Self-discipline is very important quality for those who want to achieve success in life and business. If a person is always late everywhere, does not submit completed projects on time, cannot leave social networks and start working by an effort of will, then he lacks discipline and self-organization. In addition, discipline is important not only at work. When you develop this quality in yourself, you can easily go to the gym and take care of your health, you will always solve all the problems that arise in life in a timely manner and not suffer from their consequences.

The word "discipline" causes many discomfort and is associated with some kind of violence against oneself. This attitude towards discipline is wrong. Instead of thinking about how boring and uninteresting it will be to do what you don’t want, but you need, it’s better to think about what benefits the completed work will bring to you.

We have put together a series for you. useful tips, following which you will understand that being disciplined in front of yourself is not so difficult. But how helpful!

Sleep on schedule

Set the best time for you to wake up in the morning and fall asleep in the evening. You know perfectly well what time you need to wake up in order to calmly get ready for work and get there on time. You also know how many hours of sleep you need to sleep and feel good all day. Each person has all this individually, so make yourself a schedule that will be most convenient for you. And strictly follow it. It will be difficult only at first, then following these rules will be very easy for you.

If suddenly you violated the schedule, then punish yourself - no matter how ridiculous it may sound. Anything can be a punishment - thirty push-ups from the floor, depriving yourself of your favorite cake, and so on. And of course, the less you violate the established framework, the easier it will be for you to comply with them in the future.

Sports

Any sport disciplines a person, unless, of course, you take it seriously. Find a sport that you like and sign up for the appropriate section. You will attend classes, for example, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 18.00 to 19.30. If you don't miss class good reason, then following this schedule will accustom you to discipline in other areas of life.

You can also go in for sports on your own, for example, run in the morning for a certain amount of time or perform a set of exercises. However, it will be somewhat more difficult to force yourself to do this regularly, since you know that no one will control and scold you for poor results, and besides, money for a missed class will not be lost, as is the case with visiting a section. In addition to developing discipline in oneself, playing sports has another indisputable advantage - good health and a beautiful body.

Daily Schedule

Get yourself a small notebook or diary where you write down all the important things that you need to do. And write them in this format: task - approximate time for execution - priority. If you can determine as accurately as possible how long it will take you to complete each task, then this will help you calculate how many tasks you can actually do in one day. The priority of the task must be determined in order to understand which task can be transferred to the next day in case of lack of time, and which cannot. For example, you can nail a shelf tomorrow, but today it’s better to go to visit your grandmother, because you promised her a long time ago.

If a we are talking about job responsibilities, then consider not only the urgency of the task, but also the likelihood that you may have to redo or refine it.

Everything before your eyes

If you work at a computer, write on a sticky note current tasks and attach it to the monitor. Keeping a to-do list in front of your eyes at all times will make them seem real and inevitable, rather than abstract and unimportant. You will want to get rid of this feeling of inevitability as soon as possible, and the work will go more cheerfully and faster. Psychologists have proven that if you hang an indication for action before your eyes, you will do it much faster than if you just keep it in your head.

Concentration of attention

One of the main enemies of discipline is distraction. Here you are working on a project, but you have already climbed into social media, after all, a sound notification came from there. Everything, concentration of attention is already lost. Now, to return to the project, you need to make some effort on yourself, besides, it is not always possible to quickly continue working from the same point where you left off. last time. Sometimes it may take some time to review the work already done and understand what needs to be done next. If at the very beginning you had not been distracted by anything, you would not have wasted so much time.

You can train concentration various exercises which you find and which you trust. And every time you are just distracted from the main task, mentally scold yourself and immediately return to work. inner feeling shame before oneself will also do its job, of course, if a person has at least a little responsibility.

Financial control

Financial discipline is great way develop discipline in yourself and other types. Many people often buy absolutely unnecessary things, because they wanted it at this very moment and right here. We are all subject to impulsive purchases, but at least try to keep them to a minimum. Buy only what you really need. Train yourself to set aside some amount for each wages- when an unforeseen situation arises that requires an urgent injection of money, you will say “thank you” to yourself for this.

Write down all your expenses and income. Seeing these numbers on paper or on a tablet screen will make it easier for you to manage your finances and develop financial discipline in yourself.

Incentives

On the way to discipline, use not only a stick, but also a carrot. This is no less important. Love yourself and reward for every, even the smallest victory. Did you have a productive day at the dacha, helping relatives to plant tomatoes? On arrival home, treat yourself to a delicious delicacy. Were you able to run two kilometers more than usual today? Go to the movies tonight. If you just can’t take on a difficult task, promise yourself a reward in advance: “Here’s how I’ll draw up this stack of contracts, order my favorite pizza at home after work, and finally watch a movie that has been bookmarked for a long time.” The anticipation of a good time will motivate you to get started right away and get it done as quickly as possible.

And the last. Forget the phrases “I am a weak-willed person”, “this is too difficult for me”, “I am too lazy and will be lazy all my life”. All these are just excuses for those who do not want to change anything in their lives. And if you repeat such phrases to yourself, then do not expect any intrinsic motivation and will - they will not appear. Tell yourself that whatever you have planned, you will succeed. And then you will see how inner strength will begin to fill you and you will have no difficulty in maintaining self-discipline.

34 tips for discipline and motivation. How to force yourself, how to motivate your sub to do something, how to organize your work, how to become disciplined, and so on and so forth.

They are not in a logical order, so you can start at any time.

Target - Foundation stone any discipline

This is quite obvious, but it is forgotten anyway. Anything can be understood as a goal: a formulated desire, a spoken phrase, written words, a photograph of a car, literally anything. But with one clarification: it must be something specific and measurable. False simplicity makes people forget that the goal should not be represented simply by the phrase "I want to pump up" or "I want money."

