It’s Time For Some Self-Discipline

You need motivation? No, what you need is discipline.

To be a successful person, whether in your professional or personal life, you need to make sure you have some self-discipline. That is what it all starts with, being able to control yourself through discipline.The way you think, your emotions and behaviours all need to be kept in check. You’re not born with the ability to discipline yourself, it is a skill that you learn.

You have to force yourself to do things. Force yourself to stop hitting that snooze button, make your bed, go get ready and start your day. Make yourself get to class early because your time is precious. You shouldn’t be wasting it by studying tweets online when you have more important things to be studying for.

Every day is an opportunity to wake up and give your all into anything that you do that day. Whether you do 5 minutes of work or 5 hours of work, something is better than nothing. Just because you missed something out on your schedule or didn’t get to complete every task you set yourself that day it doesn’t mean that you can’t at least start it.

Don’t think that you’re going to get it perfect on the first try, take the weight of perfectionism off your shoulders and give it your best shot. Always remember that it should push you to build on your productivity and not focus on your failures.

If you’re someone who tends to procrastinate a lot but you now feel the need to discipline yourself the most important thing to remember is not to do everything at once and set yourself a clear plan. If you’ve set yourself many different goals to accomplish then start with the one that you believe is the most significant. That way you’ve got yourself into the work zone and as soon as that task is completed you can then move onto the next one, slowly working your way through the list.

Be patient with yourself, you’ll eventually get there.

Start the self-disciplining straight away; often people wait before doing anything because sometimes it doesn’t feel like the right time. But to be able to improve your self-discipline it does mean that you need to change your normal routine which can sometimes be an awkward thing as you will tend to feel way out of your comfort zone. But as soon as this behaviour becomes a habit, you don’t even need to think twice about it, your brain will no longer resist the change and learn to accept it. It can take a while for you to get used to the new routine but if you stick to it, it will happen.

It is not always easy to discipline yourself but through time and putting the above steps into practice it will eventually become part of your lifestyle. The most important thing you can do is invest your time into you and take care of yourself and your future. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Mine Sherefali is a contributor for Inspiring Interns. 

Inspiring Interns is a graduate recruitment agency which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships and giving out graduate careers advice. To hire graduates or browse graduate jobs, visit their website.