When your mind is telling you No… But your mouth is salivating Yes!
It all comes down to DISCIPLINE!
We all have goals! Goals to exercise daily, goals to reduce sugar intake, goals to improve public speaking skills, goals to be a better communicator, goals to diversify income, goals, goals, goals…
We see and hear of a lot of people achieving these goals so we believe these goals are attainable. Which is true, they are attainable however, it comes down to discipline.
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” Jim Rohn
Ever wondered why your friend/colleague has a 9-5 and multiple side businesses and you are trying to survive just having a 9-5? It all comes down to discipline! Your thought process and actions that are hindering you from accomplishing your goals.
I am going to share with you practical steps I take to become a more disciplined person. To start off, gauge your willpower and see where you stand. This test helps you check to see the strength of your willpower, if you have selective willpower or none at all.
Once you gauge your willpower, it is time to strengthen it. Even if you have high willpower, research has shown that when we are out of our comfort zone, it takes well thought out, consistent, structured discipline for us to exert our willpower.
Entrepreneurship is out of my comfort zone; I never imagined I would one day be the analyst, the growth specialist, the finance officer, the HR manager, the admin manager, the all in all – when all I knew was how to be an analyst. But I am thriving and have learnt to focus on what needs to be done, exert willpower and do the needful.
So here are the daily tips I use to increase my willpower
- Remove all temptations: out of sight, out of mind! My personal phone with all my social media apps is off and away during working hours.
- Create goals, deadlines and challenges: fail to plan and you plan to fail! The 16 hours I am awake is scheduled down to the minute and at every point, I have a goal to accomplish.
- Schedule breaks: all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl! Breaks are very important within my 16 hour day, I spend about 4 hours on breaks – having lunch, dinner and drinks with loved ones.
- Create rituals and habits: humans are creatures of habits! I create rituals around everything. To ensure I drink 6 litres of water every day, I drink 2 before and after every meal. Now it has become a habit. To ensure I work on growth strategies, I dedicate 2 specific days a week to business development, now it is a habit and I crave it.
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable: push yourself out of your comfort zone and start to see that the fear and anxiety is always worse than what is feared.
- Start small: little drops of water make a mighty ocean! Give yourself some grace. You are not going to be the master of self-discipline in one year (or maybe never), it takes time and is a continuous process.
But remember everything will affect your discipline. If you choose to snooze your alarm another five minutes, even if it does no harm, you are throwing away a piece of your willpower. Now that you are disciplined, time to put in the work to diversify your income.