Lose 10 kg.
Collect 10 kg.
Earn 100,000 rubles
Go to the gym 20 times in 2 months.
Buy a new phone.

Experiments in this area show that the specificity of the task set increases the likelihood of its completion.

One group of people were advised to exercise for 20 minutes a day, and only 29% of them completed the task. The other group was advised to exercise for 20 minutes a day, but was told exactly when, where and what to do. 91% were able to do everything.

By the way, Berezovsky's method, which he described in his book How to Make Big Money, will help here.

He recommended that you always write the amount of money that interests you, wherever possible. Carry paper in your wallet, write the number in your diary, keep a memo on the table, that is, constantly remind yourself of what you want. It won't give you instant money, of course, but it won't let you forget what you're doing everything for.

In my reports, I always write monthly goals that interest me. Every day I see them and think about them, which allows me to correctly set daily tasks.

Theory of small steps

Everything big is made up of small things. This idea is not new, but beautiful in its simplicity.

Difficult things cannot be done in a hurry. The brain resists drastic changes. If you move gradually, you will find that everything around you is changing. If you do 10 push-ups every day for a year and add 5 or 10 every month, then by the end of the year you will be able to do 100 push-ups.

No one offers to become a spy and a traitor to their country, it all starts with talking about what is wrong in their homeland.

Find yourself a good mentor or coach

Almost all great people had or have a mentor, or a mentor, a person with strict discipline, who did not lag behind and demanded development from a person, controlled and directed him at the moments of work on the goal.

Thanks to the development of the Internet and all kinds of sites and services, anyone can choose a coach offline or online, especially since services start at a cost of free and very cheap, like 500 rubles per hour.

Concentrate your attention in small intervals strictly on one thing

Based on the "tomato" (or "pomodoro") technique.

How to regulate your daily activities. You set a timer for 25 minutes, and until it rings, you are 100% busy only with the specific task you set. Nothing more. You are not distracted by anything. Generally. Then 5 minutes rest. Such cycles should be carried out 3-4 times (25 minutes work, 5 minutes rest), and then a big rest for half an hour. And all over again. I tried, it works.

A simple and uncomplicated technique, but of course its implementation requires a habit.

There is an easier technique. It is, in principle, to allocate the same 30 minutes for some business and not be distracted by anything. Simple and tasteful. Need to write an article? Need to write an offer to sell? Looking for pictures for a presentation? Need to write instructions for employees?

Say to yourself, “this half an hour I’m as busy as possible with business and I’m not distracted by anything.” In half an hour you will have excellent results and the joy of the work done.

Imagine possible difficulties that come your way

This advice is suitable for those who have tried to discipline themselves in some area, for example, going to the gym, and could not force themselves. Now that you take try again, you can easily predict what difficulties await you:

• Stayed up late at work and don't want to go to the gym
• I set the workout in the morning, and in the morning I wanted to sleep
• Nobody but you knows that you go to the gym, so if you are lazy, no one will judge
• They took a bag to work, but they forgot to put their sneakers. Reason not to go

When you have written down what awaits you, you can also easily avoid these problems:

• Plan trips to the gym on the most unloaded weekdays.
• Do not put a workout in the morning if you like to sleep! You might say to yourself “hey, this will make me wake up early.” But no! You already tried.
• Tell others that you go to the gym. And now, before canceling the class, you imagine how ashamed you will be in front of others if you don’t go again.
• Always check your bag twice.

The tips are simple and logical, but very important. Refer to your experience, imagine what problems you can expect.

Discipline is the ability to abandon “I want now” in favor of “I want more than anything”

Many people at the word "discipline" wince and express obvious disgust.

And it is not surprising that when 10 years at school, and then 5 years at the university, we were forced to do many things that we were not interested in and did not need, it is difficult to expect a different attitude. Of course, the question of the education system is acute, but we do not have the task of discussing it.

It is only important to understand that many of us are convinced that the only good thing is to do what you want right now, and not to limit yourself in any way. These beliefs prevent you from directing yourself towards discipline and future goals.

“Well, it’s okay that you didn’t write anything on the project, because it’s important to listen to your body” these voices say.

To counteract them, it is worth taking simple fact about self-restraint: this is very good, not bad. After all, when you save money for some kind of purchase, you give up the impulsive desire “I want now” in favor of what you want very, very much, but in the future.

If you want to please yourself greatly in the future, then the only way to do so is to discipline yourself.

Create Exception Days or Reward Days

In professional bodybuilding, there is such a thing as "cheat-meal" (literally "cheating food"), this is the day when, instead of a strict diet of rice and protein shakes, you can eat hamburgers and pizza as a reward for hard work.

And this is not a whim, but a strictly necessary phenomenon. Behind hard work there is a reward or at least an indulgence in case of unforeseen mistakes. Even robots and tools are subject to a margin of error.

How to determine the level allowable error? It depends only on the importance of the goal. If you just want to go to the gym or study some course on the online portal, there is no need to set 1 day of rest and 6 days of load.

It is quite acceptable if you say “3 times a week I work out for 2 hours, and in case of overwork I can reduce the time of the lesson to an hour 2 times”.

There is a simple five-minute rule: promise yourself to do something that seems boring and uninteresting to you for five minutes. If the case turns out to be really boring and not interesting, you will quit doing it after 5 minutes. But most likely you will get involved and continue.

For books, even the rule is not 5 minutes, but 3 pages. That is, promise yourself to read 3 pages, and if you don't like the content, you will close the book.

Agree, it is better to do so than nothing.

The gym can be more fun: promise yourself to pack a bag, and if it doesn't get you enthusiastic, it'll just stay packed until next time, and you'll stay at home. Nobody is forcing you, right?

