How to discipline yourself? This is a question that worries individuals who do not know how to obey external or their own established rules when achieving goals. When a person really wants something, this desire will discipline him. A disciplined person is a person who is capable of obeying the rules that he sets in order to achieve a set goal.
Thanks to discipline, a person is a socially adequate person who is capable of maintaining order, because he recognizes the existence of a general law and follows certain rules and norms. If it is difficult for a person to discipline himself, it is difficult for him to understand the meaning of the word “order,” then personal growth is impossible for him.
One who can discipline himself, control his behavior, so much so that external negative factors cannot distract him, and if such a person can subordinate himself to the current order, then he can consider himself a disciplined, decent person.
Discipline has many enemies. It is more difficult to discipline oneself if an individual is impulsive and distractible. Outwardly, one can also identify an undisciplined person - he is fussy, has a loose gait, is not collected, does not control his statements, often complains and takes the position of a victim, constantly makes excuses and refers to external circumstances.
A person who knows how to discipline himself is not late, remembers and keeps his promises. It is a little more difficult for a person to discipline himself as evening approaches, as fatigue affects him.
Some people find it very difficult to discipline themselves and that it requires a lot of effort. However, you should not dramatize; you can turn the process of disciplining yourself into a creative, exciting process. A disciplined person is an individual who is respected among educated people. Therefore, along with the ability to discipline oneself, a person also gains respect, recognition and the opportunity to always achieve the intended goal.
What is discipline
Discipline is a personality quality for self-knowledge and self-organization. It is associated with compliance with the laws and rules established in society.
The ability to complete tasks efficiently and on time, to calculate time so that there is enough time for all your tasks.
To be disciplined means to be responsible, purposeful and aware. Such people show discipline in that they treat everything with respect, live by moral rules and with a sense of duty.
A disciplined person is ready to obey public and personal goals, ready to fulfill the responsibilities and promises he has taken on.
Discipline differences:
- Internal (self-discipline). It is expressed in the needs of the person himself. It is also carried out under the influence of one’s own interests, sense of duty, conscience, goals, beliefs.
- External. The rules are followed only through outside control.
Possible difficulties
When drawing up a plan for self-organization, it is necessary to think about and predict the obstacles that may arise on the way to achieving the goal.
For example, someone who wants the habit of getting up at 7 a.m. to appear in his life, but knows for sure that he will certainly fall asleep after the alarm clock rings, should indicate his desire to sleep in this column. A person who predicts possible obstacles in advance significantly increases the chances of success.
Examples of discipline in life
- Master a goal, for example, to become the best player on the national football team. In order to achieve this goal, you need to work hard, train and show internal discipline. It will manifest itself in overcoming body pain, laziness and the desire to quit what you started.
- In literature, discipline is manifested in the autobiographical story “Boys with Bows” by Valentin Pikul. Savka Ogurtsov, the main character of the story, travels with his mother to Arkhangelsk to visit his father from besieged Leningrad. At the station, my mother dies of hunger and exhaustion. He decided for himself to enter the school of a cabin boy - after a while Savka studied there. There were many difficulties at school, and the boys who studied there understood what real difficulties and hard physical labor meant. At school they studied many different disciplines. This story teaches real courage and masculinity, as well as discipline.
Start
How to discipline yourself? To do this, you will need to decide on the time when the actions outlined in the first column will begin to be performed. Of course, you can plan for yourself any period and schedule any day. However, psychologists recommend not to delay this issue, because this will already be some kind of counterbalance to a person’s self-organization. But when a deadline is set, you absolutely must stick to it. Otherwise, all work will be ineffective.
For example, a person who decides to go to the gym simply needs to start doing it within the time limit set by him. Otherwise, the desire to practice will disappear and the goal will not be achieved. After some time, most likely, the person will decide to play sports again. However, at the same time, he will be tormented by remorse that he had not previously achieved his goal.
How and in what ways is discipline manifested?
- Professional activity.
A person who completes his work on time shows discipline. - Physical health. To achieve any achievements in sports, discipline is required. Because without it there will be no constant training.
- Restrictions. People very often limit themselves to something: smoking, alcohol, fast food. By sticking to their limits, they show discipline.
- Daily regime. More often than not, disciplined people have their day scheduled by the hour. And this is good, because then life and other little things will be under control.
- Habit. Only with discipline will a person be able to maintain a new habit until it becomes normal.
