Self-discipline is the ability to act according to what you think is right and not how you feel. It is the creating of new habits by actions aimed at improving oneself and ultimately: reaching those goals you want. For instance avoiding taking junk food even though you feel like taking it because you know it is not good for your health. Many people lack the ability to stop themselves from doing things that are not good which translates to lack of self-discipline. To be able to develop self-discipline, you must have the will and commitment to try to be self-disciplined for the greater good. Research shows that to achieve anything, to be happy and achieve our goals; self-discipline is paramount.
These are the ways on how can you train yourself to become self-disciplined
1. Learn to control simple habits
Habits dictate how and what you do in your daily activities. Therefore, to create and maintain self-discipline, you must train yourself to let go and avoid bad habits and embrace good habits to achieve self-discipline. For instance, if you train yourself to be satisfied with what you have, this kills the notion of always lamenting of what you don’t have that lead to stress hence focusing on discipline yourself becomes difficult. Learning to be content of what you have will lead to accepting yourself and prevent self-fight hence achieving self-discipline.
2. Making schedules and testing yourself
test yourself and train yourself on managing your time well. Train yourself to follow simple schedules and timelines. For instance train yourself to wake up at the sound of an alarm without snoozing. Do this even if you don’t feel like waking up. In the long you will get used and this will greatly improve your self-discipline. Getting used and doing as to our schedules portrays great self-discipline and thus it is easy to achieve our goals.
3. Highlight and acknowledge your weaknesses
on the journey to achieve self-discipline, you must identify your weaknesses and accept them instead of ignoring them. Accepting them will reduce the negative impact they have on you. For instance, if you are addicted to Facebook, acknowledge that fact and find a way of limiting it while at work. For instance you can switch off notifications so you won’t get distracted while doing work. If you assume that Facebook will not affect you while working, you might find yourself missing on deadlines, it is therefore advisable to accept our weaknesses to achieve self-discipline.
4. Avoid and get rid of temptations and distractions
staying in a temptation free environment will go a long way in getting or falling into doing a bad habit. To achieve self-discipline one must get rid of all the things that are likely to affect him. For instance if you get distracted easily maybe by a WhatsApp, you can start by turning off pop up messages, mute conversations or better still turn off data. Training yourself to avoid doing something bad is a big step towards becoming self-disciplined.
5. Eat regularly and eat healthy
if the sugar level in your blood becomes low, your thinking ability is likely to get affected negatively. Either you will not be able to concentrate well or your ability to resolve will be reduced. If you are hungry, you are likely to have reduced the ability to control yourself. Eating and also exercising will also help improve your brain functionality hence increase your self-discipline.
6. Celebrate simple achievements
when you make a step towards becoming self-disciplined, congratulate yourself and celebrate the step. This will keep you encouraged, motivated, strengthened and more focused in achieving your goals
7. Train yourself to withstand emotional discomfort
train yourself in withstanding discomfort or pain. Practice by experiencing boredom, frustration or sadness. This will improve your ability to tolerate such situations and hence go a long way in making you self-disciplined.
8. Forgive, Recover and move effectively on from mistakes
learn to effectively forgive yourself and also to forgive others. Making mistakes is part of becoming successful; how you treat a mistake will determine how much you are likely to gain it. If you treat them as strengths, they will build you and your self-discipline.
The Important Take Away
All of the above are powerful ways that will help you develop and gain a strong and lasting self-discipline. Once you acquire it, you will see life from a complete different angle, from an angle of control, decisions and strong will power. Now that you have these tools, make sure to use them in order to grow better and stronger.
