Methods for Increasing Discipline

[Landon Caeli]

Lately I've been focusing on disciplining myself, following a schedule, quitting smoking, etc.

...But one surprising thing seems to hold it all together. Making my bed every morning! It's true, my sheets are so tight, you can bounce a quarter off them.

Anyone else have any suggestions for increasing personal discipline?

 

[mama2one]

some say it takes X number of days to create a habit

another person said that it's not number of days nor motivation but instead whether the person has attached positive emotion

however, for me it was "negative" emotion
saw what happened to a relative who is very overweight & didn't want that to happen to me

lost weight by going down to 2 meals per day & was able to do that for a whole year!

 

[jayem]

Lately I've been focusing on disciplining myself, following a schedule, quitting smoking, etc.

...But one surprising thing seems to hold it all together. Making my bed every morning! It's true, my sheets are so tight, you can bounce a quarter off them.

Anyone else have any suggestions for increasing personal discipline?

Use positive reinforcement. Reward yourself after achieving a goal. Recent example: I hate yard work. I’d rather pay a yard crew to mow the lawn, weed the beds, and collect and haul away leaves and debris once a week in the summer. But after a bad storm last week, I had a mess of large tree branches, pine cones, leaves, and sycamore balls scattered all over the driveway, sidewalk, and front and back yards. No damage to the house fortunately, but I could only get one car out the garage. My yard guys were already swamped. So I had to discipline myself and do the cleanup. As an incentive, I planned to reward myself afterward. Took hours, in the hot sun, but I got the job done. Filled 5 1/2 30 gal bags with yard waste. And I treated myself to the $200 bottle of Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon that I’ve had my eye on. It’s delicious and smooth as silk. But still, I’d rather pay the yard crew.

 

[bèlla]

Accountability. Connect with others doing the same. The encouragement is beneficial and you can offer the same.

Track your accomplishments and thank the Lord for them.

~bella

 

[After God's Heart]

Pray through the book of Proverbs.

 

[durangodawood]

...Making my bed every morning!....

One positive habit to start the day can really set the tone for everything to follow.

 

[bèlla]

Eat your frogs early. See Brian Tracy for more information.

 

[Jesus is my Superhero]

Know yourself. Understand your weaknesses and resolve beforehand not to let your weakness derail your effort. Be determined. Pray without distraction.

 

[Sketcher]

I like the Jocko Podcast, one of the big themes there is "Discipline equals freedom," and Jocko is probably one of the most disciplined men on this planet. His Twitter feed is mostly pictures of his watch when he wakes up at insanely early hours to do his workouts. I'm not getting up at 4:30 in the morning to swing kettlebells like he does, but absorbing what he talks about has gotten me to make changes in my own life that have been very positive.

 

[partinobodycular]

Jocko is probably one of the most disciplined men on this planet. His Twitter feed is mostly pictures of his watch when he wakes up at insanely early hours to do his workouts.

One has to be careful though, not to confuse habitualness with discipline. Getting up at 4:30 every morning doesn't necessarily indicate discipline. To me, discipline isn't about doing the things that you're comfortable doing, but rather it's about doing the things that you're not comfortable doing.

Don't get me wrong, developing the habit of getting up at 4:30 every morning probably required a lot of discipline, but continuing to do it probably doesn't.

However, once you've done that, once you've taken a chore and turned it into a habit, it gives you the confidence to do it again. So Landon is on the right track, make your bed, do the dishes, mow the lawn. Whatever. Do all the little things that your parents always told you to do, but you never wanted to do. I know, it looks like wax on, wax off, but it's discipline baby.

And you don't have to start with getting up at 4:30 in the morning, just start.

 

[Lost4words]

Going for walks at set times of the day helps me focus. I think i have trained my owner well in that regard.

 

[Sketcher]

One has to be careful though, not to confuse habitualness with discipline. Getting up at 4:30 every morning doesn't necessarily indicate discipline. To me, discipline isn't about doing the things that you're comfortable doing, but rather it's about doing the things that you're not comfortable doing.

Don't get me wrong, developing the habit of getting up at 4:30 every morning probably required a lot of discipline, but continuing to do it probably doesn't.

However, once you've done that, once you've taken a chore and turned it into a habit, it gives you the confidence to do it again. So Landon is on the right track, make your bed, do the dishes, mow the lawn. Whatever. Do all the little things that your parents always told you to do, but you never wanted to do. I know, it looks like wax on, wax off, but it's discipline baby.

And you don't have to start with getting up at 4:30 in the morning, just start.

Well, I'm not going to call getting up at 4:30 AM to do the workouts that Jocko does merely "habitual" or "comfortable". They're way above my level, no matter what time of day it is. Either way, I mentioned it because it has inspired me, so I figure it will inspire others. If you are at the level where getting up at 4:30 AM to do intense workouts is no longer "disciplined" for you, then well done and hats off to you.

 

[partinobodycular]

If you are at the level where getting up at 4:30 AM to do intense workouts is no longer "disciplined" for you, then well done and hats off to you.

I'll admit that my perspective can be a bit skewed at times. I used to be a professional cyclist, and I remember someone emailing me once, saying that they were thinking about taking up cycling and could I give them a training program. I said sure, and I laid out what I thought was an easy 350 mile a week program. No intervals. Nothing over a hundred miles a day. Easy. They emailed me back and said they thought that they'd stick with running. I went oops, maybe I should rethink my concept of easy.

For me discipline has always come easy, because I lacked talent, so I figured that I had to make up for it with tenacity. I'll just outwork you. And substituting tenacity for talent works great...until you run into somebody that's got both.

 

[Sketcher]

I'll admit that my perspective can be a bit skewed at times. I used to be a professional cyclist, and I remember someone emailing me once, saying that they were thinking about taking up cycling and could I give them a training program. I said sure, and I laid out what I thought was an easy 350 mile a week program. No intervals. Nothing over a hundred miles a day. Easy. They emailed me back and said they thought that they'd stick with running. I went oops, maybe I should rethink my concept of easy.

For me discipline has always come easy, because I lacked talent, so I figured that I had to make up for it with tenacity. I'll just outwork you. And substituting tenacity for talent works great...until you run into somebody that's got both.

Good on you, you're a high achiever. Jocko's also a high achiever, but his focus is different. I think you'd both say each other is legit at what you respectively do.

 

[durangodawood]

I'll admit that my perspective can be a bit skewed at times. I used to be a professional cyclist, and I remember someone emailing me once, saying that they were thinking about taking up cycling and could I give them a training program. I said sure, and I laid out what I thought was an easy 350 mile a week program. No intervals. Nothing over a hundred miles a day. Easy. They emailed me back and said they thought that they'd stick with running. I went oops, maybe I should rethink my concept of easy.

For me discipline has always come easy, because I lacked talent, so I figured that I had to make up for it with tenacity. I'll just outwork you. And substituting tenacity for talent works great...until you run into somebody that's got both.

Ahaha. "Taking up cycling" can mean a lot of different things, racing ambitions being just one.