When successful people talk about the secrets of their progress in life they highlight the importance of self-discipline. Whether it is a success they achieved in their professional lives or in their personal lives, maybe both, their inherent ability for self-control through discipline was one of the key levers of their success. They have been able to keep their thoughts, emotions and behaviours in check.
Self-discipline is vital to achieving any goal. Without self-discipline, it is difficult to avoid temptation. The essentials of discipline are routine and dedication, which paired with an optimistic view and positive affirmations can be very powerful tools to achieve continuous development. Staying focussed may be difficult sometimes, there will be better days and on other days you may find it trying to go on. A good way to stay motivated is by using a personal reward system to make you want to stay disciplined. Some people find it helpful to have a friend that motivates them and keeps them on track. Meditation can help to clear your head at the beginning of your day. You also want to set yourself up with a schedule that will help you stay organized. Sometimes it is difficult to maintain your self-discipline. Here are some ideas to help you improve it.
Maintaining a routine
Most of what we do day by day is habit driven, it is not difficult to create a routine so you can stay focussed and have the discipline to accomplish your goal. You can put yourself on a daily routine by getting a planner and creating a daily schedule for yourself. When you know day to day what you need to do to accomplish your goal, it makes it easier to achieve it and it becomes more obtainable. You will want to keep your appointments in this planner so you know exactly where you need to be at any given point during the day, this makes it all so easy to see at a glance what will be coming up next, so you can prepare yourself mentally for the challenges you will be facing. It works for me when I allow at least 15 minutes break between meetings whenever I can, because even this short time provides me with the opportunity to gather my thoughts, collect questions, think about what I want out of that specific meeting and make a quick plan.