Times without number, we have been faced with many challenges that we need to exercise self-discipline, but we somehow find it hard to do. Here in today's article, I will be showing you eight ways to exercise and practice self-discipline.
- 1. USING THE CONTROLLED BURN METHOD.
A controlled burn is a strategy that foresters worldwide use to regulate plant and animal life, usually to reduce the risk of a more significant uncontrolled fire.
The most obvious application of this technique is in dieting: allowing yourself a cheat meal every now and that will help you avoid an unplanned cheat day or cheat week that could result in disastrous consequences for your long-term progress. You can use a controlled burn in any other endeavor that requires you to maintain high levels of self-discipline for an extended period. For example, if you're working hard on your business every other week, give yourself an entire day to slack off instead of working your fingers to the bone and burning out. Controlled burns, as long as they remain controlled and limited to a defined period, can increase your long-term discipline, so don't feel guilty about scheduling one now and then. You might temporarily lose some momentum, but in the long haul, it will be worth it.
- 2. DO IT NOW
If yet again you're telling yourself that you'll do something once X or Y happens, stop fooling yourself; the pop psychology maxim of past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior is correct for that situation. This cynical rule isn't always right. If it were, nobody would ever be able to change. However, it holds whenever you've been thinking of doing something for years and always ended up putting it off, thinking that when the conditions would change, you'd certainly do it. There's only one way to get out of this trap: when you catch yourself making a list of the right conditions before you act on your goal, tear the list up and take action now. If you're telling yourself that once the conditions are right, you'll surely do it, count how many times you told yourself the same thing before (and didn't ever do it at all) and add one more instance — because that's what most certainly will happen this time, too.
3. 3. IDENTIFY YOURSELF.
If you don't know yourself well, you'll struggle with building self-discipline because temptations will often catch you unprepared. An essential practice you should embrace in your everyday life is to note when, where, and why you give in to temptations. This knowledge will help you structure your life in such a way that you'll reduce the chances of a similar situation happening again or help you become prepared to overcome the urge when it arises again. Think of some of your most common slip-ups and figure out when, where, and why they happen. What can you do when you're most likely to give in to the temptation? What can you do to avoid visiting the venue where they're most likely to happen? Why do you think you're succumbing to this temptation, and is there any other way in which you can address the need this temptation fulfills without actually giving in to it.
- 4. VALUE YOUR OWN OPINION.
Publicly refuse instant gratification — such as ordering a salad when everybody around you orders a pizza. Usually, people who are the opposite of what you want to accomplish will criticize you out of fear of being inferior. If you manage to reach success, what does it say about them? Consequently, even if they aren't malicious by nature, you may sense resistance coming from their direction, often masquerading as good-hearted advice but intended to make you conform to the status quo.
Distance yourself from people who feel some height is unachievable because some people have tried it, and it doesn't work for them. Do not be conformed to their taste. Don't let them colonise you with their domineering personality.
- 5. Take your time.
Everybody would be wise to remember here's a rule: don't expect to change the negative habits you've been engaging in for years over a few days or even a few weeks. Mindset changes — in both positive and negative directions — take time to develop. At the very least, it will take you months or even years to eradicate negative habits and traits from your life. Getting angry at the timeline is futile because you can't change the past. All you can do now is do your best to stay faithful to your new resolutions and be patient.
"Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then, you must wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily. "—Epictetus.
- 6. Set your own pace.
Don't feel oppressed when you see people doing what you cannot do when they have learnt what you haven't learned and when it seems they have left you behind. Set your own pace and understand it. Everybody has their timeline of success. Don't try to compete with the less you get weary quickly and give up on your goal.
- 7. Avoid self-licensing.
Self-licensing, also known as moral licensing, is a phenomenon in which doing something good makes you more likely to do something terrible. This irrational behavior is visible in many walks of life, including political correctness, prosocial behavior, and consumer choice. Being aware of this danger and remaining vigilant when it's most likely to manifest can help you avoid it. It comes down to monitoring your actions when good behavior inflates your ego or when you're telling yourself that you've earned the right to indulge yourself in some irrational habit just because you did something you consider suitable for your goals. You think you should fuck up a little because you have been too good for so long.
- 8. BE CONSISTENT IN YOUR DEALINGS.
In today's world of abundance, there's always the next hot thing, a new miracle solution, a cure for it all. It's no wonder that so many people lack the self-discipline to stick to one thing and constantly jump from one thing to another, deluding themselves that the new thing will surely be better than the one they have now. In accounting principle, a firm must be consistent in their accounting method; for example, a company using LIFO should not jump to FIFO for any reason. OH Sorry! You might not understand just because you are an accounting student. An important aspect of self-discipline is the discipline to stick to the specific strategies you've chosen to follow to get the results. If the method you're following has been proven to work for other people (as in the case of following popular healthy diets, tested workout plans, personal finance strategies, etc.), switching out of it to another one only because you think the other one could be better is nothing but an act of self-sabotage. If you're currently thinking about giving up your current strategy because you're tempted to try something else, remind yourself of the metaphor with the egg. Nobody has ever accomplished anything by constantly destroying the fruits of their labor. If your strategy has been proven to work for many people, dedicate yourself to it for at least a year before you even consider the thought of trying something else.
Here are the 11 best quotes on self-discipline
Pls don't forget to like, share and comment below
