Three Steps To Self Discipline

Reading this blog, you may come to the mistaken belief that I have everything in my life under control, that I have changed my life to just what I want. (Maniacal laughter in the background slowly dies down.) I don’t! One of the things I struggle with the most is having the self discipline to do what I want and change what I want. Self discipline can be key.

Now you may be thinking that you have self discipline down and that you are in control, and that may be true, but I doubt it. Some are better than others, but very few of us have the kind of self discipline that I am talking about.

Are you the person you want to be everyday? Do you do the things you want to do everyday? The answer of course is no. No one does. There are somethings that can help though.

1. Be aware of your life.
What I mean by this is to be as aware of your life as it plays out through each and every day as much as you possibly can. Thich Nhat Hanh, the author and Buddhist monk, would call this mindfulness. It means to simply be mindful of all you do, every act. In this instance it means being aware of you emotions and actions. Are you who you want to be and doing what you want to do?

A trick you can use is to pretend that you are viewing your life as an outsider. Some call it being the observer. Let your mind detach a little bit and watch your life as if watching a TV show.

Another trick is to pretend you are your own parent. As if you were teaching a child, direct your self in your actions and thoughts, just as you would a child.

2. Be willing to change direction.
There are times when all I want to do is lay on the couch and watch a movie. Today is no exception. I could say I have an excuse, I disturbed a hornet’s nest and got stung several times, some on my face. It hurts! I thought I would just sit and watch a movie as the Benadryl took hold, but it was taking too much time. I decided I needed to exercise a little self discipline and stop the movie, get off the couch and write this. I was willing to change direction. Can you do this? Have you had this type of experience and failed to change?

3. Don’t beat yourself up over failures.
When I fail, I tend to want to degrade myself, it is how I was taught, and think that I am such a loser. I beat myself up for even small things.

This doesn’t help. The best way to handle failure is to see what you might learn from the situation and then decide to do better next time or to use what you have learned from the failure.

Next time you fail at something or don’t behave the way you normally would, simply see it for what it is, a setback, and ask yourself what you can learn. Once again, like teaching a child, you might even ask yourself questions to see what you have learned.

Self discipline is a huge issue for many people. If you are one of the lucky ones to not have to deal with this, then I congratulate you. If, on the other hand, you are like me, then try these three steps to help you.