You want to be incredibly self-disciplined.
You are done being inconsistent. You are done procrastinating and keeping one thing after another unfinished.
You are done being the one blocking your own path.
Well yes, this is the starting point!!
You have to be fed up with your own actions and habits first, so as to change yourself and change your life.
So, is there a trick to becoming incredibly self-disciplined?
A few things about Self-Discipline
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Self-discipline is not something you are born with. It is a skill you can slowly cultivate.
When I first decided to change my life and deliberately work on improving myself and my habits, I had almost zero self-discipline.
I struggled with consistency, and like most people, I often found myself wanting to do things but not actually doing them.
But over time, I began to build a certain amount of self-discipline in my life.
I slowly became a morning person. I started reading, exercising, journaling, writing, and doing other things that made me feel good, more consistently.
And the interesting thing is that building self-discipline became easier as I continued to practise it.
You see, becoming incredibly self-disciplined does not happen overnight.
It is something you build gradually, through small actions and repeated efforts.
So, if you want to become more disciplined and finally start following through on the things you promise yourself, here are the three things I have learnt about how to be incredibly self-disciplined.
Let’s begin.
How to Become Incredibly Self-Disciplined
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Our Feelings are Important
I have come to realise that our feelings play a huge role in how disciplined we are.
We, humans, love to feel good, and we naturally try to avoid feeling bad.
More often than not, what we call a lack of self-discipline is simply our tendency to choose what feels good in the moment over what we know will be good for us in the long run.
You say you want to work out and eat healthy, but you dread the soreness, the effort, and the discomfort that come with it.
At the same time, you find it difficult to say no to the immediate pleasure of eating a cheesecake or ordering a pizza.
You say you want to study, but you dread the effort of sitting down, concentrating, and making your brain work.
You want to write, but you keep putting it off because starting feels uncomfortable.
And so, we procrastinate.
We choose the easier, more pleasurable option in the moment, even when we know it is taking us further away from the person you want to become.
But if we are naturally inclined to avoid discomfort, how do we ever become disciplined enough to do the things that matter to us?
Here are three things that have helped me.
1. Make Showing Up Your Only Goal
The first trick to becoming incredibly self-disciplined is to stop focusing on doing the work and start focusing on showing up.
When you are trying to build a new habit, you do not need to have the discipline to complete the entire task.
You only need enough discipline to get started.
Think about it.
You dread the idea of working out, but once you have changed into your workout clothes and started moving your body, it often feels much easier than you imagined.
You keep procrastinating on reading that book, but once you finally sit down and open it, reading a few pages does not feel so difficult.
You struggle to start writing, but once you put your thoughts on paper, you might find yourself writing for much longer than you intended.
Often, the hardest part is getting yourself to begin.
So, when you are starting out, do not make the mistake of expecting yourself to do everything perfectly.
You do not need to work out for an hour. Even ten minutes of movement is a good start.
You do not need to read fifty pages a day to become a reader. Start with two or three pages.
You do not need to write for three hours every morning. Start by writing for ten minutes.
The idea is to make the process so easy that you have very little reason to avoid it.
When your only goal is to show up, you take away much of the pressure that makes you procrastinate in the first place.
Once showing up becomes a habit, you can gradually increase how much you do.
Do not underestimate the power of small, consistent actions. They build the foundation for bigger changes.
Your goal is not to be perfect. Your goal is to become someone who keeps showing up.
- P.S. How I Made Myself Love Working Out
- How I Make Time to Read Every Day
- 5 Morning Habits That Changed My Life
2. Keep Going Until the Good Feeling Kicks In
The second trick to becoming incredibly self-disciplined is to keep practising until the things you once dreaded begin to feel good.
Remember how we talked about our natural tendency to avoid discomfort?
Well, one of the reasons we struggle to build good habits is that we tend to focus on the unpleasant feelings associated with the process rather than the satisfaction that comes afterwards.
You think about how difficult it will be to wake up early, so you stay in bed.
You think about how tiring a workout will be, so you skip it.
You think about how much effort it will take to finish that assignment, so you put it off until the last minute.
But what happens when you actually do these things?
You wake up early, get through your morning routine, and feel a sense of accomplishment.
You finish your workout and feel good about having taken care of your body.
You complete the work you had been putting off and feel relieved that it is finally done.
