No one really likes to hear this word: discipline. I remember when I was younger and discipline was handled by my Dad. Oy! Us kids used to say “the punishment never fit the crime”. I digress. I’m not talking about THAT type of discipline though. I’m talking about the discipline that comes from within, self-discipline. According to Merriam Webster, self discipline is defined as “correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement“. This sounds perfectly feasible to me, but then why is it so hard?
We’re all different beings and in that we have different personality traits. Some people can just say out loud that they won’t smoke a cigarette anymore and other people need more support (i.e. support group, chewing gum, accountability app, etc.). Some people are more internally or externally motivated to change. There are other factors that can also affect our ability to be self-disciplined:
- Motivation: usually we need some kind of motivation to make self discipline easier. Motivation comes and goes, which is why self discipline can be difficult at times.
- Mindset: the mindset a person has can influence their ability to adapt a new behavior or practice self discipline. A fixed mindset will see things as challenging to change, but a growth mindset will see things as possible to change.
- Habits: habits are actions that are on auto-pilot. There are less decisions to make with a habit so you’re more likely to do it. Having habits established can help you be more self-disciplined.
- Intention: set your intention to accomplish whatever it is you want to accomplish. Having this intention makes it easier to be disciplined with the required action.
All of this affects goal setting and establishing a new habit. In order to change a behavior, you have to set a goal for the behavior. Then you have to create a new habit to accomplish the change in behavior. You need to have a growth mindset and be intentional in your actions. All of that takes self-discipline. See the relationships? Yes, you’re correct – it’s all intertwined. So how do you get more self-disciplined? You practice EVERY day and focus on keeping a growth mindset backed up with intentional actions.