Exercise regularly
If you weren't a sports enthusiast before, try to become one now. Regular exercise will help you stay healthy not only physically, but also mentally. By spending just an hour exercising, you'll be able to focus better on your work, make calmer decisions, and feel refreshed enough to take on new projects.
Exercise is also known to relieve stress and give you control over your life, making you feel confident.
Create your morning routine
Morning routine
– an extremely important element of self-discipline. The time you wake up will determine how productive your entire day will be.
In Eastern psychology
and Ayurveda says that the earlier a person wakes up, the more ability he has to overcome difficulties in life. Getting up early gives a person health, invulnerability, willpower, calmness and determination.
The most optimal time for waking up in the morning is from 4 to 6 am.
In the morning hours it is very favorable to engage in meditative practices, do exercises, jogging, and eat light and healthy food.
Examples of self-discipline
You will find many examples among people who have the highest level of self-discipline. Perhaps even among your loved ones.
Examples of self-discipline among relatives
“Unexpected” admission to the Academy of Music
I want to tell you how my daughter Christina pleasantly surprised me. At that time, she entered her second year of music college. Immediately after this, she announced that she had decided to enter the conservatory. Agree, this is a really serious decision. What are the chances with such high competition?
But my daughter not only wanted to enroll, but developed a whole plan for this. And even I had to take part in this. And 2-3 times a week we went together to her college at 5 o’clock in the morning, so that there she could hone her art of playing the piano. College classes started at 10 a.m., so my Christina had about 4 hours to practice the game on her own.
At home, when free time appeared, she also sat down at the piano. A year later, at a competition in Prague, she took 2nd place among pianists. As a result, my daughter accumulated more than 1000 HOURS of playing a musical instrument in the 2 years before entering the conservatory.
Do you think this played a role in your admission? It definitely worked!
And even though she failed to get the highest mark in music theory.
However, THOUSANDS of hours of hard practice showed a noticeable impact on her playing. And the highest score for the performance of complex musical works was natural! This played a decisive role in fulfilling her dream and enrolling in the conservatory.
And the scheme here is simple. You set a goal. Then you think about the steps to achieve it.
And then comes the most difficult phase of systematic and persistent work day after day on every step. This is where severe self-discipline comes into play.
“Unexpected” receipt of rights
Here is another example of self-discipline in my life. More than 10 years ago I had to pass the traffic police exam for my license. And part of the exam included taking traffic rules on a computer. At that time, this was a novelty and a difficult obstacle even for seasoned drivers.
After reviewing the program, I discovered how many questions it contains. There were a lot of them. Then, estimating that there was a little more than a month left before the exam, I divided the questions into blocks. And I determined how many questions I need to study and click every day while studying on the computer in order to cover all the questions. Afterwards I added a few more questions to them so that I would have a free week before the exam. During the last week, I planned to go through these questions in specific tickets.
So, a difficult month of daily computer tests has begun for me. Moreover, while studying each topic, I achieved 100% correctness of my answers on each thematic test. To do this, it was necessary not only to remember and memorize the correct answer, but to understand the essence: who should let whom through, who has the right of way, and what signs are in effect?
I also noticed how important it is to read the question asked in order to answer it correctly given the same picture. Of course, I was not always able to complete all the questions planned for the day. And then I sat on the traffic rules OVERTIME. My family could be watching an interesting film at that moment. And I clicked and clicked, bringing the perception of the program to perfection.
Finally, the last week before the exam arrived. And the driving school held a preliminary exam on a computer. Imagine the surprise of my classmates when I easily passed one ticket, then the second, with a result of 10 correct answers out of 10!
But for me this was not surprising; I already had about 100 hours of work on traffic rules on the computer.
But the most interesting thing happened during the exam itself, which I had to take at my place of registration, 250 km from my place of residence. There, to take the practical driving test, I came across an old, broken Lada, which still needed to be “caught” for the clutch. And all the time before that I studied on Fiat.
In general, the inspector didn’t like the fact that he fiddled with the gear shift for a long time, although it didn’t stall and didn’t break anything. His verdict was: “you failed.” When we returned from the trip, I told him that I now live 250 km away and there I studied on a Fiat. And then the most interesting thing happened.
The traffic police inspector said that he remembered me from the theoretical exam on the computer. And then he continued: “You answered first and left the class. And then I wondered how many stupid mistakes you made. I admit, you pleasantly surprised me with your score of 10 out of 10. Come today to get your license.”
On the same day I traveled 250 km home, sitting behind the wheel of my car.
