3 Simple Steps How to Improve Your Self-Discipline and Get Things Done

Let’s face it, self-discipline is important. Without discipline, nothing gets done. With discipline, you can achieve whatever you want, whether it is to lose weight, build 6-pack abs, grow a profitable business online, learn to play the guitar, etc.

Self-discipline is one of the most important keys to success. If you’re someone who doesn’t have self-discipline, you need to find ways how to grow it, build it, and maintain it.

In this article, I’m going to share with you 3 simple steps on how to improve your self-discipline so that you can get things done and achieve your goals.

What you want to achieve in life isn’t just a pipedream. You can achieve it if you are 100% committed and have the discipline to build it.

For instance, I’m a blogger. I have always wanted to build a successful and profitable blog. And thanks to my habits and self-discipline, I’m writing and publishing almost every day.

Over the past 5 years, I have grown my blog to having over 1,000 visits every day. And right now, I’m enjoying the fruits of my hard work.

I’m telling you this to impress you that if I can do it, so can you. English isn’t my first language. Being a Chinese Malaysian, my first language is Mandarin. And at home, I speak the Hokkien dialect with my family. And in school, I learned my national language, Bahasa Malaysia, and also English.

And I’m proud to say that being a Malaysian, I can speak at least 3 languages. And since I’m a kid, I was “programmed” to think and believe that with self-discipline, I can achieve anything I want in life.

You need to have the commitment, determination and put in the hard work. If you do so, anything will be possible for you.

Regardless of what goals or dreams you want to have, you can accomplish them as long as you don’t give up and keep trying.

So, here are the 3 simple steps on how to improve your self-discipline and achieve anything you want in life…

1. Create a Commitment Device

A commitment device is a technique where you lock yourself into following a plan of action that gives you desired results even when you don’t feel like doing it.

In other words, it is a technique where you make your action steps compulsory so that you will act on them instead of procrastinating on them.

Here’s a classic example that often shared in the personal development industry. Odysseus, a hero that has been featured in the story “The Odyssey”, knows that he can’t resist the Sirens, the female mermaid-like mythical creature that lured sailors to their doom.

Odysseus asked his fellow men, to lash him to the ship’s mast, making him physically impossible to move or leap overboard and succumb to the Sirens temptation.

The act where Odysseus got his men to lash him on the mast is a commitment device. And because he can’t move, there is no way he will be lured by the Sirens.

You want to create a commitment device so that you can’t procrastinate and will force yourself into doing your work and get things done.

For instance, disconnecting yourself from the internet and force yourself to write articles can be a good commitment device. This way, there is no way you will waste time on Facebook or YouTube, and will force yourself to complete the article.

Here are some examples of commitment devices you can make…

Make it public — you want to make things public so that you can keep yourself accountable and at the same time, build up the commitment for it.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you can announce it in your office that you’re going to lose X amount of weight by hitting the gym 3 times a week. You can even tell your colleagues to keep an eye on your progress.

Make it difficult — Make it difficult to procrastinate. If you want to quit smoking, make it difficult to smoke. Keep the lighter away, put the cigarette somewhere you can’t see often, or someplace difficult to reach.

Make it easy — Make it easy to act. If your goal is to exercise in the morning tomorrow, make it easy to do so. Put your sports attire next to your bed, fill the water bottle before you sleep, and place your sports shoe right at the doorstep.

Creating a commitment device can be a very effective and powerful way to build your discipline so that you follow through and do what you need to get done.

You just need to be creative and think of ways how to make things work out for you.

2. Build the Right Environment

The second way to improve your self-discipline is by building a supporting and encouraging environment.

Take a look at the world map below…

Centuries ago, when agriculture started to spread around the globe, farmers had an easier time expanding along the east-west line than the north-south line.

The reason is that the climates along the same latitude have similarities and are exposed to the same amount of rainfall and sunlight.

This has allowed farmers in Europe and Asia to domesticate certain crops and grow them quickly. On the contrary, landmass stretches along the north-south line have different climates and were difficult for the farmers to spread the crops.

