Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if we all learned self-discipline? The truth is everything would be organized and orderly, perhaps a little too serious, but there would be the peace of mind.
Self-discipline is often misconstrued as an illusion whereas it can be attained through practice. It’s an attitude which starts with little intentional acts. Nevertheless, we struggle with it. This is because it’s usually harder to unlearn bad habits than to learn a new skill.
Self-discipline is not an impossible feat, hence, these are a few steps to begin your journey to self-discipline:
Acknowledge Your Need For It
Perhaps you’ve been too self-critical about your failure to meet deadlines, or you lost a contract due to procrastination or you want to lose some pound of flesh.
Instead of beating yourself hard, when you default in the process, be generous and offer yourself a pat on the shoulder as a form of encouragement then start the process again.
The truth is that some people don’t get their desired results because they are too quick to quit. How you build habits is by continuous doing. You keep at it until it becomes a part of you.
Set Achievable Goals
You should start from the easiest goal to the most complex, that is if you have multiple goals lined up. And some of the ways you go about it should at least be fun.
For instance, if you want to stop eating junk/sweets because your doctor told you that your sugar level was shooting up, your goal is to discipline yourself and eat appropriately.
While you start your journey to eating right, you can substitute sweets with fruits. Fruits are healthy sweets. Or if you’re an entrepreneur and your business is facing a downside, instead of giving up, you should seek ways to grow your business, either by reading books or watching ‘self-help’ videos on YouTube, or you could search the web for more insights and ideas on new ways to grow your business. Self-discipline is what helps you stay when the going gets tough.
One of the benefits of overcoming challenges, especially if you are the competitive type, is that it pumps you up until you start to think that you can conquer even the world if you choose to.
Start from your simplest goals to your most complex goals, this would help you not to burn out. For instance, if you want to learn how to stop impulse buying, you could start by drawing your budget and allocating just the right amount of money for it, and then the remaining money should go to your account specifically for savings.
Then you move on to journaling your expenses in order to track your improvement at the end of each month. This helps in making you accountable.
Set Healthy Boundaries
This cannot be overemphasized. It is essential that every human being has boundaries that others respect. By setting boundaries either in your business relationship or personal life, I don’t mean to be rigid. You can be nice or agreeable yet disciplined. If you have boundaries, no one would disrespect you in your space, because if they do, you’d quickly show them the door. Your boundaries are a reflection of you.
Without boundaries, you give all sorts of people access to you, thereby robbing yourself of your peace of mind.
Boundaries are paramount for self-preservation.
Never Compromise Your Values
Compromising your core values/ principles have always been a recipe for disaster. Anyone who ever did it would tell you the same. A person who does this usually comes off as a people pleaser. If a person is quick to set aside their values, such a person is indirectly telling whomever, that they are pushovers and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
In your journey to self-discipline, never compromise your core values, because you lose yourself in doing so. As much as it’s nice to see things from other’s perspectives, and sometimes meet at the centre, it’s not a wise move if you throw away the principles that make you unique.
Some Benefits Of Self Discipline
- It helps you maintain your inner peace of mind.
- It shows how confident you are because you know who you are and are unapologetic about it.
- It also makes you organized.
- It makes you respect and appreciate people more.
