Self Discipline
From HowTo.Lifehack
Self discipline isn't the same as willpower. Willpower suggests an internal force or will, that makes something happen. Discipline, instead suggests training. Willpower isn't a useful concept. It can't be improved, only exerted.
However, discipline can be improved. Your self-discipline is the amount of conditioning you have undertaken to resist pain, focus under difficult circumstances and work past slumps in motivation. Here are some benefits of self-discipline:
- Internal commitments - A high degree of self-discipline means you are less likely to break internal commitments.
- Workload - Productive people are disciplined. They have trained themselves to resist a certain amount of discomfort in order to finish the work ahead of them.
- Resolve - Discipline also deals with your emotions. Disciplined people can have a higher tolerance for frustration, mood swings and anger.
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[edit] Discipline is a Muscle
Bodybuilders train their muscles through cycles of exertion and rest. Slowly increasing the amount of weight, you can go from being able to lift only a few pounds to hundreds.
Discipline works the same way. By cycling through periods of stress and recovery, along with slowly increasing the amount of tension you can improve. If you are constantly breaking commitments or you can only work for a few hours a day without losing focus, a progressive training regimen can help.
[edit] Discipline is Several Muscles
Arm curls won't make your legs stronger. Exerting one form of self-discipline won't necessarily make you stronger at others. Another problem with the concept of willpower is it assumes that this internal force is universal and can be applied equally to all areas of life.
Discipline doesn't work that way. You can train yourself to never break a commitment, but still only squeeze out four hours of productivity from your work day. You might be stoic in your ability to handle problems in your business, but can't resist your cravings for sweets.
Unfortunately, there is no universal trigger that can make your discipline better in all areas. It requires training and focus to achieve discipline in different parts of your life.
[edit] Ways to Build Discipline
Here are some ideas to help improve your self-discipline:
[edit] The 20% Rule
The first way to exert discipline is in improving endurance. This involves building your ability to hold out just a bit longer than you might otherwise. Some ways you can use endurance:
- Improving your capacity for work.
- Improving your emotional tolerance.
- Persisting longer on difficult goals.
The best way to enhance your endurance is what I call the 20% rule. This rule asserts that most the benefit to your self-discipline will come from the last 20% of exertion. Giving up when you are only at 80% of your absolute limit will have almost no benefits compared to pushing all the way to 95%.
The 20% rule comes into play as soon as you feel the urge to quit. During this point, make a decision to hold out for another twenty percent to strengthen your resolve. This could mean running an extra mile after wanting to stop in a five mile run or going another five days with your diet. The actual percentage doesn't matter as much as the commitment to go just a bit further.
[edit] Goal Setting
Set achievable but challenging goals for yourself. Goals will force you to work under pressure, but are easier to achieve than impossible objectives. Instead of the "work as hard as you can" strategy, goals force you to reach a set point. This will motivate you to work harder through the incentive that there is a quitting point.
Goals can apply in short and long-term settings. Setting an hourly goal for what you want to accomplish with a strict deadline can push you to action. Setting a monthly goal for your project can get you to accomplish more.
If working goal oriented is new to you, watch the ambition level: The most common beginners error is to be too ambitious too fast and then use the fact that you set the bar too high as an excuse to bail out. Ultimately, to be consistent in achieving your goals is more important than setting challenging goals.
[edit] Commitment Grading
Internal commitments can be worked on with discipline. This is a bit trickier than the other options, since both of those require discipline to internal commitments.
Commitment grading is the process of (a) giving yourself varying commitment priorities and (b) progressively increasing the difficulty to match those commitments.
Finding commitment priorities means establishing what commitments you should:
- Never break. Ever.
- Are a top priority.
- Important.
- Should be completed.
Without some form of prioritization, people tend to lump all commitments into the same basket. This means your extremely important commitments have the same regard as mildly important ones. When you grade commitments you should almost never use the most powerful commitments and only use it on tasks that you are sure to complete.
Other commitment types should be used in proportion to your resources. Having eight tasks that are all "Top Priorities" is meaningless. Instead grade your commitments so you know where force needs to be exerted.
In my Daily Goals binder I use different squares to represent different grades:
- Square - Personal trial, top priority.
- Star - Daily trial, secondary importance.
- Circle - Task, should be completed.
Don't forget to allocate your resources to fit these priorities. This process will also help you not to overstretch in your goalsetting.
[edit] Reward yourself
Motivation is everything. As any animal trainer will tell you, rewarding an effort is the way to build strong habits. So if some goal you set seem particularly hard to achive, work out a way to sweeten the deal. This works especially well when building routines.
A few warnings, though:
- Not any reward will do, mind you: No candy bars after jogging to lose weight :0)
- Watch for proportionality. Small achievement = small reward. Remember that you are both the buyer and the seller.
- Only use rewards when neccesary. Reaping rewards often competes with achieving goals for your precious time.
[edit] Failures of Discipline
Discipline is essentially a collection of mental habits that allow you to motivate yourself through temporary struggle. It is also an adaptation to the stresses you face so they appear less severe.
Discipline is not an excuse for thinking smart. Working hard can't substitute for the ability to do the right things, form strategies and know how to save time. Don't be afraid to break commitments and stop working if the investment won't be profitable.