Everything should be in its place

Iron rule - put each thing in the place where you took it from. Documents, contracts, sports equipment. Putting the thing in its place, you will automatically develop the habit of taking / putting things, which will make it easier for you to pack and save energy.

If things are scattered randomly, your brain will automatically begin to sabotage the activity that you need to do.

Have you heard of the broken windows theory? It is about how life was extremely dangerous in New York in the 90s, murders were constantly committed.

We found out that the fact is that while there is garbage, broken windows and painted walls around, no one wants to behave decently. As soon as the city began to clean, clean and repair windows, the crime rate dropped incredibly.

Sportswear scattered around the apartment, some have not yet been washed, and some are not clear where? Well, this trip to the hall. That's it, you're not going anywhere or you're late in time.

Sites with necessary information not bookmarked? It will be difficult to search for them again, and the brain will helpfully suggest doing something else.

Need to parse a contract or work order? If the contracts are not stacked in a separate place while you are looking for it, you will be distracted ten times and the job will not be done.

Get it done or you'll suffer

There is an effect called the Zeigarnik Effect, which is that people remember incomplete actions better than completed ones. This is due to those that an unfinished action leaves tension in nervous system person, i.e. and in his psyche too.

Simply put, the unfinished business “itches”, because the body has allocated energy to it and this energy needs to be spent.

Not to mention the fact that for each completed task, our brain rewards us with a new dose of dopamine, a hormone that is part of the reward system.

Conclusion: if you have already planned a business, do it at least during the day, otherwise then tension will inevitably seize you, and you will lose dopamine. If there are many such cases, it is not far from neurosis.

The Steel Tycoon Method

Charles Schwab, the owner of Bethlehem Steel, adopted the method recommended to him by well-known journalist and work organization specialist Ivy Lee, and production efficiency increased.

The method is to set 6 tasks for tomorrow in the evening, and ironically, rigorously fulfill them. Even better, if other people know about these tasks, it will be much more difficult for you to merge.

I myself have been using this method for more than 3 years, and it has proven itself perfectly.

Don't Rely on Motivation

Picasso once said: “Inspiration exists, but it must catch you at work!”.

And I fully agree with this idea.

Motivation is a thing that comes and goes, mood may or may not exist. It is much easier to build a daily routine and gradually, through any methods that you like, and which are described here, move forward than to wait for inspiration.

Our emotional reactions and joy is a momentary thing, they do not have the power of perspective, it is important for them that it is good here and now. Therefore, if you feel good lying on the couch, and not running in the morning, then you will not run in the morning until you get into the habit of enjoying the run.

Picasso said this and he was very right. Many talented people, artists, writers, engineers, were able to achieve success because they worked hard. Regardless of the mood. Regardless of the experience. They ignored their emotions and just did it.

Stephen King, known for his phenomenal hard work, writes every morning from 9 to 12, locking himself in his office. No one can disturb him at this time. The rest of the time he rests.

Gogol, in response to a letter from a friend (also a writer), who complained that he “didn’t write well,” replied, “so you just start writing. Sit down and write that something is not being written to you. Something is not written. And here is TIME! And a new thought came to mind. After all, that's what everyone does!" The quote is not accurate.

Ignore your emotions. Ignore the reluctance to do, ignore the thirst for inspiration.

Benjamin Franklin's pyramid of productivity

Although Franklin was not president, his portrait is located on the largest of the $100 banknotes. Why? Franklin was an apologist for discipline and a great connoisseur of time. He is said to have coined the phrase "time is money".

His method is to sequentially break down his disciplinary habits into pyramid blocks (see figure)

First decide on your life values What do you want from life, what qualities to develop.

Then set a goal for 30, 40, 50 years ahead, what worthy goal do you want to achieve?

For example, for an entrepreneur, this may be the opening of branches of his company in each major country, for the scientist to get Nobel Prize behind important discovery but for the writer to express his life ideas and popularize them.

After that, you need to write general plan achieving this goal. Which is definitely worth revisiting.

Only after that, write a plan for several years ahead, a short-term plan for a year or less (what is it like to consider a short-term plan for a year? Cool, that's all), and then a plan for the day.

They also say that Franklin painted everything by the minute. I don't think it's worth starting there, but the pyramid of discipline is a great way to organize yourself if you have a craving for the global.

Classic: the Eisenhower matrix, or how easy it is to be ruthless

The method of the 34th President of the United States, familiar to many, which does not become less effective from this.

All you have to do is break things down into 4 categories:
(1) important and urgent,
(2) important and not urgent,
(3) unimportant and urgent,
(4) not important and not urgent.

The first thing to do is to ruthlessly throw the tasks from the 4th square out of your head, leaving them until better times. Then you need to quickly deal with squares 1 and 3, while delegating tasks from the 3rd to others, since they do not require much control (it doesn’t matter, remember?).

Why in the tasks of the 1st quadrant "the value tends to zero"? Because these are either those tasks that you put off until later as not very interesting, and now they hang over you, or random force majeure events that you are not interested in, but which you need to deal with.

Eisenhower considered the 2nd square the most important.

These are valuable strategic cases that gradually become relevant, they have a deadline, and on which there is time to work tastefully. The author of the method recommended devoting 60 to 80 percent of your time to these tasks.

If nothing works - do nothing

A good piece of advice I've seen recently is to do absolutely nothing if you're having difficulty completing a task.

Lean back in your chair, close your eyes, and watch your breath. This is a necessary relaxation during a stressful lesson. The brain itself after such an exercise will begin to look for interesting solutions to the problem, or simply want to act.

IMPORTANT! Doing nothing does not mean going to Vkontakte, checking your mail or going out for a bite to eat. Doing nothing means not making any gestures, relaxing and just sitting. But it is better not to lie down, otherwise you will fall asleep.

Guaranteed. I have checked it myself many times.

