Ever wonder why you can’t seem to overcome procrastination or develop a habit of self-discipline? Maybe right now you find yourself struggling to follow through on your goals because you simply don’t have time or you think it takes money to make money and right now you just can’t afford it. If this sounds like you, pay attention because today I’m going to walk you through how I achieve my goals by practicing the habit of self-discipline.
What is self-discipline?
I heard a great definition by Will Smith. He said self-discipline is a form of self-love. When you love yourself you have a desire to take care of your mind, body, and soul. You want to protect the treasure that in buried within your heart. You understand that you’re valuable and to function at your highest level you have to eat things that will support your body and help you to have optimal health so that you can consistently perform at a level that serves your purpose and ultimately leads you into your destiny. Self-discipline is choosing your highest good in every situation.
Here’s an example:
When you notice that your body is physically out of shape and you decide that you want to get back in shape so that you can wear anything you want without doubting how attractive you look, and you also want to enjoy more physical activities outside like running around at the park with your kids or taking long walks across the beach. Whatever it is, you decide you want to be physically fit so you start eating natural, clean, whole foods like fruits and vegetables, right? You meal prep and then you go into work the following week and they have your favorite lunch waiting for you in the kitchen at the office! Chinese food! MMmmmmm! They have your favorite deep fried chicken wings with the sweet and sour chicken balls and you’re all time favorite pork fried rice. Woouu! It’s tempting right. You want to compromise and have a little taste of the fried rice but at the same time, you have put a lot of work into being consistent with your diet. Your torn between what’s best for you which is sticking with your meal plan and what feels good to you right now at the moment which would be eating every last crumb of the Chinese food. Which one do you choose? I want you to think about it right now.
If you’re like most people your fitness goal ended right there in your office kitchen. Science has shown that 91% of people do not achieve their goals. Is it because their lazy? No. because they did get started so we know that they are willing to take the necessary steps to eat healthier and prepare better meals, right. Did they change their mind and now think they don’t need to get fit? Of course, they still feel insecure and self-conscious. Maybe now they also feel like a failure because they compromised their goal for a quick fix. So what is it then? If their not lazy and they still see their need to get healthy, what is stopping them from crushing their goal.?
They are stopping themself.
Get Out Of The Way
Until you understand that you are your only competition your life will be a continual cycle full of distractions. Nothing outside of you can stop you from crushing your goals. The battle that you face and the tension that you feel inside is related to whether or not you are willing to dismiss and completely reject temporary gratification.
How much do you want your goal? Think about it right now. Out of 5, how much do you want to experience your big dream of working for yourself, becoming a best selling author, having passive income that replaces your full-time income, impacting your community, losing the excess baby weight, or whatever your big goal is. What would you do in order to experience that goal? What are you willing to let go of and stop doing so that you can focus on pursuing that goal?
This is where most people kind of trip over themselves and start self-sabotaging because although they strongly believe that they want to be successful they are not willing to let go of short term gain to produce long-term wins. They don’t want to say no or practice portion control with the Chinese food because eating it makes them feel satisfied in the moment, but in the long run, they end up feeling hopeless, tired, insecure and defeated.
Keep Your Eyes On The Prize
To develop a habit of self-discipline you have to remind yourself why your goal even matters. What will being healthy do for you? How will it affect your family? How many years of your life will you get back? How much longer will you live once you don’t have to worry about diabetes, high blood pressure, and other health problems? Who will you become once you lose the weight? How will you present yourself differently to the world? What will your social life look like? What about your dating life? Keep your eyes on the prize!
“Be stubborn about the long-term vision but flexible on the details.
– Jeff Bezos
Become someone who loves yourself enough to say no to every distraction that attempts to steal your heart away from the things that you desire the most. Become someone who values your purpose more than your comfort. Become someone who is led by a vision of what’s possible instead of drowning in what you currently see.
We all know that short-term gratification comes with a high price tag. So the next time you’re offered a short-cut that leads you away from your goals, stop, evaluate the cost, and then make a sober decision to keep the promise you made to yourself and follow through with your goals. Until next time, your girl
