Staying motivated is not just about enjoying a particular activity and repeating it when you have the urge to do so.  In reality, motivation comes and goes, and usually will not strike often.  To stick to a task or goal, you will need motivation and self discipline.  Self discipline with help you to conquer your goals even when you’re feeling down, distracted or unmotivated.

What is self discipline

Self discipline is the ability to push yourself forward, stay motivated and take action regardless of how you’re feeling.  Self-disciplined people push themselves forward to become a more goal-driven person.  Many aspects contribute to self discipline such as motivation, willpower, persistence and hard work.

Increasing self-discipline

Developing self discipline takes time and effort.  It develops over time and while you are working towards achieving small, daily goals.  Over time a person will enjoy achieving small goals and their self discipline will increase almost naturally.

2. Remove temptations.

Take away your biggest temptations to help control your negative impulses.  There are a lot of ways to stop temptations, for example, getting rid of social media apps when youre tempted to scroll all day, throw away junk food if you’re tempted to binge on it or locking away credit cards if you’re tempted by shopping.  Prioritize your mental health and your personal goals.  Distractions will take away your focus and stop you from working towards achieving something great.

3.  Set clear goals and develop an action plan

Create a clear vision of what you want to accomplish.  Understand what success means to you so you have a clear path to accomplishing your goals.  Prioritize your time and energy to reduce stress.  Less stress and anxiety will help you to increase your self discipline and decrease your impulsive behaviors.  Make your plan with a particular time frame in mind, so you can keep on track towards succeeding.

4.  Practice daily diligence.

Self disciple is a learned behavior.  Mastering this skill takes time, practice and repetition.  You have to develop self discipline as a habit.  It’s helpful to have very small goals if you struggle to keep your impulses in check.  Create daily to do lists and keep them close to you.  Set reminders on your phone and give yourself time to develop and practice with your new habits.  Push past your comfort zone a bit everyday, and keep being consistent.

5. Create new habits and rituals

Start by creating simple new habits.  Break up your goal and build a new habit that works towards your long term goals.  For example, if you want to go to bed earlier, you can start by going to bed 30 minutes earlier each night until you work up to going to sleep at a reasonable time.  Baby steps is the best way for you to build a new habit.  Eventually when you have built the good habit, you can add on another habit to grow even more.  Don’t change your routines or habits in one day, build up to having a better routine and better habits.

6.  Change your perception about willpower

Willpower and self discipline can be changed by increasing your positive thoughts.  Remove your subconscious obstacles by truly believing that you can accomplish more each day.  You increase your self discipline by believing in yourself and believing that you can achieve more.  Change those negative mindsets into something positive for you to focus on.

7.  Give yourself a backup plan

Make a plan to deal with a potentially difficult situations that you will likely face.  Plan for possible failures that can occur while you’re working towards your long term goals.  Having a backup plan will keep you from experiencing failure fatigue.  Failure will consume your life if you’re not feeling hopeful for another path, another option or another goal in your life.

9.  Forgive your failures and move forward

Don’t dwell on the things that did not go well.  Let go of your anger, sorrow and overall general cringey moments in life. When you fall off of that horse, jump right back on and develop a new plan.   Try finding the root of your failure, so you can not make that same mistake again twice.  Learn from your mistakes and leave the negative emotions behind.

Self-discipline is not an easy process.  It’s a great way to force yourself to stay motivated even when you’re not succeeding or you’re not feeling like you’re doing well.  Good habits and your long term goals take time to come into light.  You will not get instant gratification while youre working on developing your self discipline.  Some goals will not come to fruition for several years.  By having good self discipline, you will be able to keep building and achieving your goals over the long term.

If you’re curious or interested in fulfilling your dreams and growing your self-discipline, I offer Coaching and Consulting to a wide range of people. Contact me today to change your life for the better.