Meditate

Meditation is a great way to organize yourself. Sit for half an hour or an hour in one position with eyes closed, with a straight back and focusing on something - this is a complete analogue of physical exercises in the gym.

Not to mention the fact that in the hustle and bustle of business you need to find time to sit down and disconnect from everything.

For more than 1.5 years I have been meditating every day, concentrating my attention and will on the sensations in my body.

It's incredible useful exercise for accepting and living your emotions, which endlessly replace each other and try to make you run somewhere, do something and just get distracted by everything. But you don't react, you just watch.

In essence, meditation is a meta-skill to remain calm and direct your attention in the direction you wish. In any business.

Make your promises public

Many people will agree that it is very difficult not to keep a promise when you know about it. a large number of of people. Especially if they are important people to you. And especially if you are a public person.

Write to Vkontakte or Facebook that you undertake to go 10 times to run a couple of kilometers in a month, and every 3 days you promise to post your photo on the street or a screenshot from the program for recording your run.

It is done. Now it will be much more difficult to merge.

For the most hardcore fans, you can also prescribe a fine for non-compliance - the simplest is, of course, monetary. For example, give a random commentator 5,000 rubles under this promise. You can promise to shave your head or shave off your eyebrows, but this is for those who are already completely in a desperate situation.

Properly Ignore Your Emotions

Some people can't sit down to work because everything scares them and they can't handle their emotions. Yes, I have already written about this and I repeat myself, but it is important. People are afraid of the amount of work, complexity, the possibility of mistakes, they are afraid that there will be no time for themselves, and so on and so forth.

What can be done about these experiences?

Most advise simply not to pay attention to "these emotions." They give advice in the style of "yes, just don't think about it." Of course it would be that easy. Just "shut up" them will not work. They will still come out and will constantly distract.

Ignore emotional experiences the right thing is to give yourself the opportunity to speak out what is bothering you for a couple of minutes.

Let these feelings come out in a controlled manner. Speak out. Say it out loud. Just imagine the difficulties that might arise.

Someone will say that this will only be a hindrance, you will begin to imagine the most horrors and it will become worse. Yes, my advice may seem counterintuitive, but the fact is that we will still feel fear! He's not going anywhere. It will only seethe inside and interfere with us.

If you recognize this fear and look at it, it will become clear to you what to work with. Give the fear free rein for a couple of minutes, and then sit down to cut the granite of your work, ignoring further experiences.

Learn to say "no" and set boundaries

Friends who invite you to hang out at a bar while you have to study or while you are on a diet, colleagues who ask for help and take over part of the work, tasks that take energy but are not really needed, except for the fact that “they need to be done” .

Setting boundaries is one of the most important psychological skills. Just as a cell protects everything inside it with a membrane, so you protect your space with the right “no”.

Make a list of 5 things or people you should say no to and do it.

Don't neglect sleep

Research shows that for modern man it is important to sleep from 7 to 9 hours, but no more and no less is normal. There is no evidence that little sleep is good, but there is no evidence that a lot of sleep is good either.

It should be back to normal around 8 hours. This is the average amount of sleep on which most researchers have no disagreement.

Laziness is a consequence, not a cause

The reason is never laziness.

“Laziness” is just an everyday name for a situation when you didn’t want to do something. “Probably I was lazy,” you said when you didn’t clean your room or missed a deadline on a task.

Instead of just writing it off as laziness, find real reason your inaction. Fear of failure? I don't understand why this is needed? Painful past experience? Lack of strength?

Sometimes laziness is just an indicator of a lack of strength and resources, a need for rest. If you understand exactly what is stopping you, you can already change something.

Heuristic question method

I got through and to intellectual tools, and not only to tricks and tricks.

This method works well with the previous one. Instead of forcing yourself, ask yourself a few key questions that will help you see in practice what exactly is stopping you from getting started.

Let's say you know that in order to develop your business, you need to hold a seminar where many people will learn about you. But you're too lazy to do it. What are you going to do?

Ask yourself:

a. I do not have enough money to organize? No, that's enough.

b. I don't have enough time to organize? No, that's enough.

in. Am I lacking experience? Yes, not enough, but I can find a specialist.

d. Is there money for a specialist? Yes.

e. Why are you not looking for a specialist? I'm afraid that there will be nowhere to retreat.

e. Why retreat? Do you want this? Yes, but I'm afraid of failure. We will do everything, but people will not come.

well. They won't come, so what? The event will not pay off, and everyone will know that my topics are of no interest to anyone

Here is the reason found. This is the fear that my occupation is not relevant, and people are not ready to pay for it. You can already work with this, and it's not at all lazy.

First things first, or the main thing first

A special case of the Eisenhower matrix rendered as separate advice. Why? Because it's extremely important! And Covey wrote about it in his Highly Effective People Habits.

And Brian Tracy, a world-famous motivational speaker, called it "eating a nasty frog in the morning." They did a difficult and important thing right away, the rest of the day passed lightly.

There is nothing more important than doing the main things right away.

Immediately, not postponed. Using a combination of 17 and this tip, you can tell your wife in the morning that you will do the most important thing before noon, collect the closet, and if not, you will owe her a trip to the restaurant. It is done.

Communicate with professionals

This advice is similar to the advice about finding a mentor, but differs in that you are not looking for a teacher, but an environment in which all the people around you are already doing what you cannot force yourself to do, and they succeed.

Do you want to work out in the gym? Subscribe to the instagrams of those who regularly post materials from the gym, chat with friends who rock, and your desire to exercise will increase significantly.

If you can’t break through the earnings bar of 50 or 100 thousand rubles in any way, talk to those who earn 2, 3, 5 times more. These people will open your head, I guarantee. You will be incredibly inspired that you can work differently and earn more.

