Procrastination, especially in the golden age of distractions, has become one of the most common stumbling blocks for many people’s path to success. It doesn’t take much time to figure out why so many find it difficult to concentrate and get things done. Given the fact that the entire internet is in our pockets 24/7, no wonder we struggle to be disciplined and concentrate on our goals. But the thing we lack the most is one of the most essential parts of a healthy and productive life.
Oh, discipline, thou art a heartless b*tch. Why are you so hard to obtain?
And honestly, it is quite a task.
The importance of developing discipline goes much further than just goal achieving. Learning how to be disciplined is a crucial part of living a healthy life. It’s essential for almost every task we do in our day-to-day lives. From waking up on time for classes to running a business, everything we wish to do well, we must be disciplined about it.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BE DISCIPLINED?
Pressure To Get Your Life Together
When we were kids, we never lacked discipline. We had our parents to keep us in check and we’d still get things done even if we didn’t feel like doing them because we knew the consequences.
As we grew older things started to change.
Once we’re on our own, that’s when all hell breaks loose.
The freedom of choosing your own path brings with it immense pressure. And I’m sure you know just how hard can that pressure be to deal with. Not only does it have the power to make you fearful and anxious, but it also can render you completely unable to take any action.
Handling pressure can be a cakewalk for some people, but this is no ordinary pressure. This self-imposed pressure that constantly reminds you that your life’s a mess, the pressure nobody besides you can feel is one of the main reasons behind the lack of discipline.
No Clear Goals
Having no clear goals is also one of the biggest reasons for the lack of discipline, and identifying it as one can be quite a challenge.
It all comes down to how good are you at setting goals for yourself.
If you aren’t efficient in goal setting, poor results are kind of a given.
Having unclear and hardly reachable goals, which is what most of us tend to do, is the big mistake we rarely acknowledge. And that’s exactly where the lack of discipline comes it.
It’s impossible to find the strength to be disciplined if you haven’t made a specific plan to reach a goal.
Your goals must be absolutely clear. The principle of SMART goal setting is one of the most powerful ways to ensure you get the necessary clarity without which goal achieving is almost impossible.
Laziness
Some of us are just lazy. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with occasional laziness. We all feel lazy sometimes.
The one thing that no man should ever allow himself to do, is to be permanently lazy.
It’s acceptable to have a few lazy days. Everything more than that, with each passing day, becomes more and more alarming.
Too Many Distractions
Well, if we take into account that all of us carry the ENTIRE FREAKING INTERNET in our pockets, it’s a miracle that we’re even able to function in the real world.
There are just too many distractions, and if you wish to be disciplined and become an overall better man, you have to find a way to tune out most of them.
There’s just no way around it.
Fear of Failure
The scariest things to do are the ones we want the most.
All things that take us out of our comfort zone are scary, but if that fear can render us unable to act then it becomes a problem.
Self-sabotage, reluctance to try new things, doing only what’s familiar and all the other nasty patterns that cripple our performance and are connected to the fear of failure are some of the most harmful habits that require attention.
If you experience any of these things, if you think your mind is sometimes playing tricks on you, don’t beat yourself up for not being disciplined.
Seek professional help, see a therapist, and make beating the fear of failure your first goal on the quest to be more disciplined.
Lack of Structure and Routine in Your Life
The lack of structure and routine in your life is the polar opposite of being disciplined. No one can be disciplined without developing some healthy routines and healthily structuring their lives.
The way you live your daily life is a predetermined factor of how successful you’re going to be in achieving your goals.
You might’ve heard the saying “success is a lot of small things done well”, and I think it can’t be more true. To be successful, one has to make sure that his daily life supports his aspirations. One has to make sure that important aspects of the day, parts that must be productive, are structured and well planned.
If you are among billions of modern people whose life could benefit from a healthy routine or two, learning how to develop a healthy morning routine and a healthy evening routine could be an interesting read.
Low Self-Esteem
Well, since I think it’s fair to say that modern manhood suffers from an alarming self-esteem crisis that not only damages men’s chances to be disciplined but also to live a healthy and productive life, I’ve decided to make a minor contribution to the cause.
WAYS TO BE DISCIPLINED
Now that we’ve discussed some main reasons behind the lack of discipline, it’s time to get to the point. It’s time to reveal the best course of action to take in order to become a more disciplined man.
FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT
Let’s say you’re in LA and you want to drive to NY. How many correct turns would you have to make? You can’t even count, but still, to get there, you have to make the correct turn at every single intersection.
How do you know where to go left and where to go right?
Well, if you know your destination it’s pretty easy, all you have to do is follow the signs.
If you don’t know the destination, on the other hand, getting there(nowhere) is almost certain.
In other words, if you’re headed nowhere, you’ll get there in no time.
Should I spend any more time talking about why knowing what you want is the very first step to achieving any goal? I don’t think so either.
