Self-discipline is the hallmark of a successful life. It is the one thing that hinders people from achieving their goals or fulfilling their potential. The lack of discipline seems to be the bane of many people.
Is self-discipline such a great force that it stops people in their tracks?
Do successful people exercise discipline every single minute of their day?
What Is Self-Discipline?
Self-Discipline has many meanings. According to the Collins dictionary, self-Discipline is “the ability to control yourself and to make yourself work hard or behave in a way without needed anyone else to tell you what to do”. Synonyms of Self-Discipline are willpower, resolve, determination, drive. Self-Discipline, willpower or self-control is not an unlimited quality. When you start a change initiative self-Discipline is important. However, it is hard to sustain that change in self-Discipline alone.
Self-Discipline Develops Habit.
When we hear about self-Discipline images of military or authoritative people come to mind. We think these people have an arsenal of unlimited self-Discipline for every day. Successful or professional people make self-discipline look so easy. Many people who run marathons or bench press 100 kilograms have used selected discipline to form habits. The people who are successful have learned to use self-Discipline or willpower to build habits. Success is about automating decisions and actions that will draw you closer to your goal. That process of automation is building habits. The reason why it that difficult tasks look so easy is because the master as done it some nay times that it is second nature. We are supposed to work on Self-Discipline until it helps us to develop habits.
You Need Self-Discipline for 66 days.
A study has found that it takes anything from 18 to 256 days to develop a habit. The sweet spot is 66 days. This means it takes 66 days for new actions to become automatic. There are many decisions and actions we need to take to become successful. People who make progress faster are the ones who have identified those important decisions and make them automatic. Healthy eating, exercising, and getting proper rest are decisions that will give 80% of the results in getting healthy. The sooner you can make those decisions automatic (habits) the faster you will reach your goal. In this case, you may need to be self-discipline between 18 and 256 days. Many people will only need 66 days to form a new habit. Self-discipline will help you form habits. You do not to be disciplined every single day. Once the behavior becomes automatic, it will become second nature. Healthy will be a lifestyle.
How To Develop Self-Discipline?
There a couple of principles you can use to develop discipline. We all know a handful of things that we need to do, however, we are postponing them. That is the perfect place to start. Do you have a messy room? Clean it up. Do you want to give up sugar? Clear your pantry and fridge of sugary treats. Start with the task that you are procrastinating.
Identify Your Big Rocks.
Your big rocks are your priorities. These are not goals but your values. How do you want your life to look like? What are your values? Choose what is important to you. Spiritually, Health, Relationships, Career, Finances, and Helping People are some of the areas people value. These are issues that affect everyone on the planet. You have met a colleague who is excellent in their career but has failed relationships. Or someone who is great socially, but their health has taken a back seat. As human beings, we need to balance these aspects of our lives. Make sure you develop self-discipline in what you value. If you value your body, you take care of it by feeding it the right foods, exercising, and resting.
Find Patterns Of Self-Discipline.
There are some areas of your life where you have worked on self-discipline that has turned into great habits. You may be a great leader at work or great at developing relationships. What skills and principles can you transfer to your physical health? Look at the areas that you are succeeding. If you managed to pay off debts and live financially free, there are some principles of discipline you can apply to your physical health. Could it be that you have mastered your career because you are dedicated and focussed on it? One of the principles that helped me to work on my health was the SMART goals that I was using in my career. When I started setting SMART goals for my health, I lost weight and develop discipline and habits quicker.
Learn Or Outsource.
There are two ways you can develop self-discipline. Either learn through trial and error or hire a coach or mentor. If you can afford it hire professionals to shorten your learning curve. Go see a dietician for a personalized meal plan. Hire a personal trainer to help you with a training plan. Sign up to belong to a group to hold you accountable. This will help you to focus on the few actions you need to take consistently. If you don’t have money but have time, start researching and learning about health. What are the actions you need to displayed to develop habits? Can you follow people who share health information that will help you better on social media?
Focus One Action.
Small actions produce massive changes. Breaking down your goals and habits into a daily action will help you build self-Discipline. Look for an easy and small task that you can do daily. Self-Discipline will be easier if you focus on a small task. BJ Fogg a Stanford Researcher lost 9 kilograms (20 pounds) by doing 2 pushups with every bathroom break. This small task helped him to develop self-discipline in healthy living and he lost weight. My small task was avoiding sugar for 90 days. Self-discipline starts with one small task which will create ripple effects with other habits. If you want to go big, start small and grow gradually.
Developing self-discipline in healthy living is possible for you. This quality is not about being perfect every single minute of the day. Self-discipline is actually needed for a short time under you develop habits. This may take anything from 14 to 256 days, for many people small actions repeated for 66 days will become automatic. Once that behavior becomes automatic it will be your second nature. That is where you want to be. Living healthy will be your new lifestyle.