Advice given by Petya Osipov from Business Youth: “Immerse yourself in the river that interests you. And she will carry you.". By a river, he metaphorically understands a community of people engaged in similar activities.

This community will automatically start pushing you towards a common vector.

Idleness is not rest

I will now say the obvious thing, but this is often forgotten: idleness, namely to give up everything and do nothing, helps only for a short time. Yes, I know I've written advice about doing nothing before. But this is not good rest. It's just a way to recover.

If you want to have a quality and as good a rest as possible, only switching to another activity will help you.

If you are sitting in an office, go to the mountains. If you are constantly on business trips, do not leave the house for a week, watch TV shows and order pizza at home.

If you can't bring yourself to write articles (as I sometimes do), watch a video, listen to music, or go to the theatre. Rest in another labor and you will feel good.

Michelangelo method

Once the Pope asked Michelangelo: “Tell me the secret of your genius. How did you carve the statue of David, this masterpiece of all masterpieces? Michelangelo replied: “Very simple. I removed everything that didn't look like David."

I don't know much about art, so frankly, it's the answer that seems ingenious to me, not the statue. After all, what is the problem of people when they need to write, but laziness?

It seems to be nothing. Which will turn out bad. So start by doing everything. Enjoy the process. And only then remove what is completely useless.

I use this method of response when I write posts and articles, comments on the work of clients, offers to participate in my courses, and just letters.

First, I write everything that comes to mind, without stopping myself, and only then I begin to cut off the excess. It turns out what is needed - I expressed what I wanted, and then gave it the right form.

ritual technique

Or, in the words of the NLPers, "anchoring." "Anchor" is such a phenomenon, realizing which something else is inevitably activated. the same conditioned reflex. A simple example is the representation tasty food salivation occurs.

So if you want every day to certain time you were doing something important, anchor at the beginning of the business, for example, a cup of tea or watching morning interesting news. And strictly after that, sit down to work.

Now you have a ritual: in the morning you watch the news, drink tea, and immediately sit down to do business.

An expert is a person who has done everything possible mistakes in your area

Isn't it true that the phrase somehow eases the agony of "do or not"?

This is because many people are terrified of making mistakes.

And no discipline would be needed if everything was easy and joyful. As in childhood. At that time, we did not yet know how many difficulties we would have to see. There is even such cognitive distortion, which states that the more smart man, the more he sees risks and negative outcomes, and the more stupid a person is, the more he believes in his success.

So, armed with a phrase about an expert, I recommend boldly starting to make mistakes, because it is for this that people will appreciate you later. After all, if you know 50 places where you can drown in a swamp, or lose money on investments, you can warn people and help them avoid problems.

Don't force yourself to be successful. Just tell yourself that you will get creative, make a mistake somewhere, and it will already be good.

Celebrate your victories

Obvious advice, right? Not at all. Most people don't know how to celebrate the goals they've achieved at all. “Yes, I’m done, but there’s still a lot to do.” Or “not bad, but I messed up here and there.”

Jesas Christ, give yourself a rest! There is a great theory about how to work, called "Dragon Dreams". It is essentially very simple. There are 4 stages into which any work can be divided:

A) dreaming - ask yourself what do you want?
B) planning - ask yourself what exactly needs to be done in steps?
C) execution - in fact, everything is clear, do these steps
D) celebration - enjoy the result!

The trick is that many people, if they do the first three stages, that is, fantasize, plan and implement, then they forget about the joyful celebration. Praise a couple of words, and again into battle. But summing up is very important. Stop, stop stressing, and please yourself with something.

I highly recommend after the completion of important matters to please yourself. Delicious burger, home delivery instead of cooking yourself, buying a watch, a gadget, and other things. So your psyche will associate doing things with an inevitable reward.

Accept that a calendar or diary is a must

My article is how I organize my work.

You will not be able to plan your trips to the gym, training, diet, meetings with trainers if you do not have a graphical plan of action. Get a diary. Get a calendar.

Just mark there important events. It doesn't matter if you look there or not at first, just write down everything you plan to do.

Record by the hour, by the day, by the week, it doesn't matter. The only thing that is important is to form the habit of looking at this calendar. As soon as you start looking there, you will close a huge layer of problems. Because you will start thinking about the next day at this moment.

“Who is the champion? I am the champion!

Auto-training or self-hypnosis - main part any discipline and motivation. If you consider yourself a nonentity who is not capable of anything, this will greatly demotivate you. Is it worth proving? I think it's obvious to everyone.

But instead of reading the charms of the idea that it is important to believe in your success, watch this video in which the coach of an American football team inspires the installation to win. I haven't seen such primal fury in a long time.

Fail the first five attempts

From my article on paralysis:

They say that smart people learn from the mistakes of others, and fools learn from their own. This is of course a complete lie, which makes many people suffer who are afraid to make mistakes.

They sit and look at those who do something, they envy them, they are angry with them, they are angry with themselves, but they are afraid. They are afraid of mistakes, because then they will be fools... In order not to be fools, one must read a lot of literature, become experts, experts in theoretical omniscience. Actually, ignorance.

In life, everything is completely opposite. Smart people study at own experience, analyze it and correct further actions. Sometimes, based on this analysis, other smart people are asked for advice "how to do better", while other smart people share exactly the same experience.

You can't learn anything without making mistakes.

Even if they tell you 10 times “don’t go there, don’t talk to this person, don’t touch this thing”, you will still go, talk and touch the thing, because you don’t understand what’s wrong with it. And only when you feel hurt or scared, you will understand what it is about (unless, of course, you feel it, and do not ignore it).

Or you will feel good, and you will understand that the other person was wrong, and now you yourself can teach how to do it well.

It is impossible to get on a bike and ride without falling. So it is impossible to communicate and build relationships without trying to be wrong.

