5 Ways to Improve Self Discipline
Self-discipline means acting on what you think instead of how you feel. Without this valuable trait, you are driven by your feelings and wants instead of your thinking mind and goals. You can develop self-discipline in many ways.
In the book “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg talks about the fact that self-discipline is a habit that can be developed. I see this with many of my clients. The client’s thinking needs to change to create higher levels of self-discipline. Changing a habit, whether a thinking habit or a behavior, will take weeks of reinforcement to feel comfortable and become fully automatic.
In another study noted in the book “Will Power, Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength,” the author’s research found that we start the day with self-discipline or willpower. By the end of the day, the level of discipline has dropped. The studies showed that decision-making caused the most significant drain on discipline.
Some great ways to create more self-discipline are:
- Develop self-awareness- By becoming more aware of your habits and behaviors, you take the first step to change. Any habit or behavior, like self-discipline, needs reinforcement over time to change the cognitive maps of the mind.
- Know what you want. To develop self-discipline, you need to know the desired outcome. Write your goals in the SMART format and ensure you have all the details to make them real.
- Commit- in other words, to make a promise to yourself. Decide which aspects of your life you would like to develop more discipline. Once you commit, things will start to change.
- Break your goals into small manageable steps and take action. In NLP, we call this process “chunking down”. Breaking a goal into small steps removes the feeling of being overwhelmed, and the objective becomes more accessible. When you take action toward a goal, it increases self-esteem and self-discipline
- Change your social network. Your habits and behaviors will also improve by choosing to be with people with more self-discipline.
When you apply these five techniques to your life, you will find you are more disciplined. By using your mind to control your feelings, you will accomplish more and feel better.
