Acknowledge that it will take a while for your new regime to feel right or good or natural. Keep chugging along. It will happen. Schedule breaks, treats, and rewards for yourself. Self discipline does not mean your new regimen needs to be entirely cold turkey, hard core, or drill sergeant-like in execution. In fact, giving yourself zero wiggle room often results in failures, disappointments, and giving into your old ways. While practicing self control, schedule specific breaks, treats, and rewards for yourself.
Designate Saturday as ice cream sundae day. Trying to lose weight? Treat yourself with a fancy massage after a month of gym trips. Working on controlling your spending? Leave the credit cards at home, and bring cash only. Self discipline can be hard. Reward your effort. Forgive yourself and move forward. You can train for several intervals, or potentially for an hour or two. Then take a longer break, and do another set of intervals after that. And this benefit to others is much more motivating than doing something just for yourself.
Try it … try doing a difficult task for someone else. See if you feel more motivated. A huge mistake that a lot of people make is that they mess up, and get discouraged by this. They feel bad about messing up. This causes them to give up and not want to think about developing self-discipline. Next time, you can try something a bit different.
Add more accountability, try it at a different time, unplug your wireless router, get a workout partner, anything. Because of your failure, you have new information. Failure is a victory. Success is also a victory. No matter what your result, you can see it as an opportunity to learn, to grow, to get better.
Then keep going, no matter what, because giving up is only going to hurt you some more. You have family, friends, online strangers who can help you. Form a support team by reaching out to the people around you, and asking for their help. Take close look at where you are spending your time and energy. What percentage is spent on things that really don't matter? According to this study , the average adult spends five hours per day looking at their smartphone.
It sounds crazy, but when you think about the countless times you check your notifications for a minute or two, it really adds up. With this in mind, NOT constantly scrolling through social media on your phone can make a huge difference in your day.
Imagine what you could do if you had 5 extra hours every day to work towards your goals? When young comedian Brad Isaac asked Jerry Seinfeld for advice, Seinfeld told him that the best way to improve was to write jokes every day.
He advised Isaac to get a large wall calendar and a red magic marker. For every day he writes jokes, he makes a big red X over the day. After a few days, you start to build up a unbroken chain of red Xs, which is a very satisfying feeling. After that, your only job is to not break the chain. This strategy isn't concerned with the results themselves, it's simply about building a consistent habit. Once you do that, the results will come.
Also, it's important to pick a task that is significant enough to make a difference but small enough that you can do it every day. In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport writes about how most people lack the ability to stay focused on a task for a significant period of time. To test this on yourself, try to sit down and focus on doing just ONE thing. It won't be long until your mind starts to wander and you find yourself checking your phone notifications or email.
You can build up your ability to focus by setting a timer and working exclusively on one thing for a set period of time. Put your phone out of sight or on airplane mode and close all other browser windows. At first, this focused burst might only be for 10 minutes. Then, you can work up to 15, 20, 30 minutes eventually, taking a short break between each section. This is known as the Pomodoro Technique.
After you train it for a while, your "focus muscle" will become stronger. If you are trying to improve your self discipline and you're not getting enough sleep, healthy food and exercise, you're fighting an uphill battle.
If you eat nutritious food, get some form of physical exercise every day and get a good sleep, you'll find it much easier to work towards your goals. You'll have more energy, an overall positive attitude and you'll be less likely to give up when the going gets tough. Like most successful entrepreneurs, Consulting. How are you going to achieve it? How will you know when you are successful? Walking 10, steps per day is something concrete that you can track and measure.
If you focus on this habit, the outcome of losing weight and improving fitness will likely come as a result. So, figure out what you want to achieve and think about the habits that would get you there. In this podcast episode about building healthy habits, Problogger founder Darren Rowse talks about the power of saying "It's just what I do" when he is building a new habit.
I walk 10, steps per day. It's just what I do. I eat 5 servings of vegetables every day. One of the reasons why this works so well is because it turns your habit into an "identity based habit.
In the early days it won't be easy to say it to yourself, because it won't be true yet. But after a while, it will legitimately be "just what you do. This means you won't have to summon as much willpower to get it done, it will become natural. You'll start thinking of yourself as the type of person who has already achieved self-discipline in the habit you want.
Every time you choose to do the action that matches this identity, you are reinforcing it. Every action is a vote cast for the type of person you are becoming. On the flip side, every time you choose to perform a negative habit it's a vote for the opposite identity.
You may have heard this saying before, but it's really true. Measuring progress is a powerful way to motivate yourself to improve. Clearly tracking the things that are important will help you better understand your performance and how you can improve.
You can measure anything that you want to improve, from minutes spent exercising per week to the number of books read in a year. You can use a an app or a device such as a Fitbit or you can simply track your progress in a notebook or a spreadsheet. It doesn't matter how you measure, it's the act of measuring that will make the difference. For example, a budget app can help you track your spending and see where your money is going.
Seeing how much you spend on online shopping or late night burritos might encourage you to change your habits. Watching your savings total increase month on month can motivate you to keep going.
Remember: You are measuring your progress against your past self, not anyone else. Mark Twain said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. There are specific strategies you can execute to learn self-discipline and gain the willpower to live a happier, more fulfilling life. We all have weaknesses. We all have our strong suits and the stuff we kind of stink at. And therefore, I used to actively or purposefully avoid these activities.
Now, I strive to tackle them head-on—or I delegate them to others. Never forget about the subtle art of delegation!
Self-awareness is a powerful tool for comfort zone expansion, but it requires constant focus and acknowledging your shortcomings, whatever they may be. I suffered from bad allergies and asthma growing up and had terrible eyesight. But so what? By simply removing the biggest temptations from your environment, you will greatly improve your self-discipline. If you want to eat healthier, toss the junk food in the trash.
Want to drink less? Throw out the booze. Prioritize and execute. The fewer distractions you have, the more focused you will be on accomplishing your goals.
Set yourself up for success by ditching bad influences. If you hope to achieve greater degrees of self-discipline, you must have a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish, just like any goal. You must also have an understanding of what success means to you. Remember to prioritize. At TakingPoint Leadership, when we work with our corporate clients on strategic planning, execution, and organizational transformation, we remind them that having ten priorities translates to no priorities.
0コメント