Discipline and motivation are really important factors that affect one’s life and endeavors. They are the drives that propel you to keep pushing even when it becomes too difficult to bear. You must have realized that having them in high levels isn’t a day’s job – it will take a long time to build but can pay off in the long run.
Discipline is the ability to do what you say you will do when you will do it, even if you don’t feel like it. This is also one of the main reasons why people remain in the same spot over a long period of time.
This article will show you five great ways to build motivation and boost your discipline to give you a greater chance of success.
1. Identify your motivation
Listen to motivational speakers. A lot of them. The only problem is that people think that it is the only way to get motivated “really good”. What then happens? They spend a lot of time listening and listening, to get “motivated enough” so that they can just start to work.
Here’s a different approach – identify your own motivation. Think of times where something just triggered you to want to work – that’s your motivation. If none readily comes to mind, try to pen down something, or someone, or someplace, or a thought, a word, or an expression someone makes that just revive this part of yourself that just want to work, and you have found your motivation.
2. Just do it
One of the greatest bits of advice I have ever heard in my life is that you don’t “feel your way into action, but act your way into feeling.”
A lot of people just wait for when they “feel like” to get stuff done, but that is really a wrong approach – making your life dependent on how you feel at any moment. Making your life dependent on something as unreliable as your emotions which are not constant at all.
Don’t get addicted to “motivation”. Don’t get addicted to your favourite motivational speaker. Don’t get addicted to motivation from the outside that it just cripples you on the inside when you don’t get it. Instead, aim at working even if you don’t feel like it. Yes, it will be really difficult, but that is a surefire way to attain more success in your field.
3. Keep learning
I make it a habit to read a business book every morning. I notice that when I do it, my mind is renewed and focused on that day with clarity. That’s of course because I am really interested in business. Make it a habit to learn new things in your niche regularly and don’t stop.
Learning has a way of keeping our minds focused on what really matters to us, and that oftentimes serves as motivation when you just remember a phrase, a story, or something that really sparked something inside of yourself.
4. Meet other people
You remain where you are just challenging yourself. Go out there, see what other people are up to, and make sure that you exchange ideas. You will find out oftentimes that you just don’t know enough, and that there’s more to learn than you already know.
A lot of people out there are already doing great stuff that you should be aware of. Because we are swallowed by our own little worlds, we fail to reach out, we fail to network, and that makes us comfortable being where we are – resulting in stagnation.
Growing your level of discipline is not a cakewalk! It is really tough, and only tough people go all in, and get it all. Make sure you learn how to act on your decisions even when you don’t feel like it.
It will be certainly tough, and you’ll need motivation to get some tasks done, but learn to do things even when you don’t feel like it, and you will soar beyond heights you never imagined was possible.