5 powerful ways to become self-disciplined

How was the word discipline created?

It started in Latin as “discipulus”, then it transformed into “disciplina”, which meant instruction and knowledge. Later, it was shaped as the word discipline that you know today!

What is discipline?

Discipline is self-control, is your commitment and dedication to achieve your goals. Discipline means that you will do whatever it takes to work your plan and succeed. Self discipline is your ability to control your actions, feelings, and emotions.

As Brian Tracy has written in his book “No Excuses”, the most important success principle of all was stated by Elbert Hubbard. Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.

Learning to effectively lead yourself leads to discipline. Happiness, success, and fulfillment will stem from your discipline. It can sometimes seem as if you have no control over certain aspects of your life, but you do. You just don't know it yet.

Leading yourself, and developing your personal leadership is really important if you want to take control of your life and your actions. This is what personal leadership is,it is the ability to develop and utilize your positive leadership traits to guide the direction of your life instead of letting time and chance determine your course. Responsibility, determination, persistence and strategy are part of leadership.

Developing personal leadership is an ongoing process which requires regular reflection and self-evaluation. But with perseverance, you can develop the qualities of an effective personal leader to determine your life course and the positive effect you can have on those around you.

Personal leadership will give you a million ways to do more, faster, and better. You will be more inspired to take action and you will act more effectively. And of course you will land on better results.

Because with discipline you will accomplish more of the goals. Think of it this way, self-discipline is the bridge between goals defined and goals accomplished.

If you still wonder why discipline is super important to achieve all your goals, here are 5 reasons to start practicing it today:

1. Discipline helps you stop procrastinating

2. Discipline helps you manage your time better

3. Discipline boosts your self-esteem

4. Discipline improves your ability to manage your emotions

5. Discipline helps you reduce your stress and makes you feel happier

Remember that self discipline requires ongoing practice and nurturing! With practice, you can find out how to improve and shape your own style of self-control!

Here are the 5 strategies to build discipline

#1 - Be motivated

As Simon Sinek has mentioned everything's starts from the why! Before setting up a disciplined routine, you need to look deeper on your underlying desires. Why do you want to do something? Your intrinsic motivation will fuel the fire and you’re much likely to stay focused.

#2 - Develop your Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is your tool to expand your comfort zone. It requires focus and acknowledging your strengths, your weaknesses and your behaviors. Understanding where you are powerful and where you need to improve it will be your guide to discipline. It will strengthen your motivation to achieve your goals.

#3 - Set a clear plan

But, to have a clear plan, you need to firstly have clear goals. You must create a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish. Some questions to ask yourself to make a relevant plan for you are:

• What is it that I want to do, be, have or achieve?

• What new habit would I like to develop?

• What behavior would I like to change?

• What is the one thing that I want to focus on at this moment?

• What qualities will I need to adopt?

• How will I need to think about myself, my life, and my goal?

• Given my goal, what obstacles could stand in my way?

• What specific things could sidetrack me along my journey?

While giving yourself some answers on the above questions, to many more that may arise, you will start defining your next steps. Then you can put all your steps in a timeline. Keep in mind to use the S.M.A.R.T. goals framework throughout this plan.

#4 - Learn self-discipline

Discipline is a learned behavior, thus you should train yourself in order to develop it. It will need a lot of focus and effort to become self-disciplined. The truth is, however, it will be worth it. Remember that the bigger the temptation, the more challenging it will feel to overcome it, but that is exactly where you need to persist in your self-control.

#5 - Build a network to hold you accountable

Many times I’ve heard my clients say that they stop being committed to something because they lack an accountability partner. This might be why many times you give up on your self-discipline as well! It is important to belong to a group where you feel accountable for your own personal development. This can be a group of friends that you feel safe with or to be part of any online community that focuses on self-development.

Bonus tip:

Forgive yourself!

You might slack off at some points, it is okay. Keep moving forward, don’t stop there! There will be these points where you will feel stuck. There will be points that you will be afraid of failure. This is where you should put into practice all your practiced self-discipline so far. Remember that self-discipline is a practice. You will not do it perfectly every day, nor will you be perfect daily. This should not stop you, this is viewing the situation realistically! What’s important is to keep showing up each day, ready to try more! It’s a waste of your energy to spend time worrying about setbacks or any mistake you made. You made a mistake, it’s over. It’s now a lesson. Pick yourself up, acknowledge the lesson and move on!

Now that you have more clarity on what discipline is and how to practice it, you will become ready to rock it! Keep in mind that discipline will bring you closer to all your goals and desires. As Jocko Willink has written in detail in his book “Discipline equals freedom”, motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished—you will likely fall short. So better practice self-discipline!

Throughout the practice of discipline, there is a great opportunity for you to experiment how you are attracted to motivation. In simple words, everyone is differently motivated, it can be by the satisfaction, it can be by the punishment, it can be by the reward or even from the risk. Look at your behaviors, how you act in your accomplishments and failures and understand what drives you. Once you identify it, you will have a very important key in your hands to practice self-discipline successfully.

Before moving forward, it is now the time to ask yourself:

Welcome to the journey of self-discipline practice, can’t wait to see you achieving all your goals! If you want now to be part of a like-minded community that will hold you accountable on your personal growth, please email us on community@sofiakakkava.com to guide you through the entire process!