I often recommend before a date, if they have not been there for a long time, to specifically tune in to the "blockage", i.e. not to try, not to dress beautifully, but to fail the meeting,. This of course does not mean swearing or acting ugly, but not trying to impress anyone.

By the way, this technique is taught in Business Youth. Sales managers fill up the first 5 calls so that the fear of a call, the fear of a mistake is gone. The world will not collapse from your mistakes, but you will become a better person.

Have strategic sessions with yourself

Simply put, take time for yourself, your desires.

Remember "Dragon Dreams"? This stage is called “dreams”. In it, you move as far as possible from the routine, from the turnover and tension, and just try to communicate with your ego in order to understand what you want. In a week, in a month, in six months?

You can't force yourself to do something all the time. Of course, you can and should live without inspiration, but it is very important to renew your desires.

However, this advice is not suitable for everyone, because in my experience, many people dream just a lot.

This advice is needed for workaholics who forget about their own desires.

Give yourself 2 days a month when you do nothing at work except dreaming about the future.

Learn to say "no" to inappropriate things

If you decide that money is the most important thing in your life for the next month, then when friends call you for a drink at a bar or a trip to Greece for a couple of days, the answer should be a firm “no”, even without explanation.

I call this approach "axiomatics", i.e. drawing up basic priorities that you rely on always and everywhere. If some desire is not included in the base, you ruthlessly cut it off.

At first it is difficult, but then it will even be fun.

The development of self-discipline is usually compared to exercise- they say, controlling yourself, setting new and new tasks for your will, you pump up the “muscle of self-discipline”.

Such a comparison is oversimplified (and in general, almost all comparisons and metaphors in relation to psychology work poorly, often leading to the wrong place). And - most importantly - it can lead to a misunderstanding of self-discipline.

Look: we pump muscles so that the muscles are strong. But we develop self-discipline in order to work more efficiently and. Strong muscles are a value in itself (beauty + health + scaring off hooligans), pumped up self-discipline without work, where it can be applied, is not needed by anyone.

Second. I'm going from the opposite
Let things go with self-discipline. Even not so: forget about the fact that you need to develop self-discipline. Do what you want right now. Want to play? Play! Do you want to do nothing at all and stare at the TV? To health! Go to bed at 5 am? As much as you like! If you took the previous step seriously, then you simply won’t be able to do nonsense for a long time (otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this ...). A person constantly strives for the meaning of life - however, this manifests itself in those moments when he owes nothing to anyone (and to himself). After a week or so of living without discipline at all, a real understanding of the meaninglessness and emptiness of such a life begins to mature.

(I recommend, however, that you follow the "safety precautions". For example, ask a friend to talk to you about life in 10 days. Or set yourself a reminder in another way - figure out for yourself what suits you best. And, of course, to those who want to find self-discipline to get rid of bad habits, this step will help a little)

Third. Elimination of interfering factors
You should not set yourself impossible tasks and it is better to use every opportunity to facilitate the achievement of self-discipline. As I have already said, we need it not by itself, for the sake of abstract self-development, but in order to achieve best results in work, business, education.
Are you working on a computer? Create a special user (in Windows start - control panel - Accounts users), leaving a pristine desktop, removing toy labels, if possible, turn off the Internet, come up with complex (unmemorable) passwords for mail / ICQ and write them down on a piece of paper that you can hide away or give into custody to colleagues or relatives. Remove these colleagues and relatives from the workplace so that they are not distracted by flickering and talking.
Leave yourself alone with work. Leave yourself no choice but to work.

(Of course, this tactic is also not applicable to everything.)

Fourth. Build Habits
This is a very important, almost universal technique. A lot of things in our life are familiar, automated, and so it's easy to do. Tell me, do you brush your teeth in the morning and in the evening? It requires you volitional efforts? I doubt. The reason is that you developed this habit a long time ago.
Similarly, you can develop other habits - in accordance with what you want to achieve. If you need self-discipline in terms of healthy lifestyle life - then learn to do exercises or chew properly. If you want to develop it for effective work- Develop the habit of not being distracted when you work.
An important rule: there is no point in developing several habits at once. Focus on one. Force yourself to do the right thing. We decided that it would be good to go to bed no later than eleven, which means that within a week or two you force yourself to bed. Usually 10-15 days is enough to develop a habit. Gradually, you will have to make less and less effort in order to do what is necessary. And one day the habit will fit into your life so well that you will wonder how it could be otherwise.

Fifth. Build a strong skeleton of the day
This "step" is related to the previous one. The bottom line is this: you develop not just useful and necessary habits, but right habits tied to a certain time. For example, getting up and going to bed at a certain time, doing exercises, and so on. A habit attached to a certain time organizes and disciplines itself, starting from it to do what is necessary much easier. Let there be several reference points for self-discipline throughout the day. Among other things, these anchor points will help you complete the minimum program when you achieve your goals.

Sixth. Take care of the mood for discipline and achievement of goals
Also related to the previous one. Self-discipline, in particular, is manifested in the fact that a person can do his job without paying attention to emotions. However, we are talking about "cunning methods", right? Therefore, we must try to make emotions our ally, not our enemy. For this, try to work time control your mood. It is easier to achieve the desired, working mood if you use the skeleton of the day described above. For example, jogging early in the morning helps me a lot: you wake up instantly, thoughts run faster, purely physical joy and anticipation of a new day appear. Well, then it is important to “pick up” this mood, not to lose it until the evening, when it should be replaced by pleasant fatigue and satisfaction from a well-lived day. Worthy lived - in particular, it means that there were no problems with self-discipline.