This is why the agriculture spread a few times faster across Asia and Europe than it the Americas. And this is how the environment plays an important role in shaping our decisions and ultimately, our lives.

Therefore, you have to learn how to build an encouraging environment so that you will have the discipline to get things done.

As a blogger, I write almost every day. And I need to make sure my workstation is encouraging. So, I make my workstation productive so that I can focus on writing without much distraction.

And whenever I find I lack the focus, I will just pick up my laptop and continue my work in a nearby café. I believe our environment impacts our energy level and so with our level of motivation.

Try to read a book in a noisy and busy wet market, do you think you focus? You know the answer.

Thus, engineer a supporting environment to boost your discipline. You don’t want your environment to drag you down. You want to set yourself up to win, and you can do so by setting up a supportive and encouraging surrounding.

There are many things you can to engineer great surrounding:

· Use a smaller plate rather than the normal ones to cut down the portion size to help you lose weight.

· Make sure your workstation is bright and conducive to work. Get a good chair and make time to organize your workstation.

· Choose a gym that is located between your home and workplace so that it becomes convenient.

· If you want to watch less TV, unplug the power and keep the remote control in a drawer. You can also turn the TV around that it becomes “unfavorable” for you to watch the TV.

Never underestimate how your environment can shape your life and determine your success.

If you want to build stronger self-discipline, make sure you engineer and build your surrounding and environment to support your behaviors and plans.

3. Transform Your Behaviors into Habits

The third method to build your discipline is through the use of habits. You see, when you build up a certain habit, you don’t really need that much motivation and self-discipline to follow through.

Let me ask you, how much motivation and discipline do you need to brush your teeth every morning? When you wake up, you go to the bathroom and brush your teeth, on autopilot. And how much discipline do you need to eat breakfast? When you’re hungry, you eat.

This is why habits are powerful. Once you have developed the right habits, you don’t need that much discipline, motivation, and willpower to carry out the task.

This is why I choose to write articles and create content at almost the same time every day. I want to turn my behavior or writing into a habit.

If you do something in a repetitive manner for long enough, it becomes a habit.

So, what do you want to get done? What kind of action tasks do you want to accomplish? Just transform them into your daily habits.

Here are a few tips to build good habits…

Start Small — Yes, start small. You don’t have to make a big decision or make a huge leap. Just start small. You want to make things easy to do so that it will have less resistance and you will make sure you do it.

For instance, if you want to make it a habit to write every day, you can always start small. Start with writing just 500 words. If 500 words are too much for you, then go for just 300 words.

The same goes if you want to make it a habit to exercise daily. You don’t have to start with an hour every day. Just do it for 15 minutes until the behavior becomes a habit.

Increase Gradually — Now, once you are comfortable with writing 500 words a day, you can then increase your pace, but do it slowly and gradually.

If you are comfortable with doing 10 push-ups every morning, increase it to 15 push-ups. You don’t want to stress yourself too much by doubling the amount. You just want to gradually increase it so that you don’t feel the resistance.

If your goal is to wake up at 5 AM, you don’t have to do it one-shot. You can gradually wake up earlier. Like, in the first week, you can get up at 6 AM. And then the following week, you can set the alarm and wake up at 5.45 AM. You get the idea.

Repeat It — Repetition is the mother of all skills. Don’t expect to become a professional basketball player if you only train once. You can’t improve by just doing it for once. You need to repeat it enough times so that it becomes second nature to you.

Take a look at all the extraordinary people who have gone on to achieve outstanding success in life. People like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, etc., they don’t achieve the outstanding results by doing just one thing for one time. They repeat what they do until they become the best in it.

You have to be the same. If you want to be a great writer, you need to keep on writing and improve your writing skills until you become the best.

And this is why self-discipline is important. Success isn’t created overnight, it is created over time. Without self-discipline, you will never stick to your plan and produce the amazing results that you desire.

Use these 3 simple steps to increase your self-discipline to help you achieve the success you want in life.

You can always learn more about improving yourself and succeed better. Check out my blog at https://stunningmotivation.com. Head over to download the free guidebook, Reach Your Goals.