Recall the days when you’d be sitting in biology or history class, and your teacher would mention that you need
Most of us would have rolled our eyes if we got such a comment from a teacher or parent in our teenage years.
When we are younger, we assume that inspiration will find us, and success will follow. But as you reach adulthood, you may realize that you need self-discipline to succeed in any part of your life.
Self-discipline in the workplace will help with your job, while it can also help improve your mental, physical and emotional health!
Understanding Self-Discipline
People think about self-discipline and their mind immediately feels as though they are being restricted in some way. Being told to not engage in certain behaviours.
But self-discipline is the key to finding the success that most of us want to achieve. We all want the same things – a great job, a healthy relationship, close friends and hobbies that we love.
Wanting a different result is not enough. If we could make a difference in our lives just by wanting something, then everyone would get what they wanted! Want different outcomes? Then make different decisions!
And it isn’t necessarily about major decisions, such as picking an apartment, job or choosing to stay in a relationship. It can be the small, everyday decisions.
Do you get up when your alarm first rings, or keep snoozing it for 20 minutes?
How many times have you decided to take on more work at your job, even if it means staying late a few nights?
Have you made a concentrated effort to make time for your friends and family, instead of putting things off for another week?
Self-discipline will allow you to make the decisions that can shape your future. Self-discipline will allow you to live your best life! And here are six ways that you can develop and practice self-discipline every day.
1. Showing Gratitude
Most of our lives are spent wanting things. From a new handbag to a bigger apartment to a new car.
The problem is not with wanting to change our circumstances. It is a matter of feeling as though nothing is enough.
Start by showing gratitude for the people and things that are in your life. Feeling gratitude can help achieve better emotional and mental health, which will help with self-discipline.
When you are in a state of wanting more, then you panic about what you do not have. How can you stay disciplined and motivated if you are constantly stressing about the missing elements in your life?
Spend more time feeling gratitude. It will reduce stress and make you feel at peace. And that inner peace can give you a foundation to develop better discipline.
2. Understanding Your Weaknesses
Awareness is the key element to self-discipline. How can you improve your habits if you are not willing to admit that you have some bad ones?
Understand what trips you up. Is it staying up late to watch movies? Is it the desire to leave work early so you can go grab a drink at a bar? Is it the fact that you cannot manage to finish projects that you start?
Spend a week paying attention to what you are doing. Then sit down and think about those behaviours. What are you doing that is not conducive to the life you want to live?
3. Overcoming Those Flaws
Now that you have an understanding of your flaws, it is time to overcome these issues.
Just saying that you will do something different is not enough. You have to know what you will do that will produce a different outcome!
Write down the major trip-ups that you believe
Say you are always sleeping at
Keep in mind that it will be a daily struggle. You will have moments when you want to slip back into old habits. How you react in those moments will determine the way your life turns out in the next few years!
4. Sleeping Better
Sleep is a key ingredient in self-discipline. When you are tired, you will be negatively impacted in many ways. Your immune system is compromised, you feel tired and you are more tempted to engage in bad habits to make up for that lack of sleep.
Getting more sleep also means that you will have better memory, less inflammation, significantly less stress, while it is also said to help keep depression at bay.
Try to get six hours each night, without fail, for the next week. Go up to eight if you can. Get up early, when your alarm first rings! Prepare for work and arrive early.
See what a difference it makes to your routine. Note down how you are feeling each day. And then recognise those different feelings are because you got more sleep!
Just making these changes will give you a platform to succeed. Now you are well-rested and on time. It is the basis that lets you showcase your talent at work – which will help you achieve your professional goals!
5. Organisation
If you are not organised, how will you be able to achieve your goals? Organisation is not just about writing down the tasks you must accomplish at work. It can impact your entire life.
Start by organising your home. Everything should be in its appropriate place. Make a list of chores and things you must get done. And fit them into your weekly schedule.
Improving organisation is about starting small. You cannot go from being a scatterbrain to the most organised person at work in a week. But you can make adjustments, such as creating lists and decluttering your workspace.
When you incorporate these changes into your life over the coming months, they will become part of your routine. In six months, you will wonder how you ever functioned without organisation!
Not only will you be more productive at work, but your personal life will be so much better as well. Now that you are jotting down appointments and major events, you will not miss a friend’s birthday or show up late for a family gathering!
6. Dealing with Setbacks
Self-discipline is a process that will always be a part of your life.
It is not a magic wand that you can wave to change your circumstances. And it is not a formula to success that you can crack in a few days.
Self-discipline involves continuous work. Every single day. It is about staying on task, keeping distractions at bay, andnot listening to your most harmful impulses.
Given the ever-present nature of self-discipline, it stands to reason that you will suffer setbacks. We are not perfect. I try to live a disciplined life, but there are many instances where I fall short of how I had expected to behave.
You cannot be too hard on yourself during those moments. If you treat every setback as though it is the end of the road, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Treat a setback the way it should be – like a bump on the road.
Mistakes happen. You stayed up for an extra couple of hours one night, which means you are tired on an important day at work. Maybe it impacted your performance.
Now you can spend the next week beating yourself up and causing more damage. Or you can admit to yourself that you slipped up. Understand why it happened and vow to not let it occur again.
Our days are filled with decisions. Should I get a cup of coffee this morning? Can I afford to take a longer lunch break? Is it a good idea to have a few drinks on a Tuesday night when I have to be up at 6am the next day?
Sometimes you will answer those questions incorrectly. You will give in to your worst instincts. And that is okay! Life is a process, as is self-discipline. As long as you are making the best decisions most of the time, you will stay on the path that you have set out for yourself.
Nurturing Self-Discipline
Now that you understand self-discipline, you are ready to nurture it into your life.
Think about all that you have in your life. Be grateful for those things! Understand your weaknesses and come up with a plan to tackle them.
Sleep better and organise your life. And when you slip up, know that you have the tools to get up and keep going!
Are you ready to start ROCKING YOUR LIFE?
Welcome to Work It Sister!
I’m Jo! I’m a career, relationship and healthy living coach. I help women who’ve had major setbacks in their career, relationships and health who feel like they’ve lost their mojo start ROCKING their life with the ROCK YOUR LIFE METHOD…woohoo!
Click here to learn more about the ROCK YOUR LIFE METHOD and how I can help you get back on top!
On my blog I share some tools, tips and shizzle that works to help you get back on top and start rocking your life again….woohoo!
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I’m busy rocking my life as a career, relationship and healthy living coach and doing all the things I love like yoga, pilates, meditation and exploring happiness. Learn more about me here….peace and love always…Jo xxx
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