Examples of self-discipline in the lives of famous people
Here are some examples of self-discipline of famous personalities.
Undoubtedly, such an example is Nick Vujicic, who, despite the absence of legs and arms, managed to achieve success in life, to become happy, famous, and successful. In many ways, this became possible precisely thanks to self-discipline! And now he holds meetings with people, motivating them with his example to believe in themselves, act and not give up.
Another example is computer science professor Randy Pounsch from the USA. Already knowing about his fatal illness, he managed to pull himself together and fulfill all his childhood desires. He experienced zero gravity, wrote a book, took part in his country's National Football League game, and even became famous!
6.3. Substitution method
He helped me a lot at first. When I had three completely different teams in front of me, the question arose about effective management based on their characteristics. Here a very interesting method came to the rescue - I appointed a deputy to each of the teams, whose competence was to resolve general organizational issues, and report to me daily on the state of affairs. They could also be delegated to me with a list of requests and proposals.
As a result, in six months I received a lot of useful information about my employees, was able to actually test their abilities and personal qualities, and also weeded out loafers and violators of discipline. It was very difficult for them to work in conditions where every offense was immediately visible to the deputy and did not go unpunished.
Disciplining a child
Parents must engage not only in their own self-organization. Ensuring that the child is disciplined is also important. However, approaches to this issue will be somewhat different, because there are serious age differences between adults and children.
How to discipline a child? Psychologists do not recommend using physical punishment for this. This method only hardens children, making them aggressive and irritable. They should be praised and rewarded in every possible way for good behavior. However, that “carrot”, which is intended as a reward, should be given only after it has been done. Pre-payment will only relax the child. And subsequently he will begin to do everything carelessly.
The behavior of adults in society is also important in this matter. Thus, disciplined teenagers always understand that their parents themselves are responsible people. That is why they strive to follow their example.
In order to accustom a child to discipline, psychologists advise doing everything possible to promote his good behavior. To do this, adults must pronounce out loud the praise that their child deserves.
Children expect their actions to be approved by their parents. This is why adults should hug, kiss and smile at a child if he really deserves it. At the same time, the child’s actions should be commented on. Parents should say: “You did well.” This will allow the child to understand that all actions entail certain consequences. It is this awareness that will help him discipline himself.
Make time for quality and timely meals
Most people suffer from various diseases
caused by irregular, low-quality nutrition. Achieving any goal requires, first of all, good physical shape. To do this, you need to regulate your food intake, consider the healthfulness of the foods you most often consume.
If you suffer from overeating, psychologists recommend
be very mindful while eating. Try to monitor your desire to constantly eat - whether this is “eating” problems.
Ekaterina Burlyaeva, nutritionist
, head of the consultative and diagnostic department, claims that people who are accustomed to constantly overeating cannot limit themselves to the normal amount of food; they constantly feel like they are hungry.”
Thus, timely intake of healthy food is an integral factor in a healthy lifestyle.
Not only the stick, but also the carrot
A person will not be able to become disciplined unless he has an additional incentive to do so. Otherwise, as psychologists say, sooner or later, he will definitely refuse to complete the task. What should this gingerbread be like? Here everything will depend on the preferences of the person. For example, if he really likes a massage, then you can afford such a procedure as a reward. The main thing is that what is supposed to be stimulated does not particularly affect the implementation of the plans drawn up.
How to discipline yourself to lose weight? In this matter, you can also allow yourself, after a week of proper nutrition, to eat something that is not part of the chosen diet. But it should be something that is not too harmful (not cake). A woman who can say that she is disciplined and organized is recommended to reward herself, for example, with baked meat.
You don’t have to deviate from your plan at all, motivating yourself by meeting friends, going to the cinema, etc. The rules of self-discipline do not have a strict framework and most often vary depending on the specific case. But, be that as it may, a person must have some kind of “carrot” that will allow him to find strength at the moment when it becomes especially difficult.
Strategy for overcoming difficulties
How to improve your own organization? To do this, a person sometimes needs to turn to someone for advice or use the brainstorming method. Such ideas will be the most remarkable options reflected in this column. The ways in which a problem was previously solved unsuccessfully can become patterns of action. They should be applied in the future in certain situations.
When a person knows that his previous experience is unlikely to be successfully used as a strategy for overcoming difficulties, he should come up with new, more effective techniques. For example, when an alarm clock is unable to get a person out of bed with its ringing, it should be placed further away. In this case, to turn off the signal you will have to get up, which will force you to finally wake up.
