If you want to know how to be a disciplined person, this post will cover a few of the habits, attitudes and routines you need to develop.
In a nutshell, being discipline is all about how to make life easy for yourself.
In order to achieve success in whatever you are doing, whether it be something simple such as reading a book within a certain time limit or something more difficult like completing an entire project from start to finish for work, discipline is key.
It is not enough to just have motivation, discipline is what will help you achieve the task at hand.
Is discipline a motivation?
Take it like this, motivation is the engine that pushes you forward, but discipline is the car that takes you safely and comfortably to your final destination. You can’t go on with just an engine, you need the car to sit in and put your luggage in to go there.
While I do believe that motivation is one of the greatest keys to success; with just motivation, you can also end up wasting time, ending up with a complete different result to the one you intended, or burning out because you have no sense of direction.
Discipline is what prevents you from all of these things as it helps you remain focussed toward your end goal and also use your time efficiently.
Related:
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How can you be consistent and disciplined?
Let me give you two short scenarios to show you consistency and how to be a disciplined person. I want you to read both of them and answer the question at the end. Be realistic with your answer.
You have an essay to complete but the deadline is two months away.
When will you start working on this essay?
You have a wedding coming up in the next two weeks, and you haven’t been able to hit the gym as frequently as you wanted to. But you really want to lose a few pounds before the wedding.
Will you hit the gym or continue as you are?
Chances are that you will start the essay much later, and in this wedding scenario you would go to the gym as soon as possible to make the most out of the two weeks.
So, how comes in one situation you don’t begin right away and the other you begin a consistent workout routine at the gym.
Three words. Passion, urgency and goal-setting.
In the essay situation, there is no sense of urgency to get the essay done (even if you have a passion for the subject of the essay).
In the wedding situation, your passion is to look good after two weeks, your goal is to lose 4 pounds and your sense of urgency comes from the two weeks.
So, from these very simple examples you now know that to be disciplined and consistent, you need to be passionate towards what you’re doing (it doesn’t need to necessarily mean that you love what you’re doing, but your passion could be just getting it done), you need to set a timed limit for the task and you need to have a concrete end goal.
Writing the essay the day before the deadline is when you get passion, urgency and a final goal (in comparison to when you have two months to write the essay, there is no sense of urgency). But what you need to work on is giving yourself a longer stretch of time so that you don’t get stressed out and panicked, and so that you are organised and disciplined beforehand.
How to be a disciplined person
1. A disciplined person take care of themselves and understands their needs before anything else.
In order to be disciplined you need to understand why having discipline in your life will benefit you.
Amongst many other things, being disciplined will prevent you from rushing to complete tasks, help you stay organised and ensure that you complete all your goals. It will help your stress levels, and increase productivity and motivation in life. It will also give you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment because you will be able to do everything you wanted to.
2. A discipline person knows how to set boundaries.
They know what is good for them and what isn’t and they want to spend as much time on the good in life. When they identify what is bad, they immediately take measures to remove it from their life.
Doing this helps them to get the things they want to get done without any obstacles.
They also know how to avoid temptation because they understand the repercussions they may face.
This point isn’t something that will be easily picked up; you will have to go through a trial and error process until you know what works for you. Don’t stress about time in the initial steps of becoming more disciplined, experiment and see what works and what doesn’t.
3. A disciplined person has an overarching life goal that gives them happiness.
For you to know how to become a disciplined person, you need to first identify what gives you happiness.
What makes you excited when you wake up? And what motivates you to get through a hard day?
To be a well disciplined person, you need to be goal-driven but before that have an overall sense of purpose that makes you want to adopt this type of lifestyle.
4. They understand that a lazy life is no life.
This doesn’t mean you can’t have lazy days, weeks or heck, even months! It means that throughout life, you have no sense of purpose, no goal, and no motivation to do anything. You watch the years go by without doing something that gives you genuine happiness, and you’re trapped in a repetitive cycle doing the same thing every day.
In this definition of ‘lazy life,’ it could also relate to someone who works on their retail or admin job 5-7 days a week. I agree that that is a lot of hard work, but the laziness in this comes from knowing you have no passion for these jobs and still not trying to change your situation.
If you know you have so much more potential to work on something meaningful in life, and you don’t take the steps towards it you are being lazy.
A disciplined person grabs at opportunities with their own hands and work hard on them so that they can have the best life possible.
5. A disciplined person builds habits and routines into their life.
Having certain habits or routines can help you save a lot of time and make tasks simpler (because you have a set routine on how to do them).
If you’re looking for answers to the questions what is they key to consistency? and how do you practice consistency? it is pretty simple.
First, you need to try out loads of different techniques and find out what suits you and what doesn’t. Then put these techniques into a routine and consistently follow these routines.
6. A disciplined person is always self-aware.
They know what their strengths and weakness are. They constantly research and educate themselves on how to better their weaknesses, and they are proud of their strengths and look for innovative ways to use their strengths.
A disciplined person is always trying new things so that they can be better, and so that life can be easier for them.
7. A disciplined person is always on time
A disciplined person understands the importance of being on time, being organised and using time efficiently. They are always on time to things so that they don’t need to rush to get there. They keep enough time to be prepared so that they are calm and feeling their best when they are attending an important event.
If lateness and time management is something you really struggle with, read:
Time Management Ideas To Stop Wasting Time
Productivity Tips That Will Get A Week’s Worth Of Work Done In 3 Days
Sunday Routine To Prepare For A Hard Week & Skyrocket Productivity
Trust me, once you know how to wield time, you will be able to have EVERYTHING you want to get
8. A disciplined person knows how to prioritise.
They art of prioritising is a major time management and productivity technique that will help you get things done.
You don’t want to be working on something which has a deadline next week, and not work on the one that has a deadline tomorrow.
That just screams stress to me.
Instead, learn how to prioritise your time so you get important tasks done first and easier ones/ less urgent ones done later on.
9. A disciplined person knows how to have fun
As I said, leading a disciplined life is all about making life easier for yourself. You are disciplined in all the areas you need to be so that when work is over, you have time to have fun and let loose.
Being a disciplined person doesn’t mean you have to be busy all the time; it means you know how to use your time effectively and are smart with how you do your work so that you have enough time to enjoy life.
A disciplined person is organised, focussed and above all, CONFIDENT.
They prioritise themselves before anything and they know what works and what doesn’t. It is this comfort that they have with themselves that helps them maintain discipline.
And that’s the secret ingredient.
Believing in yourself.
*Aaaaah, how magical*
No, but for real, you don’t need to have perfect discipline in every sense. Experiment and try things out but before everything, take care of yourself.
There’s no point in being disciplined if the ultimate end goal isn’t making yourself happy every day.
Make sure you download the free Mini Life Planner below; its packed with some awesome self-love, productivity, confidence and organisation tips.
You’re welcome 😉
