Tips to Improve Your Self-Discipline

Hi friends! (:

Lately, I’ve been on a little bit of a fitness kick. I decided that I’m ready to finally get back in shape and I’m determined to make it happen!

Along this journey, I’ve realized that I was lacking in the self-discipline department and it’s something I’ve had to work on.

Obviously, there are many things about a person that plays a part in how successful they are. There are many personality traits and other things that determine whether a person accomplishes things, reaches their goals, etc.

But I believe that there is one thing that (to me!) is more important than 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 (for the most part) master it.

But trust me when I say: if I can do it, you can too!

So without further ado, here are my tips to help you improve your self-discipline:

 

 

– Commit to it

Commit fully and become completely determined to improve your self-discipline. Think about how much better you’ll be and feel when you’re super disciplined. If you don’t fully commit to it, you’ll probably end up giving up.

 

– Know your weaknesses

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.

 

– Remove tempatations

Once you’ve figured out what your weaknesses are, you should remove any temptations necessary to avoid those weaknesses. For example: if you’re trying to lose weight and chocolate is your weakness, throw out all of your chocolate and don’t buy any more of it!

 

– Visualize and plan

Visualizing is an important part of goal-setting. So if you want to discipline yourself and achieve your goal(s), you need to visualize and think clearly about your goals, 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.

 

– 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.

 

– Reward yourself

Research has shown that people are more likely to be motivated and disciplined if they have some sort of incentive. Here’s a list of 20 healthy and frugal ways to reward yourself for reaching your goals. Just make sure that your reward isn’t something that will mess up your progress. (Like rewarding yourself for losing 10 pounds by eating a whole tub of ice cream!)

 

– Don’t rely 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!

 

– Get an accountability buddy

Finding an accountability partner can be super helpful. Find someone reliable to be there for you, to 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.

 

– Don’t be too hard on yourself

If you aren’t always disciplined, don’t beat yourself up. We all hit bumps along the road. Nobody is 100% disciplined all the time. Just accept your mistakes and move on. Focusing on the negatives doesn’t help you on your journey, it only hurts you and moves you backward. Don’t dwell on them and don’t look back; just keep moving forward.

 

– Tomorrow is a new day

Just because you blew yesterday, doesn’t mean you have to blow today. Every day is a fresh start! <3

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Is there anything you need to do to improve your self-discipline? Let’s chat in the comments!

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