SELF-DISCIPLINE - THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS

No personal success, achievement, or goal, can be realized without self-discipline.  It is singularly the most important attribute needed to achieve any type of personal excellence, athletic excellence, virtuosity in the arts, or otherwise outstanding performance.

What is self-discipline?

It is the ability to control one's impulses, emotions, desires and behavior. It is being able to turn down immediate pleasure and instant gratification in favor of gaining the long-term satisfaction and fulfillment from achieving higher and more meaningful goals.

To possess it is to be able to make the decisions, take the actions, and execute your game plan regardless of the obstacles, discomfort, or difficulties, that may come your way.

Certainly, being disciplined does not mean living a limiting or a restrictive lifestyle. Nor, does not mean giving up everything you enjoy, or, to relinquish fun and relaxation. It does mean learning how to focus your mind and energies on your goals and persevere until they are accomplished. It also means cultivating a mindset whereby you are ruled by your deliberate choices rather than by your emotions, bad habits, or the sway of others. Self-discipline allows you to reach your goals in a reasonable time frame and to live a more orderly and satisfying life. 

How to Develop Self-Discipline

Start with baby steps. No process takes place overnight. Just as it takes time to build muscle, so does it take time to develop self-discipline. The more you train and build it, the stronger you become. In exercise, if you try to do too much at once, you could injure yourself and have a setback. Likewise, take it one step at a time in building self-discipline. So, begin by making the decision to go forward and learning what it takes to get there.

Learn what motivates you and what your bad triggers are. You can begin by learning about yourself! Sometimes it is very difficult to fight off urges and cravings, so know the areas where your resistance is low and how to avoid those situations.  If you know you can't resist cake, fries, or other temptations - stay away from them. Do not have them around to lure you in moments of weakness. If you also know that putting pressure on yourself does not work for you, then set yourself up in an environment that encourages the building of self-discipline rather than one that sabotages it. Remove the temptations and surround yourself with soothing and encouraging items such as motivating slogansand pictures of what you want to achieve. 

Learn also what energizes and motivates you. Your willpower can go up and down with your energy levels so play energetic music to perk you up, move around, laugh. Train yourself to enjoy what you are doing by being energized. This will make it easier to implement desirable and appropriate behaviors into your routine - which is really what self-discipline is all about. 

Make certain behaviors a routine. Once you have decided what's important to you and which goals to strive for, establish a daily routine that will help you achieve them. For example, if you want to eat healthily or lose weight; resolve to eat several servings of fruits and vegetables each day and exercise for at least half an hour. Make it part of your daily routine and part of your self-discipline building. Likewise, get rid of some of your bad, self-defeating habits, whatever they may be. They can put you in a negative frame of mind and hinder your self-discipline. A poor attitude can also be a bad habit. 

Practice self-denial. Learn to say no to some of your feelings, impulses and urges. Train yourself to do what you know to be right, even if you don't feel like doing it. Skip dessert some evenings. Limit your TV watching. Resist the urge to yell at someone who has irritated you. Stop and think before you act. Think about consequences. When you practice self-restraint it helps you develop the habit of keeping other things under control. 

Engage in sports or activities. Sports are an excellent way to enhance self- discipline. They train you to set goals, focus your mental and emotional energies, become physically fit, and to get along well with others.  Participating in sports provides a situation where you learn to work hard and strive to do your best, which in turn, teaches you to integrate the same the thought processes and disciplines into your everyday life.

Learning to play a musical instrument can be another great way to practice self-discipline. The focus, repetition, and application required in learning to play an instrument is invaluable. Achieving self-discipline in any one area of your life reprograms your mind to choose what is right, rather than what is easy.

Get inspiration from those you admire. Michael Jordan has always maintained that his greatness as a basketball player came as much from his willingness to work hard at his craft, as it did his talent. It was his desire through discipline and focus that made him one of the best basketball players ever. If it worked for him, it could certainly work for the rest of us. 

Visualize the rewards. There is nothing more gratifying than accomplishing your goals. Practice the technique that high achievers and top athletes do. Project yourself in the future. Visualize your desired outcome. Feel how rewarding it is and the countless benefits you will enjoy. Remind yourself what it takes to get there.    

                             

The Benefits  It helps build self-confidence.  You accomplish more, and are therefore more productive. You are able to maintain a higher tolerance for frustration, obstacles and negative emotions. Allows you to obtain better health, better finances and a good work ethic. You are able to reach your most difficult goals more efficiently.  The more disciplined you become, the easier life gets.

If we are to be masters of our own destiny, we must develop self-discipline and self-control. By focusing on long-term benefits instead of short-term discomfort, we can encourage ourselves to develop of self-discipline. Ultimately our health and happiness depend on it. 

SELF-DISCIPLINE QUOTES

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Chinese Proverb

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first. 

Harry S. Truman

With self-discipline most anything is possible.Theodore Roosevelt  Rule your mind or it will rule you.Horace 

There are no short cuts to any place worth going.Beverly Sills

The ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Ellbert Hubbard We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. 

Jesse Owens

A colt is worth little if it does not break its halter. Proverb

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power. Lao Tzu

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. Seneca

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. Alfred Lord Tennyson

He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures. Friedrich Nietzsche 

Govern thyself then you will be able to govern the world. Anonymous

Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward. Napoleon Hill 

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power. Clint Eastwood 

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Discipline really means our ability to get ourselves to do things when we don't want. Arden Mahlberg 

By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.Grenville Kleiser Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. 

Jim Rohn

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. Elie Wiesel 

Self respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.  Abraham Joshua

Discipline really means our ability to get ourselves to do things when we don't want to. Arden Mahlberg

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. Aristotle

When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something. Robert Browning 

The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust. Josh Billings

I am indeed a king, because I know how to rule myself. Pietro Aretino Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them. La Rochefoucauld

A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to himself...He belongs to whatever can make captive of him. John Foster

Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ten thousand may succeed. These are fearful odds. Benjamin Disraeli

Let me . . . ; remind you that it is only by working with an energy which is almost superhuman and which looks to uninterested spectators like insanity that we can accomplish anything worth the achievement. Work is the keystone of a perfect life. Work and trust in God. Woodrow Wilson

Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another. 

George Washington

Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action. Vince Lombardi

If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us. William Feather

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