Self-Discipline - Getting Where We Want To Go

The difference between thinking about what we want to do and getting ourselves there requires considerable self-discipline. It will also be necessary to combine this with willpower and self-control. There are many things we can do to establish our skills in this area so that we can succeed at whatever we have decided to do.

The following are some ways to increase our inner strength and determination in order to develop self-discipline:
- decide to lose ten or more pounds and stick to our diet until we have reached our desired weight;
- make a decision to have a more toned body or to develop our muscles and stick to an exercise program until we have achieved our goal;
- decide to quite smoking by the end of three months.

Or we can encourage ourselves to do something that needs to be done but that we don’t want to do or feel uncomfortable doing such as:
- cut the grass regularly every weekend even if we’d rather be playing computer games or something else we enjoy;
- make a personal commitment to take the dog for a walk every day, rain or shine;
- if we are shy, make the decision to initiate a conversation with someone we don’t know every time we go shopping;
- if the breakfast dishes are still in the sink every night when we come home from work, determine to do them before we sit in front of the television. (The job will be much worse to do the following day.)

Other ways of practicing self-discipline are:
- if we love chocolate, we won’t eat any for a week;
- if we want to go to Mexico but can’t afford it, we save all of our loose change and put it into a jar towards our trip instead of going for our special coffee every day;
- we can practice self-discipline when we are self-employed by establishing regular hours and working them even if something more enjoyable comes up;
- we can make ourselves a realistic list of what we wish to achieve each day and
commit ourselves to completing each task on our list

All of these things require self-discipline and the ability to self-regulate. If we cheat, we are only cheating ourselves. When we work towards becoming self-disciplined, it will be necessary to be focused, diligent, persistent and persevering.

Becoming self-disciplined helps us to withstand hardships and to endure difficulties in order to achieve our goals. Once we learn this important trait, we will feel in control of our lives and be much happier and self-contented.

Do you quit things a short time after you’ve started them because you don’t have the willpower or self-discipline to complete the task? If we quit things because we don’t like them, we’ll never become self-disciplined or accomplish our goals.

There is a saying, ‘Quitters never win and winners never quit.’ If we all followed that old adage, we’d all be winners. But by learning to be self-disciplined, we will have chosen the path to success.