There are many places to start from. It depends on which area of your life needs self-discipline the most.
✅ If you want to get disciplined about FOCUS: Start your day with a simple question.
The way you start the day — any day — is going to set the tone to whatever you do, try to do, want to do, and then actually do. You can choose to be reactive, which can mean you wake up, get your phone, and start checking emails, Twitter, or Instagram. You might watch the news and get caught up in world events, none of which you can control. Or, you might answer calls or respond to text messages that your friends start sending you as you’re having breakfast. If you’d like to create a different beginning to your day, get proactive by training your brain to be focused as soon as you wake up.
What’s an easy way to do this?
Start your day with this question: What is the one thing I am committed to completing today? This technique trains your brain to focus on identifying goals that are important to you and forces you to prioritize the single goal you believe to be the most relevant in this moment. How do you start? Put it in writing. Write it in large letters on a sheet of paper and hang it on your bedroom or bathroom wall. Read it out loud as you start your day, for example as you’re brushing your teeth or getting ready for work or school. Come up with an answer on the spot and answer it out loud. Then follow up by taking action — focus your energy throughout the day to completing your one thing.
✅ If you want to get disciplined about WORKING SMARTER: Dive into deep work.
You can say a lot of things to describe the benefits of leading a self-disciplined life, but being spontaneous in managing your day-to-day activities isn’t one of them. There’s time for spontaneity, and then there’s time to do what you need to do. In other words, timing — just like in most other aspects of your life — is everything. Being self-disciplined means you do deep work (concentrating on complex cognitive tasks such as studying, problem-solving, writing) first before you do anything for pleasure. It means you are aware of which times of day should be devoted to doing it, and which times can be allotted to entertainment and socializing.
What’s an easy way to do this?
Make the most of your mornings by building a habit of doing your deep work early. This means taking full advantage of your circadian rhythm (your body’s biological clock), which is your natural rhythm that “knows” what are the optimal times for you to perform certain tasks. For most people, the early morning hours are optimal for deep work. Specifically, the brain’s peak performance is 2-4 hours after we wake up. So if you wake up at 6, then your peak times are between 8 and 10 a.m. Working early allows your brain to focus fully on the problem at hand, with fewer distractions, and less inputs from your environment.
✅ If you want to exercise your SELF-DISCIPLINE MUSCLE: Postpone what gives you pleasure.
If doing deep work early helps you focus better and get the biggest responsibilities out of the way, what you’re also doing is postponing things that are more pleasurable. What’s the point of doing something difficult first in order to reward yourself later? You’d be surprised how far-reaching this practice can be. In a study performed by Stanford University scientists, results showed that delayed gratification can increase your chance at succeeding in many areas of your life — your education, career, short and long term goals, even your personal life choices. This study is now famous and is called the Marshmallow experiment.
What’s an easy way to do this?
Start by observing the things you’d like to indulge in whenever the opportunity presents itself — for example, eating a large slice of chocolate cake after dinner. Then, resist the temptation to immediately choose to treat yourself by thinking of one reason why not to indulge: maybe you’re focused on your new fitness goals or developing better eating habits. And follow up — take your attention away from the distractions and focus on your priorities for the day: complete your homework, go outside for a run or brisk walk, listen to a podcast on an interesting topic, or prepare dinner early so you have time to watch a movie later.
✅ If you want to get disciplined about DISTRACTIONS: Don’t let social media run your life.
Leading a self-disciplined life means you learn how to say no to many different things: no to giving in to temptations to indulge in pleasant activities, no to your desire to procrastinate on daily priorities, no to distractions that take over your day. They may seem harmless to begin with, but distractions can easily make you slip from your work. One minute you’re just catching up with a childhood friend on WhatsApp, and the next thing you know it’s two hours later and you haven’t picked up your notes to start prepping for your exam. But when you turn off what distracts you, you have a better chance to actually get stuff done.
What’s an easy way to do this?
Be aware that distractions come from different sources, not just your electronic devices. Your goal is to dial down all types of distractions so they’re not in your way. First, set your phone to Airplane mode when you need to focus on your work — try it for a 2-hour period. Next, let people around you (family members, friends, or roommates) know you won’t be available during that time. Check your email and social media apps 2–3 times during the day; start around lunchtime and then check later in the afternoon. Avoid browsing the Internet or reading news all day long; close all tabs in your browser so you’re not tempted to do yet another Google search.
✅ If you want to get disciplined about your WAY OF THINKING: Change your attitude.
Like with all other areas in your life, self-discipline is for the most part all about attitude. What’s your understanding of self-discipline? Does it sound like a practice that is uncomfortable, unusual, harsh or maybe extreme? If it does, it’s time to take a second look because the attitude you have towards self-discipline will either help you or deter you from practicing it in your daily life. For me, it’s never been about what I “should” do or what feels uncomfortable to do. It’s all about what it can afford me. With daily practice, self-discipline trains my brain to prioritize the things I can control, allows me to let go of what I cannot, and frees me up to focus on my personal goals.
What’s an easy way to do this?
Instead of focusing only on daily schedules and tasks, start thinking about your future and what you want to accomplish in 5, 10, even 20 years. Even if practicing self-discipline may feel like you’re sacrificing some things right now (chatting with friends or indulging in a delicious dessert), think about what leading a self-disciplined life will afford you. Write down a list of new habits you’re practicing (or want to start practicing) that can add up to bigger results a year from now. Create time in your calendar to practice them — even a 30-minute session is enough to begin. When you understand the benefits of leading a self-disciplined life, it will be much easier to keep practicing these new habits.
📖 Interested in reading up on this topic? Here are a few recommendations.
Stoic philosophers have written about self-discipline so well that their advice holds true to this day. Here are two books that are a valuable read:
I also found two modern-day Stoics whose work has earned my greatest respect:
- Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
- The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday
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