Meaning of self-discipline

Discipline means behavioural order or code. Self-discipline refers to the very essential ability to control one’s own feelings. Self-Discipline contributes to overcoming one’s own limitations.

Life isn’t life without self-discipline. We need laws to guide us. To our elders, we have to be polite. Our seniors must be obeyed.

It’s significance

For success in life, self-discipline is most important. If we are at school or at home, discipline is a must. If we are in the workplace or in the playground, it is equally important. Without discipline, our lives, our culture, our country and even the universe will go astray. Therefore, some kind of discipline is needed everywhere. Order occurs in Nature. Even a small disorder contributes to confusion in the world of nature.

The formative days in schools and colleges: In any walk of life, self-discipline has to be taught. The best time for it is childhood. Quickly and effortlessly, the young mind discovers things. Students are encouraged to behave well at school. Their elders are taught to honour them. And in the playground, boys are taught to follow the rules of the games. Thus, student days are the most formative time in which it is possible to understand the importance of self-discipline.

Indiscipline evils

Without self-discipline, a man is just like an animal. His life and behaviour are becoming aimless. In today’s era, there is a great evil in self-discipline. In every walk of life, it is rising. The young and the elderly both do acts of lawlessness. Crimes and robberies today are on the rise. It seems like individuals have forgotten the importance of self-discipline. Over-crowding on buses and trains is very popular in India. It is also a common trait to travel without tickets. The talk of the city is student indiscipline.

Indiscipline causes

A major cause of indiscipline and discontent is lack of jobs. The problem is made even worse by overpopulation. Overcrowding induces indiscipline in schools and universities. Ultimately, poverty leads to extreme disorder, anger and indiscipline.

Self-Discipline, in truth, is a positive thing. It develops personality. It cultivates power and unity. It induces a feeling of cooperation. So Self-Discipline has to be something from childhood. In life, it is a secret to success. The higher the sense of self-discipline, the better it is for individuals and the country.

Developing the habit of self discipline

For those only starting out in life (and everyone else!), one of the most critical life skills to cultivate is the ability of self-discipline.

It’s a power house

I began to exercise and eat better, meditate and write more when I developed some self-discipline, I quit smoking and ran marathons, I started a blog, I read more and I worked earlier, I decluttered and transformed my finances. I am far from ideal, but I have learned a great deal.

But it creates problems if you don’t develop self-discipline: health issues, distraction, procrastination, financial problems, clutter, stuff piling up and distracting you, and much more.

So creating is such an essential skill, but most people don’t know where to begin. The purpose of this article is to help you get started.

I’m writing it for my kids, and for anyone else who would like to grow a superpower.

Finding inspiration

The first question is how are you even encouraged to get started? Most of us don’t want to think about our lack of discipline, let alone taking a number of steps.

The inspiration for me came from knowing that what I was doing wasn’t working. Ignoring the issues has only made matters worse. Attempting to be disciplined but doing it half-assedly just led me to feel bad about myself. Being totally undisciplined caused me a lot of pain.

You can establish a whole-hearted intention to stop harming yourself once you understand that you’re causing yourself pain. You might think, “All right, that’s enough to make my life worse.” Let’s try to make it a little worse.

You should tell yourself, with that in mind, that you are going to:

Begin to take small steps to make things easier.
Do the stuff that hurt less for you.
Push yourself a little bit into pain, but over time you can get better at this.
With some practise, get good at self-discipline.
When you train, keep these points in mind, as you get the desire not to practise, and as you make mistakes and then want to give up.

More on positive motivation

Wanting to assist others

For example, if you get better at exercising or healthy eating, you can support your elderly parents who need to do these things better. If you get better at not procrastinating on your life’s job, you can support more people with the meaningful work.

Life appreciating

Here on Earth, we have a limited time and the life we have is a blessing. We don’t completely understand the blessing we have when we procrastinate and give in to constant distractions, and don’t make the most of our time. Instead, by being present, being thankful, and being intent on how we spend our time, we will enjoy it.
We will begin to practise with these motivations, or whatever reasons move you the most.

Small acts

To get better at self-discipline, one of the most important things you can do is to take small acts. Tackling huge, intimidating projects can seem overwhelming … so don’t. Alternatively, approach basic acts, stuff so small that you can’t say no.

Got to do any taxes? Only do this for 5 minutes. Want to go running? Only 10 minutes of running. Have a paper on which to work? Only do the paragraphs for the first few. Want to go decluttering? Find just 5 things to declutter.

