How to Discipline Yourself

Do you have a habit of waiting until the last minute? Struggling to follow through with your plans? Maybe you want to make something a regular habit, like studying for exams or working out at the gym. Regardless of which area of your life lacks discipline, don't lose faith in yourself. To overcome this, you need to start with a plan to improve your self-discipline.

Think about the reasons why you want to bring discipline into your life. Do you have a specific goal in mind but keep getting held back by obstacles? Perhaps you want to wake up early but struggle with a late-night routine. Maybe your once impressive musical skills are fading due to lack of practice. Or perhaps you're trying to lose weight but don’t enjoy exercising. Take some time to reflect on your goals and narrow them down.

Visualize your goal. Visualization is the key to success in goal-setting. At least once, you must clearly think through and solidify your visualization of the goal. After that, you need to let these goals revolve around you – both physically and mentally.

• An effective way to visualize your goal is by simulating the process. With this technique, you should imagine yourself taking the necessary steps to achieve the goal, instead of only visualizing the final result.
• Other ways to practice visualization include daily meditation or creating a vision board for your goals.

Create an action plan. Your plan can be structured in a table format. You can draw it by hand or use software like Microsoft Word or Excel. Don’t worry about the content of the table just yet; that will come later. Start by considering headings, like Regular Exercise, and then add the following titles for each column:

1. Action
2. Start Date
3. Potential Issues
4. Strategies to Overcome Potential Issues
5. Progress Report
6. Once you have the headings, fill in each column with the relevant information.

Prepare for action and decide when to start. Action refers to the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. After identifying meaningful actions, think about when you’ll begin working on your self-discipline.

• These actions could be anything from setting time limits on distractions that prevent you from exercising, to making sure your workout clothes are prepared the night before.
• If you find it difficult to come up with ideas, brainstorming is a useful technique. Asking family, friends, or acquaintances for input can also be beneficial. You’ll likely come up with many actions, so ensure your plan has plenty of rows. Take your time and write down everything you think of.
• You can plan to start today, tomorrow, or at some later time. Keep your plan realistic by considering time constraints. For example, if the action is “Exercise every day at 6 AM,” you may not be able to start this goal if the idea arises in the afternoon.

Anticipate potential problems and create strategies to overcome them. Think about all the challenges that may arise during your action steps, and outline how to handle them when they come up. For example, if you choose the goal of “Exercising every day at 6 AM”, but you know that when the alarm rings, you’ll just hit the snooze button and fall back asleep, write about the issue: "I will fall back asleep."

• As a replacement, consider strategies that worked for you in the past. However, based on your past experiences, if you know that certain strategies are unlikely to work (for instance, promising yourself you’ll wake up earlier next time, even though it has failed many times before), abandon that plan.
• Using ineffective strategies will only lead to disappointment. Shift to other ideas. For example, placing your alarm clock across the room could help you wake up, as you’ll need more effort to turn it off.

Regularly update progress reports and review your plan. Begin taking action and apply the strategies to solve problems at the planned times. As you do this, record the date and whether the strategy worked. After some time, review the feedback you received during the process.

• When reviewing the plan, think about the activities that were effective and those that weren’t. For the activities that didn’t work, ask yourself what you can learn from these experiences to bring yourself closer to your goal next time, and incorporate those lessons into your plan.
• If you didn’t learn anything from the experience, discard the current strategy and try an alternative. Return to the previous steps and brainstorm new ideas if you’re struggling with this part.

Transform your mistakes. Even if you completely fail the first time, that failure is still worth experiencing to help you become more disciplined. However, the improvement process requires you to turn mistakes into learning opportunities. Don’t give up!

• Researchers suggest that the brain responds in two ways when we make mistakes: either we immediately try to solve the problem or stop reacting to the mistake. Those who pay attention to their mistakes are more likely to learn how to adjust themselves in the future. On the other hand, those who ignore their mistakes (such as the nervous system stopping its response to errors) won’t improve. Make sure you’re addressing your shortcomings and how to improve them moving forward.

Don’t berate yourself for lacking discipline. Criticizing yourself is likely to be counterproductive, as it only saps your motivation and could lead to depression (depending on how much this habit impacts your life). Instead, remember that feeling undisciplined is not abnormal. You can learn how to become more disciplined, and you will master this skill. It’s likely that this process will take time, just like when you try something new.

• A 2011 survey found that about 27% of respondents felt they needed help with self-control and willpower. However, most of those surveyed wished they could improve this aspect of themselves.

Nurture yourself. Self-control is a resource that can be depleted. Certain situations can cause your self-discipline to fluctuate. For example, lack of sleep can lead you to make poor decisions and even overeat. Nurturing your mind, body, and soul will help you become more disciplined.

1. Have balanced meals. Ensure that you eat 3 to 5 small meals per day, including vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
2. Exercise regularly. Maintain a consistent physical activity routine as you work towards self-discipline. Exercise not only boosts your mood but also provides energy and motivation to complete tasks.
3. Reduce stress. Stress can harm both your productivity and your overall health. Minimize stress by getting enough sleep, engaging in self-care activities like taking baths or walking in the park, or practicing relaxation techniques such as meditation or yoga. If you're religious, performing rituals like prayer can also help you handle stress-inducing situations.

Push yourself daily. This explains why the best way to improve goal achievement is by building habits. The book The Power of Habit explains that habits are formed in the brain in the same area that generates unconditional reflexes, rather than the prefrontal cortex, which controls decision-making. At first, you’ll need regular motivation to perform actions that promote self-discipline until those actions become habits and no longer require conscious thought.

• Motivational strategies may include: reading inspiring quotes or books, listening to motivational podcasts, watching TED Talks, or having conversations with people who inspire you. Do these activities in the morning – or whenever necessary – to feel more motivated for difficult tasks.

• Reflect on your bad habits, such as excessive TV, computer, or internet use, or spending too much time playing video games. Identifying these habits will help you manage your time better and allow more room for productive activities.
• Action-oriented goals are a great idea. Instead of setting a goal to lose 9 pounds, why not set a goal to exercise every day?
• Track your progress daily, as this will show you how much you've accomplished and motivate you to keep going.

• Be patient with yourself as you establish new habits.
• Don’t expect change to happen overnight.