I focus on how it will improve the quality of my life.
I also practice it daily.
I don’t take any days off, I limit procrastination, and I don’t allow myself to make excuses for not practicing it.
Is it easy? Interestingly, it’s easier than you think.
Is it a lofty goal to aim for? Not if you have a plan of action.
Is it doable? Definitely YES!
So how do I practice self-discipline in my life?
Here are 5 examples (and some advice on how it can help you improve the quality of your life, if you’re willing to try).
Self-discipline hack #1. I start each day by making one important decision.
Other
than making my bed each morning (which is the quickest and easiest way
to accomplish something fast), I can set the tone to my day by taking
ownership of what I’m going to do with the next 12–16 hours of my life.
To do this, I start my day with one question: “What is the one thing I
am committed to completing today?” This technique trains my brain to
evaluate the goals that are important to me right now, and forces me to
prioritize one goal that needs attention immediately. I give myself the
time to think about what’s important, instead of letting other people or
situations prioritize my day.
How can you do it?
Quite
easy: put it in writing. Write it in big bold letters on a sheet of
paper and hang it on your bedroom or bathroom wall. Read it out loud as
you start your day, for example as you’re brushing your teeth or getting
dressed. Come up with an answer on the spot and answer it out loud.
Then follow up by taking action: focus your energy throughout the day to
completing your one thing.
Self-discipline hack #2. I do hard work first before doing anything for pleasure.
Let’s
make one thing clear: I wasn’t born self-disciplined. It takes time,
effort, and practice. The habits that I’m practicing now weren’t habits I
had when I was younger. Many of them are new behaviors I’ve been
practicing only the past few years of my life. I remember that for
years, my typical day would start with checking email and Twitter on my
phone, followed by exchanging text messages back and forth with people.
In retrospect, I see what a waste of time it was! Over the years, I
realized that mornings are actually the ideal time of day to get the
hardest work out of the way. By doing so, I stopped dreading all the
work I knew I needed to do, and it freed up the rest of the day for
other more pleasant activities.
How can you do it?
Rule
#1: put away your phone. Do whatever you need to so you can ignore it
successfully: set it to Airplane mode, turn off the volume, put it on a
table farther away face down, or place it in your backpack or jacket
pocket. Then, make the most of your mornings by taking advantage of your
brain’s peak performance time
which happens 2-4 hours after you wake up. Use the time for complex
cognitive tasks that require the most concentration, such as reading,
writing, coding, analyzing, critical thinking, or problem solving.
Self-discipline hack #3. I make each new habit a choice, not a punishment.
I’ve
been a night owl for as long as I can remember. Nighttime was my ideal
time to read, write, study. Then things got much worse in graduate
school, where I would stay up most nights catching up on assignments and
grading homework of my students. This habit left me feeling sluggish
and without energy to do anything extraordinary — something that I truly
wanted. I wanted to do work I’d be proud of later in my life. I didn’t
know it at the time, but my brain would have thrived if I just went to
bed earlier to give it a chance to recuperate, consolidate new
information, and make things easier to remember. A few years ago I
decided to put a stop to my nighttime habits and discovered how to
transform my morning hours into the best time of the day.
How can you do it?
Step
one: change the way you look at new habits. Instead of thinking of them
as some sort of self-punishment where you’ll have to give up on
something you care about (in my case, giving up on staying awake all
night so I could read and write), start telling yourself what this new
habit will afford you (for me, this meant finishing up a
cognitive task in less time when my brain could focus better). This
small attitude shift from punishing yourself to choosing something
better can help you develop any new habit you find worthwhile. What
next? Make the change as easy as possible by starting with tiny steps.
Set a bedtime alarm to 30 minutes before you want to hit the pillow to
give yourself time to wrap up whatever you’re currently doing. If your
goal is to get fit, schedule a daily mini-workout at home for 15
minutes, instead of telling yourself you must be at the gym for two
hours. The more you simplify the new habit, the greater the chance it
will stick.
Self-discipline hack #4. Whenever possible, I remove distractions that prevent me from focusing on what’s important.
This
one is tough because there are many distractions all around me. For
example, I love my iPhone. It plays my morning alarm so I can wake up to
music, it monitors my sleep cycle each night so I know that I’m getting
enough sleep, it allows me to listen to podcasts and audio books on the
way to work, and of course it helps me stay in touch with people. But
what about my Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube notifications? If I kept
them turned on throughout the day, I’d be staring at that small screen
and it would literally rule my life. That’s why I do a major clean up in
my settings: I turn off all notifications, switch off the volume so I
don’t hear each email as it arrives in my inbox, and use the timer to
monitor how long it takes me to do things.
How can you do it?
Go
one by one: start with your phone. Set it to Airplane mode when you
need to focus, especially in the first two hours of the day when you’re
doing deep work. Next, let people around you—family members, friends,
roommates, co-workers—know you won't be available in those next two
hours because you are working on a cognitive task that requires your
full focus. Check your email and social media apps 2–3 times a day,
instead of 20–30 times a day. Make a commitment to yourself that you’ll
avoid browsing the Internet or scrolling through your Facebook feed when
you’re working or studying. Close all tabs in your browser to avoid
temptations to do a Google search or look up YouTube videos.
Self-discipline hack #5. I try to improve the way I manage my thoughts.
Like
most people, I have random thoughts bouncing around in my mind all day
long. They come in spurts, sometimes linked by one idea and sometimes
not linked at all. They can be anything from busy chatter about what’s
going on that particular day, or they show up in the form of open-ended
questions, analysis of a situation, worrying about the future, dwelling
on a past event, or little reminders of what still needs to be done
before the end of the day. When I started doing more research on why
this happens, I soon realized that brain chatter is not anything
unusual, but that it can be controlled. I started incorporating
small daily habits to manage my thoughts better by working out
regularly, focusing on deep breathing, doing a short meditation
practice, and switching to a growth mindset.
How can you do it?
One
thing is for sure: if you don’t address this problem, random thoughts
can easily take up your entire day, leaving you feeling frazzled,
anxious, and unfocused. To get proactive, start your mornings with a
short workout of about 15 minutes (yoga, HIIT training, or a brisk walk
in a nearby park). Try some deep breathing, which is simple: sit
comfortably, close your eyes, and inhale for a count of 10, then exhale
as you count to 8. Repeat 10–20 times— it can help reduce stress and
help you feel calmer. If you’d like to try meditation, download the
Headspace app for a free 10-minute guided session to jumpstart your day
or help you fall asleep faster at night. And if you’re curious about how
to have a growth mindset, read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset
to learn how a shift in your attitude can help you make the most of
your core strengths, skills, and brain function. Think of it this way — a
growth mindset is a powerful tool to help you deal with whatever life
throws your way, which is why it’s so important to train it and use it
to your advantage!