This week’s quote is from the American writer, artist, and philosopher Elbert Hubbard, who is credited with saying, “Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”
He’s also credited with saying, “Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive,” but we’re going to keep things a bit more upbeat today.
You know, it’s fairly easy to be disciplined when you have to get something done, and there’s a deadline staring you in the face. You have to pay your bills on time to avoid late fees. You have to go to the grocery store when you need food. Or you might have to finish that assignment or project that your boss needs by 3 pm today.
But what about when your time is up to you? Are you spending it in the best way possible? Are you making the most of your days and being highly productive, or does it feel like your schedule is out of your control? If so, you need to work on your self-discipline.
It took me a while to admit that I had a problem with self-discipline. It was much easier for me to blame outside forces for my lack of productivity. But after taking a good, hard look at what I wanted to accomplish in my life and seeing that I really wasn’t structuring my days in order to produce those results, I decided to re-commit myself to becoming more disciplined.
I’d like to share 3 steps that I’ve implemented in my own life recently that, if you commit to, will make a profoundly positive impact on your life as well.
Step 1 is to take inventory of your schedule. How are you spending your time? Are the things that you’re doing day in and day out getting you any closer to your life goals? How much of your time is up to you? At the end of the day, do you ever wonder where the time went? I’ll bet that happens more than you care to admit.
I don’t know anyone who has 100% control over their time, but I’ll bet you have more control over your schedule than you realize. So take a good, hard look at it and figure out where you can make some changes. The important thing I want you to accomplish is a complete self-audit of your time and look for areas where you can improve.
Step 2 is to start developing routines that you can turn into habits. For example, do you have a morning routine that gets your day started off in a positive and productive way? Most people don’t. Highly successful people do. There are lots of articles, videos, and books describing some of the world’s high achievers and how they start their day.
The specifics vary from person to person, but the important thing is that they all follow a routine and rarely stray from it.
So take a look at how you start your day and see how you can structure it to be more productive. One of the best strategies I know of is to plan your day the night before. Don’t wake up thinking, “What do I need to do today?” Know how you’re going to spend your day when you go to bed the night before. That way, you can get out of bed and hit the ground running.
Step 3 is to make time each week to review, reflect and revise. What worked, what didn’t, how can you improve and what changes are you going to make moving forward. If you will discipline yourself to do this each week, you will be amazed at how much of an impact it will make on your productivity.
There are lots of other things you can do that will help you improve your self-discipline, but these 3 steps will certainly get you headed in the right direction. I’d like to know what strategies you’ve employed that have helped you become more self-disciplined. Please share what’s working for you in the Comments section below. On the flip side, what are you struggling with? Let the Impactful Community help you. I look forward to reading your comments. This is an area we could all use some help with.
Remember, if you discipline yourself, others won’t have to.
If you develop the habit of self-discipline you can make an impact, and you can lead a full life.
Thanks for reading, now go make an impact!