Nowadays, many of us are looking for a way to improve our life situations. Some of us have even gone as far as to realise that the change starts within ourselves, but aren’t quite sure where to start. In my experience, it’s become glaringly obvious that true change of character begins with a change in your mindset, which will then become a change in your habits. Our habitual behaviour is the operating system that guides our lives, and the most effective tool in adopting the right mindset to change our habits… is discipline.
In his award-winning book, “Think And Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill mentioned there being a secret success at the end of each chapter of the book. At the very end of the book, he revealed that secret to be “The Quality Of Self Discipline”
Here are five ways in which you can improve the quality of discipline in your own life.
1- Purpose – (Find your “Why”) A lot of people lack discipline simply because they haven’t found a reason to take
their goals seriously. Identifying an urgent reason for positive change in your life can help you find the
motivation you need to push forward. It helps to make that reason as personal as possible, like wanting to
make your daughter proud, or making a long-standing dream come true.
2- Accountability – The fear of disappointing someone can be a powerful tool in combating laziness. The fear that
someone you hold in high regard will be hurt or lose respect for you can often make you think twice before
giving up on something. Find someone in your life that you hold in high regard to hold yourself accountable to
with your ambitions. It’s normally ideal that the person should be yourself, but most people find it easier to
make that someone they respect and admire.
3- Say No – Learning to say no, is one of the most important skills to master when developing the quality of self-
discipline. If your goal is to lose weight, saying no to foods or activities that are counter-productive to your
weightloss goals is vital. Saying no to a friend who wants to have fun with you when you have an assignment
to submit is crucial to your success in your work or career.
4- Exercise – The concept of having a regular gym routine is more important in the process of developing strong
discipline than most people realize. The process of starting and maintaining a consistent exercise regiment
requires a large amount of discipline in and of itself. What I’ve found in my experience is that once you
achieve this, it organically spreads the quality of discipline into other areas of your life and the way you
approach them. Becoming fitter and healthier also has the added benefit of increasing your confidence in
yourself when approaching challenging tasks and situations.
5- Be Decisive – One of laziness’ favourite loop holes in our psychology is indecisiveness. Whenever you find
yourself taking too long to make a descision, what often happens is that you’ll talk yourself out of it.
Developing the habit of giving yourself a 20 second time-limit when making an important decision will do
wonders in improving your own self-discipline, and you’ll be able combat “Analysis Paralysis” whenever
contemplating your next move.
Following these steps as times goes on, will lead you to a fascinating discovery about life and about yourself. You’ll gradually find that you are less burdened by anxiety and fear as you take on the many challenges your life will be throwing at you, simply because you’ll have so much more confidence in your own abilities and potential. Go forward and reclaim your life. To Infinity And Beyond!
