Why is it that when people set goals, we always hear them talking about ‘motivation’ and ‘inspiration’? If you’ve read our post 3 Reasons Why Discipline and Consistency Trump Everything you’ll know, I believe there are only two things we need to be successful in almost every aspect of life. If you too are convinced of this but don’t know how, you are in the right place. Here are 5 Simple ways to become more self disciplined.
I admit it, self discipline is not easy. It is a skill, like any other, that we have to work to develop over months and years. And I’ve been on this journey for over 10 years now, so hopefully I can give you some insight to help you in your journey. Most of what I am about to share has been learned from others who went before me through books and interviews through podcasts and Youtube as well as some personal experience.
1. Know Your Why
The first and most important step towards becoming more self disciplined is to know your why. This is inspired by Simon Sinek’s Find Your Why (which I would highly recommend to everyone). His book is based around the idea that to find your purpose and fulfilment in life you must find your why. Similarily in order to do anything difficult, we must know why we are doing it. And it needs to be a reason that we really care about. So before you take on any new challenge, take time to really know your why.
2. Five Second Rule
The 5 Second Rule is something I learned from Mel Robbins in her book titled The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life Work And Confidence with Everyday Courage. The basic concept is that we force ourselves to take action within 5 seconds, before our brain has time to talk us out of it. We can apply this to small things multiple times throughout the day. For example, when our alarm goes off in the morning, instead of hitting snooze, count back from 5 and then get it. It reminds me of the Nike slogan “Just do it”.
When you know what we should do but we are in danger of talking ourselves out of it, simply count back from 5 and then do it. It does take some self discipline to do this however if you know your why, and it is important enough, the 5 second rule will keep you in check all day long. It takes time to develop this as a habit but it’s a great first step in your journey toward self discipline.
3. Habit Stacking
I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book talks about how to create habits in your life that actually last and become part of your daily life. We all know it is hard to break bad habits and form new ones.
The first thing that Clear said which really resonated was to strive for who you want to be and not what you want to do. Instead of thinking “I will go to the gym 3 times per week”, decide who you want to be. And aim for that. “I want to be a fit and healthy person”. Again this has to be authentic to work. But once you decide who you want to be, when faced with a decision about what to do, ask yourself “What would a fit and healthy person do?”.
The second thing that really resonated in terms of developing self discipline was habit stacking. This is where you develop a new habit by stacking it on an existing habit that you have. For example if you wanted to read 10 pages per day, you might commit to doing it whilst you are having your morning coffee. Morning coffee is already part of your routine so by stacking your new habit to read 10 pages per day on to your existing habit, you are much more likely to remember to do it.
4. Replace > Eliminate
Consistency and self discipline go hand in hand. It is relatively easy to do almost anything once. Take an ice bath once, drink one glass of water, go to the gym one, read 10 pages for one day. The list goes on, no matter what you want to do in order to see real results we need to do it consistently. And this is really where self discipline comes in. And doing anything consistently usually means developing the habit of doing it.
I am sure I probably read this somewhere too but I cannot remember where. In any case, it is difficult to cut bad habits out. It is difficult to eliminate anything as it leaves a void. Therefore, instead of eliminating focus on replacing. When people want to quit smoking for example, they often take up something. It could be as simple as chewing gum instead of smoking a cigarette. As you try to develop self discipline, replace the habits you want to eliminate with better habits that are more aligned to your goals.
5. Remove Opportunities For Failure
Remove opportunities for failure. Again, I am sure I read this somewhere and it is well documented so I don’t know exactly who to credit. A really simple example of this is if you want to eat less junk, don’t buy it. If it is not in the house, you are less likely to give in to your temptation. But this can also work for other things.
Let’s take our earlier example of reading 10 pages per day. And we’ve decided to do this before we go to sleep. A good way to remove the opportunity for failure here is to set up our environment for success. Firstly make sure you leave the book on the bedside table. Secondly ensure there is adequate lighting to be able to ready easily. And thirdly align your bedtime routine to allow an extra 15 minutes to read in bed.
Slow And Steady..
I know these things sound incredibly simple and almost child like. However, that is actually the point. Developing self discipline takes time, commitment and a lot of effort. We already know what we need to do, we just don’t want to do it. However following the tips above allows you to slowly incorporate it into your life and your routine.
At the beginning of the year, I set myself some micro goals such as reading more, drinking more water and a few others. Admittedly some of them have not materialised yet. However I now read consistently and drink enough water (most days). Since these are now (almost) effortless habits, I am ready to revisit and focus on some others for the next few months. As the saying goes slow and steady wins the race. Becoming more self disciplined is a journey not a destination.
As always, we want to hear from you. Do you agree with the tips we’ve shared? What did we forget? Do you have any examples of things that have helped you to become more self disciplined. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!