(Self-discipline itself can be a source of positive emotions- slowly there is a taste for an orderly life, and it's just nice to know that you manage your time yourself, as far as it is generally possible for a person)

Seventh. Set goals and achieve them with self-discipline
It's pretty obvious. Self-discipline, although not muscles, still needs consistent pumping. Set the desired, meaningful goal for you (yes, even sit at the computer correctly!) And perceive it as training for self-discipline - then achieving the goal will be much easier (you achieve it as if in passing). Then - new target. Repeat until you lose your pulse as long as you need. You don't have to set big goals right away. Start small, even if only a little. If you think it's too easy, so much the better, you'll get it faster. Better underload than overload.

• Self-discipline is not an end, but a means. Don't overdo it. Sometimes the desire to streamline everything comes to the point of absurdity, and vice versa, it interferes with work.
• Self-discipline is only one of the aspects of self-development of your personality. Important, but not the only one. And she shouldn't go against yours global goals, ideals and the meaning of life, on the contrary, it must be in harmony with all this. This principle is violated much more often than one might think. Self-discipline is all the rage right now. Therefore, trying to streamline their lives, people (unconsciously) often follow the fashion. For example, you can see posts on self-development blogs about how cool and important it is to get up at 5 in the morning. And people start tearing themselves out of bed with cocks, spitting on natural features their body, without thinking whether this manifestation of self-discipline suits them personally. (The authors of such recommendations, of course, are not to blame for this - in THEIR case it can work fine. Everyone is different - and everyone's discipline is also different).
• You need to regularly “let yourself go free”, you don’t need to be too zealous with self-discipline. Approach it, as well as self-development in general, calmly, without fanaticism.

Basically everything, but - I repeat - this article is not exhaustive. After all, self-discipline is not only the ability not to be distracted by useless things and not to waste time in vain. Self-discipline is also:

- Ability to get things done despite distractions
- the ability to control one's thoughts, avoiding harmful and destructive
- the ability to fully concentrate on the problem
- the ability to work towards your goals without seeing immediate results

The list can be long. But I'd better somehow write about each point.

I wish you to successfully develop self-discipline and in general everything that is needed!

tweet

plus

Send

self-discipline- a quality that always commands the respect of others. And how this quality is not enough to achieve your goals and success in life. The current, who has self-discipline, who was able to discipline himself - this is indisputable the strong man because he was able to get the better of his weaknesses.

Discipline yourself- always not easy, and there are not so many methods for this. Especially if you have not undergone special training somewhere since childhood and have not developed self-discipline.

How to discipline yourself and cultivate self-discipline

So many who want to achieve something in life, set the goal of cultivating self-discipline! But far from everyone succeeds, because discipline is not a theory, but regular active actions based on the will, this is, firstly, and secondly, discipline is a whole complex of important personal qualities that we talked about in the first article "What is Discipline?"

And yet, we will consider in as much detail as possible how it is possible to discipline yourself! And before going directly to practical recommendations and exercises, let's talk about what is primary in any business - this is an attitude! In our case, this is the attitude to Self-discipline.

Attitude towards Discipline (negative and positive)

One of the main reasons why people cannot discipline themselves and their lives is a subconscious or quite conscious negative (wrong) attitude towards Discipline.

Many mistakenly regard discipline as violence, as something that limits them and deprives them of freedom and joy. This is a huge misconception! Let's see how the discipline works with an example, comparing inner world person with the state.

If the law does not work in the state (in the inner world of a person), there is no order, discipline, rampant crime and permissiveness - this is always chaos, devastation, lack of security, banditry, poverty and, ultimately, the collapse of the state. And if there is a firm power, a force that keeps the dark parts of society under control, ensures peace and order, the criminals are in prison, they work fair laws- such a society will prosper and achieve excellent results.

If a person has no discipline- this makes him incredibly vulnerable, often unpredictable, unreliable, ineffective and ultimately a miserable loser! Because if consciousness does not have the Force (Discipline) to control itself, extinguish negative impulses and emotions, there is no power to switch itself, control its desires, instincts and fears, then a person becomes a slave and a lifelong hostage of all of the above. A person without self-discipline is a slave of his fears, his laziness, desires, a slave of his instincts and passions, a hostage of his changing mood, doubts, etc.

Such a person, as a rule, does not achieve anything significant in his life, and justifies this by the fact that he is supposedly free and does not obey anyone, does not force himself to do anything. A homeless person is also free and is not responsible for anything (without documents, without housing, without a family), but in fact he is a slave to poverty and an eternal hostage to circumstances.

If a person has discipline- This reliable person, there is a force in him that works for him and his Goals! This person is also reliable for other people, you can rely on him, he keeps his promises, so you can trust him. The power of discipline - works to ensure that the entire potential of your consciousness (kingdom-state) is directed towards achieving your goals, so that your consciousness is not torn apart by momentary desires, weaknesses (laziness, fear, doubts), any negative (anger, envy, bad mood).

Discipline allows you to clean internal contradictions, for example, you have decided to run in the morning, but you are too lazy to get up in the morning. Discipline allows you to switch consciousness to an active mode, turns on the mind to search for motivation, to fulfill your own decision, a promise made to yourself. The power of discipline is like an internal army that curbs and extinguishes any provocateurs, deserters and bandits in your state, which maintains order and ensures that the state develops according to the planned plan (so that you are steadily moving towards your goal).

Discipline- makes a person free and confident! free that you can choose, set and achieve any meaningful goal! free from their own weaknesses and vices, from external dependencies which will undoubtedly prevent this goal from being achieved if they are not overcome. confident is that you will be able to achieve your goals because you have the discipline!

How to discipline yourself and cultivate self-discipline

Consider step by step everything you need to do to cultivate self-discipline.

1. Love discipline and learn to perceive it as a great blessing. Exercises:

• Describe at least 10 examples of how discipline, self-discipline helps a person achieve his goal and desired happiness!
• Write an essay on the topic "Discipline is my strength!". Believe me, such essays are incredibly helpful and very effective. The essay must be at least 1 page.

