The Art of Discipline

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Today I want to talk about discipline. This is something I used to struggle with all the time. Nowadays I’m able to tame the wild beast inside me but it wasn’t always so easy. Discipline is of upmost importance if you are looking to achieve your goals. It is one of the many factors that separates those that succeed from those who fail.

Having a dream is not enough; everyone is a “big dreamer” until it comes time to put in the work. In order to make your dream become reality, you need to master this skill called discipline. Once developed, it can get you through the hardest of times. If underdeveloped, you will find yourself waking up every morning in the same position that you were in the day before. Nothing changes until you change your daily actions.

The idea of discipline is simple; do what you say you’re gonna do. Another word for discipline is control. Once you control of yourself through proper daily habits, you gain control of your outcome. Sounds simple enough. The difficulty comes when it’s time to do the things you set out to do. That’s when your brain begins to give you “great ideas” of potential distractions that you should do instead. You have to ignore these thoughts. It’s important to stay on task and do what you said you were gonna do. Make a promise to yourself that once you set out to achieve something, you will not stop until it is done.

Discipline only comes to those who practice it. If you say you’re gonna do something, do it! Here are some tips I have to staying disciplined:

  • Try to create a routine in your life
    • Wake up, work, and eat at the same time everyday. Get into this habit and stick to it. Doing this will teach you to do the required things, whether you feel like it or not.
  • Plan your days out beforehand and the following day don’t go to sleep until you complete everything you promised yourself that you would do.
    • If you bit off more than you can chew, that’s okay! Give yourself less work tomorrow but today you must complete what you set out to do. Do not stop until the task is finished.
  • Make deadlines for yourself
    • This will allow you to be critical with yourself. It makes everything black and white, there is no in-between anymore. Either you were disciplined enough to do what you set out to do or you weren’t; it’s always going to be one or the other.

Once you master the skill of discipline, you gain control over your life. And that is one of the most amazing things that you can do for yourself.

5 Tips To Increase Productivity During Your Day

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I made a list of 5 things that you can do daily to increase your productivity in order to make sure you’re on the path to success. Under each of the five tips, I provided reasons as to why I believe they work as well as any other extra tips I had.

  1. Wake up early.
    • You are freshest in the morning – use this to your advantage.
    • It provides you with an early start to your day; giving you that extra edge over your competition.
    • You have the least amount of distractions in the early morning hours; most people will probably still be sleeping while you’ll be out there chasing your goals.
    • Try to wake up at the same time everyday, this helps get you into a routine and makes waking up in the early mornings easier.
  2. Create a morning routine.
    • This helps to take the decision making in the morning off of your shoulders.
    • Eat the same breakfast everyday so you don’t have to spend time thinking about what to make; you only have so much energy in any given day.
    • Listen to some productive audiobook or podcast for a little bit; look for an idea that you can implement today. Don’t just listen; it’s better to listen for 5 minutes and implement something than listen for 2 hours without changing anything.
    • It is a good idea to read your goals in the morning. It can help remind you why you are doing what you’re doing. Understanding this one thing can help keep you on the right path when motivation is running low.
  3. Make a list of your top five things to do today. And do them!
    • These can be business, personal, health or anything in between.
    • Make them items that bring you closer to achieving your long-term goals.
    • You don’t have to reap the rewards for these actions today but over the long-run, success will be undeniable if these actions are completed on a daily basis.
    • This helps to keep you focused. Make a list of five things you need to do today, put your head down, and keep working until they’re done. It’s as simple as that.
    • Five is not a daunting number; you don’t want to overwhelm yourself by trying to expect too much out of yourself during any given day. It is better to achieve these five tasks and do extra on top than it is to make a list of ten tasks and only complete eight.
    • If you do 5 things a day that bring you closer to your future, over time you will be where you want to be. Big success is nothing more than a series of small successes.
  4. Do the hardest things on your list first.
    • As I said earlier, your brain is the freshest in the morning. You have the least amount of resistance at this point, use this time wisely.
    • You want to do the hardest things when you don’t have many distractions. Your brain is looking for excuses whenever it can, so by minimizing your distractions you’ll be able to stay focused better on the task at hand.
    • You won’t have to spend all day dreading doing that “one big task” if you get it knocked off your list early in the day.
    • Forcing yourself to do the hardest task first takes procrastination out of the picture. Just sit down and start working until it’s done.
    • Once the hardest thing is done, it’s easier to keep going. Eliminating the most difficult task gives you the motivation and confidence required to continue productively through the rest of your day.
  5. Organization.
    • Major key for success (as DJ Khaled would say).
    • It declutters your mental and physical space. Your head is clearer when you are organized and don’t have to keep track of everything in your mind.
    • Helps you to see your long-term vision clearer.

That’s it for today. I hope these tips helped! Try them out and let me know how it goes for you. I’d love to hear some feedback.

Get after your goals and make your dreams become reality.