6 Ways to Develop Self-discipline to Achieve Your Goals
It is rightly said that nothing comes easy in life. If you take a peep into the lives of all the successful business tycoons, Hollywood and other celebrities or for that matter, the girl in your class who went from fat to fit, they all have one thing in common – self-discipline. Most motivational gurus advocate the importance of self-discipline in leading a successful life. But let’s first understand what exactly is self-discipline.
Self-discipline is not an action but a habit. A habit that leads you towards excellence and success in life. It’s about taking small but consistent steps towards achieving your desired goals. It requires focus, commitment and dedication yet understanding at the same time that it’s common to falter. But what’s important to keep in mind is that you must pick yourself up and resume your journey.
Many people struggle with developing this habit in their day to day lives, which results in frustration and achievement of goals seeming to be a distant dream. But it is a habit that can be developed.
Steps that will help you inculcate self-discipline to achieve your goals are:
1. Define Your Goal
Before you begin your journey towards developing self-discipline, it is important for you to lay out your goal clearly. What is it that you are striving to achieve? Unless you do not specifically define a goal, you will struggle with self-discipline as you won’t know which direction should you channelize your efforts in. Hence, clearly defining goals is probably the first step in developing self-discipline.
2. Answer the WHY
To develop self-discipline, just goal setting isn’t enough. While goal setting is important to give you a direction, what needs to be clearly answered is your reason. For example, if your goal is to become the next manager in line, or if it is to shed those extra kilos, answer the WHY.
Why do you want to lose weight? Or why do you think you deserve to become the next manager. Identifying the reason for wanting to do something is a motivational factor and makes it easier for you to develop self-discipline.
3. Make a Plan
One of the essential components in developing self-discipline is to have a proper plan of action in place. Once you have defined your goal clearly and identified the reason behind the same, start putting together your plan of action. Define a period of time that you think you will need to achieve the goal, break the goal into small sub-goals, set milestones and focus on achieving each milestone.
It is easier to develop self-discipline when you have to tick off small sub-goals in order to reach your main goal.
4. Make a Commitment to Self
Commitment is one of the keys to developing self-discipline. Unless you are not fully committed towards your goal, you will never put the desired efforts into achieving it. No matter how difficult it might seem or how many times you may falter, you must remain committed to your goal. Clearly define even the small, unimportant actions it will take to keep your commitment.
5. Be Accountable to Yourself
As the name suggests, self-discipline is a habit which only you can inculcate in yourself. While it helps when you do share your intentions with your friends, family or others, it won’t guarantee you working on it. Learn to be accountable to yourself. Be true to yourself about the times you remained committed and when you didn’t.
6. Reward Yourself
Because a small celebration never harmed anyone. It is important to keep rewarding yourself every time when you achieve a milestone towards your goal. Make it your little secret to motivation and success. However, also be fair enough to punish yourself if you falter or slip off from your path.
While it may have seemed a herculean task to develop self-discipline, in reality, it is actually a matter of time and commitment before you master the art of self-discipline and lead a life of success.
