Bringing Self-Discipline into your Life

Self-discipline means doing the little things everyday to reach your goal. Goal setting is an exciting activity and we are enthusiastic about making plans to achieve these goals.  But when we have to do the same activities everyday it can feel like grunt work and we easily get disheartened.

The goal of losing weight is a good example. Most people make resolutions about how much weight they want to lose by a certain time. But that means you have to make the time to exercise, eat, and sleep right on a daily basis. But when devoting the time and focus to keep up the daily schedule becomes overwhelming, we either just give up or keep starting and stopping, which takes us nowhere.

Under these trying circumstances, we must remember that giving up on our goals should never be an option. That is where self-discipline comes in where you make that commitment to progress on your goals on a regular/daily basis even if on certain days you don’t feel like doing it.

Granted, not everyone feels great every moment of the day. If you are one of those fortunate people, then you are already in a great space within yourself to achieve your goals.  For most people, that is not the case.  Emotions are up one day and down the other due to many reasons – lack of sleep, not eating right, tumultuous relationships, chronic ailment, to mention a few.

Whatever your goal might be, creating a proper internal ambience is the first step in your endeavor to stay on course.  Notice that on the days you feel great, your body feels light and the mind feels joyful without stimulation from the outside.  So the first step is to bring that mind-body connection by doing a few simple things like –

–  Eating a holistic diet,

–  Resting well by having good quality sleep,

–  Regular exercise and/or simple yoga.

Doing the above regularly brings the mind and body into alignment.  Without that alignment, it becomes an uphill battle to manage the mental and emotional lows.  Once you have created this alignment then it is easier to stay the course. Even on the days that you are feeling low due to external circumstances, you can employ a few techniques to overcome the mental, emotional and physical hurdles.  That is why it is critical to create for yourself a stable and well-oiled state of being to smooth the journey towards your goals.

Here are a few additional tips to put into action when you are in danger of straying.

1)  Have a consistent sleep schedule, where you sleep and wake up at the same time daily.

2)  List the temptations that have power over you and make a resolution to not fall prey to them.

3)  Verbalize your goals and share your achievements with a trusted friend or family member periodically to help solidify your resolve.

4)  Take small steps everyday that take you forward.

5)  Value your own words and commitment to yourself.  If you don’t, no one else will.

Holiday season is a great time of the year where people reflect on their goals.  Reflect on what you want to create and set forth to achieve it.  After all, life is short and you don’t have a whole lot of years to get there. So get started now. Check out these great tips on how to employ these tested methods to make your goals into a reality. May success be yours!