If you concentrate on small tasks, and split bigger projects into small tasks, you’ll get better at self-discipline.

Training for unfavourable situations

One of the reasons we don’t have self-discipline is because of the difficult, painful stuff that we flee from. We’d prefer to do simple, comfortable, familiar stuff.

So we flee to distractions, videos, games instead of facing our challenging, uncomfortable projects or finances. Our lives are destroyed by hiding from discomfort.

What you should say to yourself is that you have finished running. You are going to drive, a little at a time, into discomfort, and get good at being uncomfortable. Another of your superpowers is this. You are OK when others run (even if it’s not always fun).

Pushing yourself into pain, one little task at a time. See how it looks. See that this isn’t the world’s end. See that you are awesome enough to cope with pain, and that it is well worth the effects.

Keep impulses in mind

You’re going to have the desire to stop doing something complicated, or to put it off for now. They don’t serve you well those impulses.

Alternatively, build knowledge about certain desires, and see that you do not have to obey them.

To schedule a time for yourself where you can do nothing but X is a good way to do that. For starters, you can do nothing but write your book chapter for the next 10 minutes (or exercise, meditate, etc.). You can clearly see it when you have the desire to procrastinate or run into distractions, since you are either writing a novel, or you are not. If you have the desire to convince yourself that you can’t pursue it you will have to write a chapter in your book or sit there and do nothing.

The reason it works is that you set up a time where you do nothing but that one job, and you can see your temptation to run away. Use this to learn to keep your impulses in mind, and to see that you don’t have to obey them.

Training for intervals

You can prepare yourself using interval training if you incorporate the above items into a system of bursts, or intervals:

Set your aim to exercise self-discipline and no longer harm yourself.
Set a mission on which to concentrate (writing, drawing, strength training, meditating, etc).
Set a 10 minute timer. Also, five minutes is perfect if 10 is too long. At 10 minutes, don’t go longer until you get strong, then increase to 12 and eventually 15. I don’t think I need to go beyond 15-20 minutes, even though I kick my ass.
Do nothing but sit there and watch your urges, or drive into your discomfort by doing the job.
Give yourself a 5-minute break when the timer goes off.

Repeat the actions

You can practise for a number of cycles, or for an hour or two, theoretically. Take a longer break then, and then do another series of intervals.

This kind of interval training is great, because it’s not that intense, you just train yourself in pain and watching impulses, and you can get a lot done this way.

Focus on others

Dig into deeper motivation when you find yourself struggling: doing your work/exercise/meditation, etc not for yourself but for others.

For example:

I’m writing this article to support my children and anyone else who could benefit from it.
I work out to be safe, not only for myself but for my children and others who may benefit, as an example.
Not only do I meditate for my own healing and peace, but so that I can help others find their own healing and peace.
To inspire others, you may draw or write or play music.
You might benefit in each instance… but you’re also doing it to benefit others. And this advantage is far more motivating for others than doing something just for yourself.

Try it… try to do someone else’s difficult task. Tell them that you would do it for them in advance, and keep them in mind while you do it. See if you are getting more inspired.

Success and failure victories

A big mistake many individuals make is that they screw up and get discouraged by it. They feel bad about messing up. This causes them to give up and not want to think about self-discipline being created.

Here is the thing: failure is a success, honestly.

Failure means you’ve been trying. So it was a victory from the beginning.

But it also means that you’ve learned something now you know that what you’ve been doing didn’t really work. You can try something a little different next time. Add more responsibility, do it at a different time, unplug your wireless router, get a buddy for a workout, whatever. You have new knowledge because of your mistake. You’ve grown, and that helps you to change yourself.

Failure constitutes a success. Often, achievement is a win. You should see it as an opportunity to learn, to improve, to get better no matter what your result is.

Drop any hopes of being perfect at this and just keep trying.

Instead of letting it get you discouraged, see it as a win the next time you struggle at whatever you are trying. No matter what then keep going, because giving up is just going to hurt you even more.

Seeking aid from others

You aren’t alone in this. You have relatives, friends, strangers online who are willing to support you. By reaching out to the people around you and asking for their assistance, form a support team.

Lots of people miss this because their lack of discipline embarrasses them. They believe that shameful is the way they act. This isn’t real. We all behave like this really, but we’re just afraid to show each other that side. But the fact is if you show people your “dark side, they really love you more, they trust you more, they connect more to you. So don’t be afraid to communicate with others in a vulnerable way.

Find the confidence to ask for assistance. When you focus on getting yourself into pain and injuring yourself less then let yourself be helped.