The Importance of Discipline
When most of the people think about the discipline they have the wrong images in their mind, they often assimilate it with either something like slavery or doing what others tell you, but that cannot be further from the truth. Having discipline in a specific field or type of action can take your results through the roof.
Discipline is the ability to push yourself back to work, back to dominating your world from a state of laziness, a state of “I’m not feeling it”. The ability that allows you to do your essential job when life kicks you in the balls and takes all of your focus away.
To give you an example yesterday was the last day of 2017 and of course, I was partying, but before that, I was just having fun on my own at home while listening some music. About a month ago I decided to post every day, and it went well, but I decided to take a day off yesterday because of a few reasons, and I don’t regret it because I wanted to do so.
The problem is not that I took a day off yesterday but that I wanted to chill out today too. I was excited about the Steem raise and the future in general, and all I wanted to do was chill out while studying crypto, which is great and it does serve my purpose but posting on Steem is a priority. I had to kick myself out of that state and write something, I already had a few ideas and wanted to write about something else in the begging, but I decided to write about discipline since it may help other people as it helped me.
I think you can already see how important it is but how does one acquire it? Look, I’m not a guru or some bullshit like that, and what I’m saying may or may not right but keep in mind that it worked for me so it might as well work for you.
How to Get it
There’s no “secret formula” for acquiring discipline, and what works for one individual may not work for another but the only way to get it right is by trial and error, trying different stuff until you find the right thing and this applies to any field of your life.
I see discipline as a muscle, the more you train it, the stronger it will get and the easier it will be for you in the future. The only way I know how to train it is by practicing it. When you’re in a situation where you have to do something meaningful,, like going to the gym or writing a post for Steem, but you’re too lazy to do it, or too tired, you have to somehow push yourself out of that state and do that particular action no matter what.
Of course, it’s not going to be easy, especially at first but with time it will get easier and more rewarding. When your instinct is to retreat, to take a break, to postpone it for tomorrow, then it is the moment when you have to do it, the moment when you have to break out of that shitty state and take action.
If you keep on postponing things you will become lazier thus you will not be able to accomplish any shit, but by taking constant action despite any instinct of stopping, you will train your discipline. And once you have that mindset, that self-control formed, you will be able to accomplish almost anything.
Now take control of your shit and start dominating 2018.
The pictures are from Pixabay: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
I have days when I don't feel like it as well. We all do. If I have particular thing that I have set out to do say run every day and then I don't feel like it, I just push through by reminding myself the reasons why I set out to do so in first place, what benefits it brings me instead of my own laziness. Discipline and consistency are two power house tools everyone should hold on to, because they help to reach whatever you wish.
Happy New Year @guyfawkes4-20! ^^
Of course that everybody has that kind of days but what separates the ones that accomplish something from the ones that don't is how they act in those days. Having an alive purpose in your mind is always a great approach.
2018 to the moon. :D
I do see discipline sort of like a muscle as you described. As someone who is self employed I found out early its one of the most important aspects to getting any real measure of success. For me I one of the best ways I get things done is by doing it early in the day and getting things "out of the way" that way if i lose energy as day goes on I dont have lots left to do.
I get what you mean, I work here, and I am studying at the same time, so I'm kinda self-employed too, and I know that without discipline I would not be where I am today. Not that I would be the most successful or something like that, just that this is where I wanted to be for a long time.
I love to take massive action in the mornings, even if I can't do it all the time due to my studies but I take full advantage of it when I can. :D
Yes, most people see discipline as... spanking, but it can also mean dedication and persistence.
And vice versa, once you start slacking, you're often on a slippery slope effect roll.
Cheers!
First of all Happy New Year . All you said above is 100% . Looking forward for your upvote
:D
I've read focus works much in the same way. Those that can sit and work all day have practiced year after year of working all day. It's as you said a muscle that takes training to develop.
The most successful people are always the ones with the best discipline. Anywhere you look, on sports, business, entertainment, everywhere, the best ones are the ones who work harder thanks to their discipline
Discipline is key to have success, because it helps us focus on our goals and acting towards them. Not losing that focus is the most important thing in the long run
Ps: happy New Years bud!
Lack of discipline though is why I'm currently posting =P.
It's definitely a muscle, I also have a theory of personal inertia. I find that the more I need to get done, the more I'm able to do. Newton's first law states that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, and an object as rest will remain at rest. The more you keep yourself in motion and productive, the easier it will be to maintain that. Setting yourself up to get some easy production out of the way early is a great way to get your day started properly and maintain that productivity all day.
I hold a firm belief that there are days where even the top athletes just 'don't feel like training'. However, with discipline and resilience, they push through.
It's up to us to decide if the EFFORT is worth the END product.
In expectancy theory of motivation, it is a must to value the reward if not we won't give up what we want now for what we want later.