Definition of self-discipline: Control of oneself, willpower.
There is often an image in a woman’s mind that to become a lady is to live a life of leisure. The reality is vastly different. A lady is constantly working on her self-development and self-discipline to ensure that she is able to get the best from herself.
Some women were just born or raised with a strong self-discipline. To them I say “Lucky you”. A lot of us (myself included) have been working very hard on self-discipline, which is an oxymoron (def: conjoining contradictory terms) in itself. How can you consistently work hard on learning how to work hard?
My motto for life is “Work Smarter, Not Harder”, and you will be hearing a lot about that from me in the future. I propose that there are intelligent ways that we can advance on our image, etiquette and self-development, if we learn the little tricks that other women instinctively already know. Women can assume that we have the same information that they have, so they can’t see why we can’t achieve what they are able to. Now we can integrate this information in our life, and join the rest of the ladies who are doing amazing things with their lives.
Self-discipline Secret #1:
If you don’t have a strong reason for doing something, you won’t do it.
We often think that we can convince ourselves to get things done, just because they must be done. This not only takes all of the passion out of life, but the mind will normally retaliate to this way of thinking because it cannot see a benefit. We have to give our mind a goal to work towards if we want it to co-operate with want we want to do.
Let me give some examples:
Do you….
- brush your teeth every day because you have to, or because you want to have a fresh breath and white teeth?
- regularly exercise because you have to, or because you have a goal of having a great body?
- go to work because you have to, or because you want to have the money to get the things you want?
From the above examples, we should be able to see that the mind needs to have a final goal to work with. You need to look at the ‘chores’ which you are having difficulty finishing on a daily, or weekly basis, and think about your reason for doing this. Turn these ‘chores’ into ‘steps towards your goal’ and your mind will encourage you, rather than giving you excuses not to.
Self-discipline Secret #2:
Link what you love to do, to those things that you don’t.
There is always room to attach something which is a chore for you to something else that you have no problems being self-disciplined with. A personal example of this, is that I don’t like taking my daily supplements, so I have linked it to having my first cup of coffee in the morning, which I enjoy very much. Having my coffee means also taking my supplements. I can get lazy in my skin care routine, so I have attached it to brushing my teeth, which I am well self-disciplined in already.
Here are some other examples of links which may work for you:
- If you enjoy your television, link the commercial breaks to a two-minute chore around the home. You’ll be surprised how much you get done (all my housework is achieved in just watching one movie).
- Link your daily exercise to your shower (before your shower of course). It makes the shower so much more enjoyable and helps to soothe the muscles.
- Link the journey to work with verbalizing something that you want to express to someone. (Most of my articles are recorded on my mobile phone before I even get to my office)
Before you know it, you will start to have a lot of things which become linked together (called a batch) and you’ll find that you have created a routine.
Enjoy putting these secrets into practice and impressing your family and friends with how you are getting more done in your life with even greater joy.
Can you share your own personal secret of self-discipline?
Share your experiences in the comments section below