The discomfort you anticipate is not always as bad as you imagine it to be, and the satisfaction you get from taking action can be far greater than you expect.
I used to think that people who woke up early were somehow punishing themselves.
Why would anyone willingly give up the comfort of their bed?
But when I started waking up early myself and experienced the difference it made to my mornings, I slowly began to enjoy it.
I started to appreciate the quiet, the extra time I had for myself, and the feeling of having begun my day intentionally.
Eventually, waking up early became something I wanted to do rather than something I had to force myself to do.
The same thing happened with reading, exercising, and writing.
These activities gradually became a part of my life because I began to enjoy the way they made me feel.
And this is something worth understanding when you are trying to build self-discipline.
At first, you might have to push yourself to do the things you know are good for you. But as you continue, you give yourself the opportunity to experience the rewards of those actions.
You begin to associate your habits with feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and well-being.
Over time, these positive experiences can make it easier to repeat those behaviours.
Sometimes, we think we lack self-discipline simply because we have not given ourselves enough opportunities to experience how good it can feel to follow through on our intentions.
So, do not give up on a habit simply because it feels difficult in the beginning.
Keep showing up. Make the process easier.
Allow yourself to experience the little rewards and the good feelings that come from doing what you said you would do.
Now I can’t not exercise. I can’t not wake up early. I can’t not go more than a few days without reading a book.
I enjoy them a lot, and it now requires the least self-discipline.
You might find that the thing you once had to force yourself to do eventually becomes something you genuinely look forward to.
And that is when self-discipline starts to feel less like a constant battle with yourself.
3. Keep Getting Back on Track
The third trick to becoming incredibly self-disciplined is to learn how to get back on track whenever you fall off.
Because you will fall off.
You will have days when you do not feel like waking up early. You will skip workouts, procrastinate on your work, and spend an entire evening doing things you had not planned to do.
There will be times when you fall back into old habits, even after you have made considerable progress.
And when that happens, it is easy to conclude that you are simply not a disciplined person.
But I want you to understand something.
Being self-disciplined does not mean you never fall off track. It means you learn how to return to the path you have chosen.
Building self-discipline is like building any other skill. You need to practise it, and practising means making mistakes along the way.
Your old habits have been a part of your life for a long time. They are familiar, comfortable, and often require very little effort.
So, when you try to change your behaviour, it is natural to find yourself slipping back into those familiar patterns.
This does not mean you have failed. It means you are still learning.
Instead of expecting yourself to be perfectly consistent, prepare for the days when you are not.
You can even plan for failure by thinking ahead about what might prevent you from following through on your habits and deciding how you will respond.
For instance, if you know you tend to skip workouts when you are tired, have a shorter, easier workout ready for those days.
If you know you struggle to read when you are busy, commit to reading just one page before bed.
If you miss your morning routine, do not decide that the entire day is ruined. Find another time to do what matters to you.
Make it easier to return instead of making yourself feel guilty for leaving in the first place.
You can also read my post on accepting the power of off-track moments.
And whenever you find yourself falling back into old habits, pause for a moment and ask yourself:
What am I feeling right now that is making me avoid this task?
What am I choosing instead, and what immediate feeling am I getting from it?
How can I make the process easier for myself next time?
These questions can help you understand your behaviour instead of simply blaming yourself for it.
Remember, the goal is not to create a life in which you never struggle. It is to become better at navigating those struggles without abandoning your goals.
The faster you learn to get back on track, the less power your off-track moments will have over your progress.
Keep practising. Keep making the process easier. And keep returning to the habits you want to cultivate.
That is how you build lasting self-discipline.
Final Thoughts
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There will probably never come a day when you wake up and suddenly have unlimited self-discipline.
You will still have days when you do not feel like doing the things you know you should do. You will still experience discomfort, distraction, and the temptation to procrastinate.
And that is okay.
The idea is not to become a person who never struggles with discipline. It is to become a person who knows how to work through those struggles.
Start by making it easy to show up. Keep going long enough to experience the satisfaction of following through. And when you inevitably fall off track, learn to return without making it a bigger deal than it needs to be.
These are the three things that have helped me become more disciplined in my own life, and I believe they can help you, too.
You do not have to change your entire life in one day.
Just start with one small promise to yourself, and then keep showing up to honour it.
That is how you begin to build a life you are proud of, one small action at a time.
I hope you give it a try. That is all for today.
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