Invest some time into getting your priorities sorted, make sure you know exactly ‘where you wanna go. Once your path ahead is crystal clear and achievable you’ll see that being disciplined comes naturally.
START WITH MASTERING ONE THING
“jack of all trades is a master of none”.
Trying to juggle multiple things at once is challenging enough even if you’re good at all of them. If you are trying to juggle a few tasks you haven’t mastered yet, unnecessary overcomplication of the process is one of the main hindrances on your way to your goal.
Being too general when trying to improve our lives is one of the first mistakes all of us make.
Remember, Success is a lot of small things done well. When it comes to learning how to be disciplined it’s one of the most important principles to remember.
In order to drastically improve your performance, the best course of action is, once you’ve successfully completed step 1, to work at one thing at a time.
Don’t try to do it all at once, you’ll end up miserable and burned out in a matter of weeks.
Pick one aspect of your life that you wish to bring more discipline into, and spend 2-3 months working on it.
CREATE SMALL DAILY RITUALS
For some strange reason, performing healthy activities comes with quite a bit of struggle. I’m not sure why, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people find it much easier to develop unhealthy habits.
How do I battle that? I try to make rituals by combining the things I have to do with the thighs I love doing.
I quite enjoy watching sitcoms. So when I decided to cook my own food, I started doing it while watching my favorite sitcom.
It may sound too simple, but it actually works.
Try it out, tweak it, make it work for you. Decide which new habit you want to adopt, and create a small ritual you’ll enjoy around it.
It’s a simple, but powerful technique.
MAKE DAILY SCHEDULES OF NO MORE THAN 3 THINGS TO DO
Making daily progress is crucial, and you don’t have to achieve monumental goals every day to be more successful. As with everything else in life, consistency is the key. Learning how to be disciplined is no different.
Not only does discipline require consistency, but, actually, they’re also synonyms. They go hand in hand.
And what better way to be disciplined and more consistent, than to make a small list of attainable daily goals.
The emphasis is on SMALL. The last thing you need is an overly confident daily list of 9 tasks that, realistically need at least 2 and a half days to finish.
Writing down 1,2 or 3 things to do in a day is a perfect way to make sure you don’t stray off course. Given that you’ve already figured out what are your long and short-term goals, keeping track of daily activities needed to get there is one of the most crucial ways to incrementally improve your discipline.
Start every day with a list of no more than 3 important tasks you want to do. Do this, and in a matter of a few months, your life will be completely changed.
UNDERSTAND WHAT DOESN’T ALLOW YOU TO BE DISCIPLINED
Now that we’ve covered the most important thighs you should do in order to be disciplined, a thing or two should be said about stuff you shouldn’t do. And even though this part is going to be a lot shorter, that doesn’t mean it’s less important.
If you struggle with poor discipline, that means some issues are stopping you from performing optimally. And those issues need to be addressed.
An honest self-assessment is an important step one has to take in order to understand what issues are preventing them from being disciplined.
So, performing a deep troubleshoot is something I’d suggest you spend some time on.
IT’S A PROCESS, NEVER BE HARD ON YOURSELF
Of course, it should go without saying how important it is to be kind to yourself during the process.
Developing new habits and making significant improvements in any area of our lives is rarely a smooth and bumpless process. That’s why you should avoid expecting unrealistic results and beating yourself up.
Once on firm ground, this improvement will bear fruit for the rest of your life. Moving forward steadily and making sure you don’t burn out or abandon the process altogether is paramount.
Move slowly, one task at a time.
Once discipline becomes your second nature, your life will be truly transformed.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE DISCIPLINED
The importance of discipline in a man’s life has a greater meaning than checking the boxes on to-do lists. It goes much further than that.
What does it mean to be in charge of your life path? Does it mean that you’re in charge of things that happen to you and around you? Does it mean that if you’re disciplined it automatically means that you’ll achieve your goals? I don’t think it means that at all.
I think that taking charge of your life path means you have the freedom to choose what you want to do and to choose and execute the best course of action.
And that’s what you gain by being more disciplined.
Once you have the freedom to choose the course of action to take, and the actual discipline to execute all the necessary tasks along the way, this leads you to a more productive and more fulfilling life.
The fact that you’re productive and the knowledge that you’re disciplined enough to finish what you’ve started gives you a significant self-esteem boost.
Both strong discipline and having healthy habits and rituals have a significant role in adding structure to your life. Why is that important? Well, more structure in your life creates a positive environment for stress-free living.
CONCLUSION
Discipline has the power to completely transform a man’s life.
From being able to finish a project on time all the way to being consistent with your life purpose, a strong discipline is one of the most powerful tools in every modern man’s toolbox. A tool that mustn’t be left in the corner to collect dust. It’s a tool that should be regularly cleaned, oiled, and always within arm’s reach. A tool that you must spend a lot of time learning how to handle. And once you get a hang of it you’ll see how many things that felt completely out of reach are now within your grasp.