Usually, this is a term that initiates negative emotions, evoking thoughts of what we enjoy that we need to forgo or to ‘making’ ourselves act in our own best interest.
For some, first thoughts may be of ‘missing out’ on chocolate or their favourite tipple, but the overriding first impression is often not positive.
This is surely because we don’t immediately feel the benefits to us and the advantages that we know will come from ‘doing the right thing’.
There-in lies the key. When we consciously link the benefits to the action of self-discipline, we then see the positives more quickly and are thus motivated to act.
So therefore, if we can adjust our point of view and recognise the benefit (to us and others around us) of a task or responsibility within our role, then perhaps we can use these details to convert our feelings from negative (sometimes even dread) to more positive.
Why not try this approach for a change of mindset:
1. Analyse your least ‘enjoyable’ task or responsibility to understand what and why it is about the task that you don’t like.
2. Reconfirm the benefits to you and to others that come from you fulfilling the task or responsibility.
3. Whilst focussing on the benefits then review those negative feelings and see the ‘enjoyment’ in the act of working through the task.
4. Visualise the activity producing ‘Mental Endorphins’ that give you the ‘high’. Just like a gym workout. Enjoy the act of self-discipline!
At the very least, you may generate some innovative ideas on how better to achieve your ‘required’ objectives from something you least enjoy.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, “With self-discipline most anything is possible”.
How do you motivate yourself to manage your self-discipline?