2. Create a powerful motivation for Self-Discipline. Exercises:

• Write in your workbook(not skimping on words and paper) at least 20 significant reasons Why do you need Discipline?
• Describe (on paper) in colors, with examples and images, how will you change, your personality, when you develop self-discipline? (minimum 5 pages)
• Describe as clearly as possible - how will your life, destiny change when you discipline yourself? (minimum 5 pages)

3. Create rhythms of life that discipline you! Something that will help you build a correct and effective rhythm. Sports help very well in solving this problem, any sport sections. For example, you start visiting a fitness club, a gym - 3 times in the morning (before work) and 3 times in the evening (on other days). Morning yoga, running, etc. will help you. Also, martial arts are well disciplined, I recommend.

Fill your life with other disciplinary activities. Very good start attending trainings personal growth, on the subject of discipline as well.

4. Learn to consciously manage yourself - learn self-hypnosis and affirmations. To do this, read the relevant articles on the links. For example:

• "I control myself, I subordinate my inner world to my Goals"
• “I turn on activity, joy and strength to achieve my Goal”
• "I turn off, I burn laziness and passivity"
• "I awaken the will, all the forces to the goal"

Such self-hypnosis commands switch your consciousness to an active mode of operation in order to turn off weakness and interfering manifestations, turn on the will, induce energy and take action.

5. Find yourself a good mentor, coach, trainer who will help you develop self-discipline. According to statistics, 99% of all successful and great people had mentors and coaches. And the more rigid and demanding their teachers were, the faster they achieved their goals. Most of them talk about it.

It's not easy to find a good one these days. spiritual guide, but it is possible, especially since now there is the Internet, and you can work with a mentor via Skype if you could not find one in your city.

There are other exercises and techniques to develop discipline, but these can be mastered either by working with a mentor individually or by attending appropriate personality development courses and personal growth training.

If you want to buy sports shorts and greens, for example (like I did a couple of days ago), do it in that order. Thus, you will be required to make healthy choices.

This works for two reasons - pushing and fixing the setup (very important) and the need to be consistent. You want to trick your brain and make it think “I just bought sports equipment - I'm a health conscious person. Therefore, I must avoid the junk food section.”

Consistency works because inconsistency literally threatens the integrity of the ego. Our past decisions make up our personality, and we want to keep it. So what you are doing is making healthy decisions about the psychological side of maintaining your self. Ego defense does the hard work for you. This is a hack.

Let's repeat it again: the sequence is necessary thing for self-awareness. You can use it to do just about anything - you do simple, small, smart things to reinforce your behavior. This is - nuclear weapon managing your own life. Use wisely.

Recharge

Another super important thing if you want to take own life under control: no need to get tired and stress yourself. Easier said than done, I know, but I'll show you how.

When you are mentally exhausted, the things you do (or don't do) are far from conscious decisions and common sense. If you want to develop good habits, learn to "recharge the battery".

If you have a vague feeling that this is a chicken and egg problem, and that it is not clear what needs to be done first: learn to manage your life in order to avoid stress and fatigue, or learn to rest in order to better manage your life - you are completely right. But you can instill effective system rest to your stressful lifestyle, thus breaking the vicious circle at its weakest point.

In fact, if you have a stressful life, you especially need to do this. It's easy and only takes 10 minutes.

And the popularity of this method is growing - the Internet is gradually filled with such advice, but rarely in a similar context - especially to roll back ego exhaustion and "performance fatigue". Which is surprising, given that this is the second most popular use (the first is mental health in a general sense).

And this (fanfare) is meditation. In the simplest (and, I think, the best) form - you sit down, clear your mind, breathe evenly and view your "empty" brain in its natural state- it's all. Everything else is optional.

I promise it will give you more strength to follow your successive solutions and plans, or at least greatly increase your chances. It's a "mana potion" of self-control, a pit stop for the brain, a wishing well.

This is inner things. It is equally important to understand the environment. Remove everything that distracts and tempts, simplify and put in order - so that your mind is not busy with a hundred little things, but is able to fully focus on the one thing that you are doing at this moment. Effective multitasking does not exist. Divide attention - lose.

Basics of environment management:

• Cleanliness and order help a lot. If a messy apartment is part of your vicious loop, then get your friends to help you ("I'm trying to figure out my apartment and life, help me - I'll buy beer and pizza, and I'll help you if you want to do the same") or hire a cleaner - everything to clean annoying factors outside, give yourself more strength to deal with everything else in life.
• Get rid of sources of temptation. If you are on a diet open banks with Nutella and pizzeria coupons lying around in plain sight are fatal. Smokers, throw away your lighters. Out of sight, out of mind.
• Instead, put constructive reminders and prodding things in plain sight. For example, you can hang your own photo in underwear on the refrigerator.

If you want to reduce stress levels, you can go on an information diet. This does not mean cutting yourself off from the world - instead of consciously ignoring, I suggest to follow the quality, not the quantity. Find high quality news sources and switch to them. Completely exclude and ignore tabloids and yellow media. If the articles make you angry, then this is most likely not good journalism, and it is definitely not good for your moral health.

The internal logic of building discipline is to establish a more constructive relationship and improve the balance of power between your higher executive functions: your rational adult mind and your inner three-year-old child who accepts crushingly big number solutions.

Don't console yourself, that little asshole is still out there. The human personality is like a tree: it grows outward adding layers, but the insides never leave (well, technically, old trees are often hollow inside, and old people often shed the outer layer and turn back into children, but actually all metaphors have boundaries).

The kid is still there, with his impulsiveness and distracted attention, with a myopic desire for immediate gratification. In general, you want to be in control of your higher functions. This is more difficult to do if you are tired or under stress, hence the importance of concentration and meditation, as well as managing the external environment.