what you need to do on a day to day basis to make that image in your head a reality.
- Prioritize your goals first:
One of the problems that come across entrepreneurs is that they often dwell in other people’s issues. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, and it also explains the nature of entrepreneurs as helpers and givers. The problem with that is time management, and there is only a finite amount of time that each one of us has, and all that matters at the end are how you used that time to be the best you can be. Fixing other people’s problems will always keep you behind.
Make sure that every day you are aware of the priorities that are set on the day. Whatever comes your way will be filtered through the priority drain. So if the task at hand is going to help you achieve your goal, then do it, if it doesn’t make sense how this can help you in the short or the long term, then throw it down the drain.
- Stop all distractions:
Today’s modern world is full of distractions; everything now is made to keep you hooked. Engineers make Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and most entertainment to distract you from what you are doing and have your mind fixated on the app. If you know you have a strong will and you can simply ignore those outlets, then excellent, you can always have them around. But if you know that you tend to be addicted to distractions like social media, movies, food, or even the people around you, then you have to take action. Take your phone away from you physically when you are doing work, have your back facing other people when you are working, and listen to non-lyrical non-entertaining music.
- Reward yourself for good behavior:
Our brain associates feelings with good and bad behavior. It’s similar to dog training and how to make dogs obedient and disciplined. They give them treats or belly rubs when they do good things, and they introduce loud noise or leave if the dog does a lousy job. Slowly but surely, the dogs start to associate doing those bad things with bad behavior and do more of the good stuff until they eventually become trained dogs. Of course, we humans are much more intelligent and complicated than dogs, but the same principle holds. Figure out what are the non-harmful things that you enjoy, and don’t do them unless you have checked off your to-do list of the day. This will train your brain to be more focused on the things you do every day that you want to do, and eventually, self-discipline becomes an easy task.
- Practice self-discipline in all areas:
Self-discipline comes in all forms. There are two types of self-discipline: 1- the things you discipline yourself to do more of, 2- the stuff you teach yourself to do less of. An example of this is how you teach yourself to get up as soon as you wake up, workout daily, and do productive things. The other type is how you want to eat less junk food or how you want to play fewer video games and TV watching.
If you want true self-discipline, you need to do both of those types of self-discipline. This will ensure you develop a stronger character, and you build a personality that is not wavered by emotions or feelings.
Conclusion:
Self-discipline is undoubtedly one of the best ways you can ensure your success in life. It’s so crucial that all of the militaries in the world have to go through training that is based on consistency, self-discipline, and hard work. The skill of self-discipline will develop a strong character that will empower your decision making. Think of self-discipline as a tool that you use every day, it will not only prove to be efficient in the short term, but it will also be something you are proud of in a long time.
