Learning how to become disciplined in life is essential. Why? Because self-discipline is the catalyst to all personal and professional success. As a result, it affects every area and facet of your reality — this is an undeniable fact.
Think about it. Your money will disappear if you don’t discipline your spending habits…
Good health will escape you if you don’t discipline yourself to eat healthily and exercise…
Your grandest goals and dreams will remain unrealized if you fail to discipline your daily actions,
etc…
Consequently, you need to build consistency as a habit in your life. That’s how you get things done, that’s how you reach your goals, build self-confidence, and realize your potential — through unwavering self-discipline.
And luckily, learning how to become disciplined is not nearly as difficult as you have been led to believe. Keep reading to learn more about…
How to Become Disciplined
First things first, in order to learn how to become disciplined, it’s important to know and be familiar with what causes it. Many people will tell you it’s the food from your diet, which gives you nutrients — and as a result, willpower — that makes you disciplined. Others say it’s your exercise regime, which provides you with more energy throughout your day that does it.
And while these habits certainly contribute to more vitality and liveliness, by themselves, they are enough. These acts don’t cause self-discipline, but rather, they are the effects of self-discipline.
Real self-discipline is the result of who you are and what goals are guiding your life…
Entrepreneur and CEO, Tom Bilyeu, said it best when he tweeted that “consistent self-discipline is largely the byproduct of desire and identity.”
Consequently, you may be wondering, “how do you build that desire and cultivate that identity?” Simple…
Go For The Long Hanging Fruit
Now, what do I mean exactly by going for the low-hanging fruit? Let me explain…
I’m sure you’ve experienced the excitement that comes when taking on a new goal, challenge, or endeavor. The enthusiasm washes over you in waves; you can barely contain your eagerness.
As a result of your well-intentioned fervor, you “commit” to taking massive action. You tell yourself (and maybe even friends and family) that you’ll study all day, work all night, and really pour it on! Moreover, you actually believe it.
However, when it comes time to put your nose to the grindstone, all of a sudden, that motivation has all but disappeared. You realize things are more difficult than you anticipated, you feel overwhelmed by it all, and this causes you to give up prematurely.
What happened?
Answer: you took on too much too soon — you overcommitted.
Many times, our emotions can get ahead of our capabilities. And what we thought would be a piece of cake causes us to bite off more than we can chew — pun intended. We essentially allow our mouths to overload our backs.
The solution? Make success easy for yourself by going for the low-hanging fruit. You must learn to have some humility and realize that massive action is something you’ll typically have to build up to.
So make success easy by going for the smallest of disciplines, and then build up from there. Taking measured baby steps in this manner will help you to develop a strong foundation of persistent action — in other words, it will turn self-discipline into a habit for you.
Initially, when you’re learning how to become disciplined, that’s all you’re trying to do; turn discipline into a habit.
For this reason, don’t worry about ‘going hard’ or taking ‘massive action’. Why? Because in the beginning…
Consistency is More Important Than Intensity
This is where so many of us fall off. We pile on more than we can comfortably handle, and this leads to an overreach of our mental capacity. The solution? Start with the smallest of disciplines — at least initially — and stay consistent with those.
Over time, you will naturally begin doing and taking on more. But you must build up to that by staying consistent with the small, easy tasks.
There are so many benefits to starting small. Namely:
- It’s easier
- Takes less time
- Strengthens discipline
- Builds confidence and trust in yourself
- Prevents overwhelm from setting in
- Solidifies a strong foundation, etc
This method of one small action every day has an accumulative effect. And over time, it can create enormous results in your life.
It’s indicative of the old expression, “how do you eat an elephant?: one bite at a time.” Tony Robbins has a saying, “people overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in a decade or more.”
And so it is with consistency.
When learning how to become disciplined, this is one of the most powerful concepts you’ll ever learn. Little steps — taken consistently over time — have the capacity to completely transform your entire life.
Consistency Teaches You How to Become Disciplined
Consistency does something to your psyche. Even if you’re not getting your desired results, you’re being affected — whether you realize it or not — by the consistency of your actions. Your mind isn’t stupid. When you attempt to adopt a new habit or discipline, oftentimes it sabotages you because it’s incongruent with your current identity.
This is where imposter syndrome rears its ugly head…
“Who are you kidding? Who do you think you are? You’re not fooling anyone.” This is typically that kind of self-talk that envelops your mind when you try something new, attempt to improve yourself, or strive to expand your identity.
And the best way to beat it? Easy, follow these…
3 Simple Steps to Begin the Process
Change doesn’t have to be so stressful. Will it be challenging? Yes. Are obstacles and difficulties going to be a part of the process? Of course. However, by implementing the low-hanging fruit principle, you will make success as easy as it can be.
And as the old saying goes, “work smarter, not harder.” But with that being said, here are 3 simple steps you can take today to begin making progress.
1. Decide Where to Focus Your Efforts
Becoming disciplined in every area of life will begin in one area of life. So ask yourself, “what area do you want to clean up first?” Is it your exercise habits? Your money and personal finances? Maybe your diet?
For the sake of this argument, let’s say you want to improve your finances. Great, this is a crucial area of we all must monitor and maintain. Once you’ve become clear on where you want to start, you are now ready for the next step.
2. Choose the Discipline
What behavior could you implement to begin improving your finances? The first thing that comes to mind is simply saving/investing more money. With that in mind, the discipline you may start out with would be to save at least 10% of your income.
Automate if you have to so that with the first check of everything, 10% goes directly to your saving account. Don’t worry about anything else! Simply focus on paying yourself first with that 10%!
Consequently, you’ll begin noticing something very strange start to happen.
That 10% will cause you to be more conscious of how much you bring in every month, as well as where the rest of it is going. You’ll naturally start acting more responsible (paying down debts, setting up an investment account, looking into retirement, etc).
It turns into a snowball effect from that one simple action…
3. Monitor Your Progress
This is what will keep you motivated to keep going! Get a journal and begin documenting every time you pay yourself that 10%! As you begin making progress and seeing your bank account grow, the momentum will begin to take on a life of its own.
As a result, you’ll have even more fire and determination to not only continue with this practice but begin to even step it up!
Like I said, it’s a slow cumulative effect that takes place over time. So be patient and persistent. Part of the monitoring helps to keep you engaged with the daily disciplines. It builds your confidence and allows you to stay connected — on an emotional level — to the process.
Are You Ready to Learn How to Become Disciplined?
As you continue with these small, seemingly “innocuous” habits, you’ll be shocked at how they will change your attitude, mindset, and philosophy in a few short years’ time. It’s a process, but if you stay the course, you’ll be unstoppable.
Which area of your life are you going to begin disciplining yourself in today?
