Discipline
What I’m about to share is how to become super human, take it in and implement it. Time to take control.
To start with, I have some questions for you…are you disciplined? If so in what areas in your life? Are these areas the ones that are most important? Just take step back and give it some thought. Ok self-reflection over… to be “disciplined” is one’s ability to work or behave in a controlled manor which involves obeying rules and standards set by yourself.
Being disciplined is a skill in itself and in some cases can require a large amount of self-control and focus to achieve but I’ll tell you for free, if you start implementing this into the areas in your life that you want to succeed in the results can be wonderful. Being disciplined can make goals that seemed once incredibly far appear to be a lot more achievable.
Now let me tell you a quick story about myself. In my second year of University I decided to start a business and it went incredibly well. It was great, money was flowing, I was focused and incredibly… yeah you guessed it, disciplined. I gave myself a very structured and controlled schedule to ensure that:
1. I was running my business efficiently
2. My business was growing.
Of course I had systems in place which you could say was the key to my business blowing up but the foundation of the accomplishment was heavily embedded in my ability to be disciplined. However, during that year there was areas that I lacked control like my studies. I was disciplined in business but not my education.
Now I have a question for you, how many times have you been studying for an exam and during that session you haven’t done the amount of work you should have? To make it worse, you know that you could have but you just wasn’t “feeling” it that day, you blame your phone, social media, the weather but really it’s you. It’s not your distractions, it you. Trust me I’ve been there, I’ve lived it and because I wasn’t disciplined enough within my studies guess what? I had to re-sit a whole year of University. It wasn’t because I was distracted, it wasn’t because I’m not capable, I just couldn’t control my behaviours.
Some more self-reflection – think about a time where you was 100% committed to a task. A time where it was you and a target and that was it. No distractions. Just you smashing it out. Think about how much progress you made during that period. This can be: University, learning to drive, making some money, etc… just think about the impact that staying disciplined within that period had on the outcome of what you was trying to achieve. It was better right?
It’s also important to note that those who do best within their educational careers are not those who are naturally gifted(although this definitely helps) but it’s the people that exhibit the ability to stay disciplined within their studies and quiet frankly get the job done. And surprise, surprise this will be a reoccurring pattern through all areas of life.
Now you’re probably thinking how do take control of this incredible super power known as discipline? How do I switch it on and off as a please? Well you’re in luck my friend cos I’m about to show you the sauce.
Step 1. Have a strong “why”
Step 2. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS
Step 3. Understand Yourself
Step 4. Create a routine
Step 4. Create a productive environment
Step 5. Start small
Step 6. Forgive yourself
Step 7. Be self-aware(very Important)
Remember the small things matter, when trying to implement discipline into your life it’s okay to start small. To be honest I would recommend it and take a stacking approaching. Your probably thinking “what does that even mean?”. I mean start small and work your way up, it’s a mental skill which requires training. Some people will find it easier than others but if your anything like me it can sometimes be incredibly difficult to maintain this level of self-control. For example if your trying to become more disciplined within your studies start with doing 30 mins sessions of pure focus – no distractions. After that becomes easy you may up to 40 mins, then 1 hour and so on and so on. Then before you know it you will be doing 2 hour sessions maintaining your self-control without or minimizing procrastination.
Before I wrap this up, I want to touch on becoming self-aware. Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of your own behaviours and feelings. Through your battle within yourself to stay in control ideally you should know your triggers and how they make you feel. Write these triggers down, keep track of them and try to understand why these feelings of rejection towards the task at hand occur. The idea of self-awareness is that once you truly understand why you respond the way you do you can alter that and therefore be in better control
Once you truly become disciplined, I promise things in your life will start to change and things will start moving in the direction that you know you deserve.
Stay blessed.
The RealTalk Team
The RealTalk Blog 