Discipline - A skill worth practicing.

Discipline is something that is seen as an innate trait - something we are born with or that becomes part of who we are extrinsically. It’s also one of the most heavily coveted characteristics somebody can have. As you may have heard through comments such as :

 “I wish I had the discipline to do that.”

Or 

“I'm just not built for that.”

I couldn’t disagree with this sentiment more as someone who went from being objectively lazy and undisciplined as an obese, jobless teenager to someone who teaches others how to implement discipline upon themselves for a living.

Through this article, I’ll explain how you need to view discipline in order to implement it more and offer some actionable advice so you can start putting it into practice

I would define discipline as a skill, and like any skill, it can be taught and improved as much as it can be neglected. In order to start practicing the skill of discipline, you must start taking bite-sized chunks at making decisions that sacrifice immediate comfort for long-term gain, whether that be:

• Saying no to the 2nd glass of wine at dinner 

• Stopping the TV episode you are watching halfway through to get to bed on time 

• Taking the stairs instead of the escalator on the way to work.

The size of these decisions is not going to make as much difference as the consistency in the beginning. Start very small, you may set yourself the habit of making one decision a day that requires you to say no to an easy way out, then build this up over time, increasing the frequency and consequence of the decisions you are making. Therefore, training the skill of discipline.

It's important to incrementally increase these actions over time, as too drastic a change will make sticking to your new decisions more difficult than it needs to be. Not only do you want to build this into your lifestyle, but you also want to maintain it moving forward.

This process nullifies the need for motivation, something people think is required for discipline. The longer you adhere to this process, the closer you will get to these immediately unappealing choices, becoming a reflex rather than a decision.

Which brings us to the common misconception that motivation is required for discipline. Motivation is a momentary feeling, not a permanent state one can reach. You don’t want to have to rely on “feeling like it.” To execute the actions required of you to meet your goals. Even this far into my own fitness journey, there are days when I don't feel like it or lack motivation - i just no longer let them dictate my actions.

However, there is some truth to what people say about discipline concerning how hard it will be for some versus others to practice. For example, as an obese jobless teenager, the only option for me to create a positive change in my life was discipline. For someone who is successful in their career, has the validation of a partner and/or social group, it may be harder for them to start instituting these habits, as there is no real need for it.

Although the above is true, it has zero impact on what is required of you to get what you want out of life if that is more than what you already have, regardless of how hard you find it. If you want more out of life through getting in better shape, being more productive or dedicating more time to relationships, it’s going to require discipline.

Through this journey of trying to implement more conscious decision making, you are going to fail; everyone does. The deciding factor in whether or not you succeed in becoming disciplined in the long term isn't a case of how little you fail, but how quickly you adapt to failure. Can you recognise the circumstances that led to you falling off the wagon? And are there stop losses that you can put in place to amend this moving forward 

• Are there friends of yours who encourage you to be lazy?

• Can you feel the slippery slope coming when you neglect one of your daily commitments? 

• Has your lack of sleep consistency made it harder for you to follow your nutritional goals?

Each one of these mistakes that you make along the way is an opportunity to improve and iterate under adverse conditions.

Becoming more disciplined is a case of slowly accumulating decisions that are coherent with the goals you want to achieve and having a reason to achieve those goals, which is more important to you than the comfort of staying the same.

What's the first decision you are going to make to start becoming more disciplined?