Obviously, there are many things about a person that plays a part in how successful they are.
There are many personality traits, born privileges, and other things that determine whether a person accomplishes things, reaches their goals, etc.
But I believe that there is one thing that might be more important than all the rest: self-discipline.
If you don’t have self-discipline, don’t worry. I truly believe that, although it doesn’t seem to come naturally to most people, a lot of people can learn it.
Through hard work and habit-building, I think that just about anyone can become very disciplined. I used to completely lack self-discipline but I’ve learned how to greatly improve it. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my moments. But things have come so much easier to me since I worked on improving it.
And trust me when I say: if I can do it, you can too. 😉
So without further ado, here’s how you can improve your self-discipline!
• Commit to it.
Commit fully and completely to improving your self-discipline. Think about how much better you’ll be and feel when you’re super disciplined. Write down how you want to change and why you want to change. Journal about it. Do what you need to do to keep it in mind. If you don’t fully commit to it, you’ll probably end up giving up.
• Know your weaknesses – and work on them.
Everybody has a weakness, or 10. So figure out what your weaknesses, negative behaviors, and bad habits are. Decide what you need to change, and establish ways to change these things. Read books, read articles, and make a plan to change. Write about it in the same journal that I talked about above, if that will help you!
• Remove temptations.
Once you’ve figured out what your weaknesses are, you should remove any temptations necessary to avoid those weaknesses. For example: let’s say you’re trying to become healthier and you need to change your eating habits, but chocolate is your weakness. Then you should get rid of any chocolate that you have and make sure you don’t buy more.
• Visualize and plan.
Visualizing is an important part of goal-setting, in my opinion. So if you want to discipline yourself and achieve your goals, you need to visualize and think clearly about them, and then plan accordingly. Create a detailed, actionable list of the steps you’ll need to take to achieve the goal or goals that you’re aiming for. You can even make daily to-do lists with steps that you can take to work toward them. Make sure you’re keeping your goals in mind and regularly doing things that will move you closer to achieving them!
You might like: How to Create a Vision Board that Works for You
• Change your routine.
I believe that changing your routine can honestly change your life. If you want to build new habits and build up your self-discipline just slowly change the things that you do daily. They say it takes about 30 days to build a habit so just add something new into your routine and do it for 30 days – then you’ll build a habit. Just make sure to take it slowly, don’t try to work on everything at once or you might get burned out and give up.
• Reward yourself.
Research has shown that people are more likely to be motivated and disciplined if they have some sort of incentive or positive reinforcement. So plan a way to reward yourself for reaching your goals or improving your habits. Just make sure that your reward isn’t something that will mess up your progress.
• Don’t rely solely on motivation.
Motivation is obviously a great thing. I mean, it’s super helpful – am I right? But you can’t rely solely on motivation to get things done. If you do that, you’ll never get anything done! To be honest, sometimes you need to just make yourself do things. If you consistently make yourself do things that you don’t want to do, it’ll become a habit. So this is probably the best method for building your self-discipline.
• Find an accountability partner.
Finding an accountability partner can be super helpful. Find someone reliable to be there for you, cheer you on, challenge you, celebrate your victories, and (most importantly) hold you accountable. Find someone who will make sure you do what you need to do, and help you achieve your goals.
If you cant find an accountability partner: there are accountability apps and websites out there like GetMotivatedBuddies and Supporti!
• Go easy on yourself when you need to.
If you aren’t always disciplined, don’t beat yourself up. We all make mistakes, we all hit bumps along the road. We’re all human. Just accept your mistakes and move on. Focusing on the negatives doesn’t help you on your journey, it only hurts you and can move you backward. So don’t dwell on your mess-ups and don’t let them get you down. Just keep moving forward!
Do you have great self-discipline or is it lacking? What are some other tips that you can think of for improving it? Let’s chat in the comments!
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I need to keep these in mind. I can get distracted easily, so I am working on better self discipline.
This post is really informative, having self-discipline is so important.
Rewarding myself always helps. This tips are most helpful
I am the worst at follow through. My co-workers tell me they have never seen someone so committed to following through before, which makes me laugh.
This was a great read. Removing any temptations is very important.
I agree with not relying solely on motivation. It’s never enough for me. Sometimes I just have to force myself to start something, when you actually start something, motivation comes after
Self-discipline is, I think, one of the hardest things people have to work on. Your post points out some great tips to help people with this. I enjoyed reading how you are working on your self-discipline.
These are all really great points, i will surely gonna keep this in mind! Thanks for sharing this with us!
These are great tips! Self discipline takes a lot of work and it is nice to focus on success through these tools.
This is a great guide on self-discipline. Makes me reflect suddenly, thanks!
I think it is important to have an accountability partner for something big like this. When you’re breaking a habit having someone you trust to hold you accountable matters.
Rewarding yourself always works! You have shared some amazing ideas. Thanks for sharing 🙂