Self Discipline or Confusion & Chaos – Your Choice

Self Discipline Is the Cornerstone of How You Manage Yourself

Self discipline is the single most important skill/ habit (after perseverance) that you need to develop to achieve any level of success. It doesn’t matter whether you are a business owner, a CEO or a corporate executive. Self discipline is a key ingredient to whatever you do. George Washington was once quoted as saying, “Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline, for discipline, more than numbers, gives one army, superiority over another.”

The best definition of self discipline, I believe, was written by the famous biologist, Thomas Huxley (1825 – 1895). He defined self discipline as “doing what you are supposed to do; when you are supposed to do it; even though you may not feel like doing it (at that particular time). Self-discipline involves acting on what you “know” as opposed to how you “feel” at any given time. As a motivational business/keynote speaker, when I talk to my audiences about the critical need to “Be Fearless; Step Up and Play Big“, I explain that the absence of strong self discipline skills is the biggest barrier to their success that they will face.

How important is self discipline? It’s really important! As Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “the undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions (i.e. their emotions)”. Ever experienced this in your career or in your experience in running your business? Don’t look away or sigh. Admit it, you’ve been there! Did you like it? I doubt it.

Self discipline is the cornerstone of your ability to manage yourself. If you cannot manage yourself then how can you manage – I mean lead - others? Self discipline is a key component of leadership. Some confuse self discipline with time management. Those who are confused on this, mistakenly think that if you improve your time management skill, you will be in better control of your surroundings. Well, they have it backwards! Let me explain. If you cannot first manage yourself, how can you manage time? So, I don’t use the term “time” management” but rather, “you” management. It’s all about what “you” do with the time you have available to you each day. If your self discipline (and perseverance) skills are lacking, you won’t do much with the time you have, other than waste it! Wasting time in a leadership role also means that you are “delegation” challenged.

Self discipline helps you focus on your priorities and control your tasks.　As you control tasks, you build more self-discipline. As you build more self-discipline, you build more and better “you” management skills. As your “you” management skills grow, you level of self-confidence develops further. And once this happens, your self-discipline habit grows stronger preparing you for the next challenge. That’s really what life is all about – every time you solve one challenge, you earn the right to a greater one.

Developing self discipline is hard; Courage is Needed

Don’t be fooled; self discipline is often a very difficult habit to develop and sustain. Personal courage is needed to help you push through the barriers you will face to develop your self discipline skill. However, as this skill develops and you begin to achieve small doses of success, the more courage you will have to tackle the bigger challenges waiting ahead for you.

So, with all of this as background, let’s talk about how you can develop and strengthen your self discipline skill set:

Focus on when you should start a task as opposed to when you need to complete it. When you focus on the completion date first, you leave yourself open to procrastination – and missed deadlines as well as missed opportunities.
Start to plan each day, the day before – make your “next day” plan the last thing you do before you go home. By having a daily plan, you give yourself a clearer picture of what needs to be done that day. The clearer the picture, the more likely you will hit your goals for that day.
Have goals: realistic and achievable ones. Why? Goals help you map out your journey. Goals are one of the key ingredients that help us build the resilience and courage to stay focused on what is possible and stake our claim to it.
When creating your daily plan, ask yourself two questions. First, what is the one thing I must get done today? Secondly, what could stand in my way of getting this key task done? By knowing your key task, you have more clarity. By thinking about what obstacle you might face, will give you time to figure out a solution to it or at minimum, a way around it. In addition, this process helps you to “own your goal.”
Start to take on those tasks or challenges, that in the past you would have avoided until the last minute or just completely ignored. These are the challenges that are within your level of ability but do represent a “stretch” to your limits. I don’t want you to leave your comfort zone, but rather start to stretch it. This is where your courage will come in to play.
In addition to these legitimate comfort zone stretchers, start tackling those things that you put off because you might be lazy; you don’t feel like doing it or just don’t like to do it.
It will require hard work and focus.
Above all, you must be persistent and not give up when you experience some failures or setbacks as you begin to stretch and strengthen your self discipline skill set. The risk of giving up is too great to you professionally and personally.

Some equate self discipline with mental toughness. Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, stated – “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. It’s qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind; you could call it character in action.”

To develop and enhance your level of self discipline demands that you accept the fact that it will require courage, hard work, will power, focus and persistence. But the rewards of being in control of your circumstances and destiny far outweigh the sacrifice. Or, do you like being a victim and enjoy the chaos and feelings of being constantly overwhelmed that come with it?

Well, are you ready to “Be Fearless; Step Up and Play Big”? There is no time like the present to get started. First, get my six video series to show you how to step up your game. Next, contact me to help you develop and implement your plan to create a better future.

YouTube