Discipline is one of the keys to success.
This is an all-around valid argument: as much in your personal and professional life as in sports. Self-discipline helps you stay focused on achieving your goals, gives you the right motivation to tackle the most difficult undertakings, and most importantly, helps you overcome the obstacles and difficulties you encounter on your path. Whatever it is.
What is self discipline? How is it acquired?
Discipline means deeply aligning your actions with your values and especially your priorities. It means focusing on your path without letting distractions and temptations affect you negatively. Discipline should not be perceived as a kind of suffering but as determination toward a goal. You realize you have acquired it when you are able to control your behaviors, emotions and reactions. When you are able to forgo immediate gratification because you have realized that it will bring you much greater gain in the long run. When you are able to say NO even when you would like to say YES. Discipline is choosing between what you would like now and what you want most. You don’t have to give up everything but you definitely have to make sacrifices in the most important areas of your life. Those that will enable you to achieve what you are most interested in. Growth and improvement are difficult without discipline.
You can imagine discipline as that bridge that connects your dreams to reality. The key that enables you to achieve your goals and realize yourself. If you want to do something special you have to be willing to do something that others do not do, you have to be willing to work harder than others or train better than others. It is not a sacrifice to work an extra hour or add an extra mile to your running workout if it will help you reach your goals.
Are you a disciplined person and athlete? Have you never been able to be all the way? Here are some suggestions for how to accomplish this.
OBJECTIVES
First write down a set of primary goals to be achieved. Along with these a list of actions/behaviors needed to achieve them. Having a clear understanding of what you need to do to get to the finish line is the basis of your success. Always keep a positive attitude. Having a clearly defined goal does not mean that it is then easy to achieve. Learn from mistakes without ever losing sight of the ultimate goal.
CHECK LIST.
One of the easiest ways to stay disciplined is to use checklists. Draw up periodically the most important things to do, and as you accomplish them, tick off the list. This will help you stay motivated over time and more committed to your path.
PATIENCE
Achieving goals especially when challenging and ambitious is not an easy path and immediate. Being disciplined also means being patient. Awareness that to finish the whole process will take time in which you will have to stick to the commitment you made.
AVAILABILITY
If you are disciplined you must always be willing to learn, to improve, to listen, and above all to change your mind. The first path you took is not always the best way to achieve your goals. Being disciplined also means being able to question yourself. Never losing sight of the goal.
LIMITING FACTORS
Carefully identify what aspects of your daily life are limiting the achievement of your goals or even the performance of your daily activities. Nowadays too many interruptions for breaks, social consultation are a limiting factor in the development of so many projects, big and small. Eliminate them or identify rules to limit their effect. You will see that if your days fly by smoothly, everything else will begin to work better.
COMMITMENT
Take courage. Share your goals. It is easier to remain disciplined when you have made a serious commitment in front of others and have therefore put yourself on the line. On the one hand, the eyes of others will help you stay more motivated, and on the other hand, the day your motivation goes down, the presence of an external factor that can motivate you might help you stay on track. Sharing your goals will put you in a position to lead by example. Having to be a role model for others is one of the most effective tools for maintaining self-discipline.
ROUTINE
Sometimes people ask me how I stay disciplined about so many aspects of my life: nutrition, training, work etc. The answer is that I actually turned my self-discipline into my daily way of life. When you have succeeded in doing this, discipline will no longer be a commitment but a good habit. Our mind and body are very efficient and able to get used to everything. You just have to want it. And if you are reading this article, it is precisely because you desire it.
NO EXCUSES
This is one of the cornerstones of self-discipline. Always take responsibility. No more excuses or worse yet, blaming others for your failures. Only by taking full responsibility for your results will you be able to maintain maximum self-discipline. Making external excuses and scapegoats authorize you to lower your guard. You are the master of your destiny and the one who determines your life. Negative episodes are not important. Those can always be there. It will be important how you can respond by being able to move forward, straight toward your goal. Discipline is the best fuel for your results.
The ability to remain disciplined will increase your self-esteem over time. If you know how to stay focused on the goal you will quickly gain the knowledge that you have the power to turn any goal into reality. Discipline helps you improve every day by being able to focus your energy and time, two scarce resources, on the most important things that will allow you to achieve over time. In personal life. In work. In sports.
I can never tell you that being disciplined is easy. But I’m sure it’s worth it.
(Main image credits: ArturVerkhovetskiy on DepositPhotos.com)