When you are at the mall you never manage to contain yourself with purchases or do you behave in a despotic way towards your friends because you cannot control your temper? Maybe you have a habit of putting off certain things until the last minute or, in general, you find it difficult to carry out most of the commitments that are part of your plans. Whatever area you don't have discipline in, try not to be discouraged. Follow these steps to fix it.
Steps
Step 1. Don't be discouraged by your lack of discipline
Blaming yourself for such a thing is unlikely to help you, as you are more likely to feel unmotivated and even depressed (depending on how much the habit has affected your life). Rather, keep in mind that it is not unusual and that it is a skill that can be both learned and mastered. Sure it will take some time, but on the other hand this happens with every new experience.
Step 2. Think about why you want to discipline yourself
Is there a particular goal you are trying to achieve but feel you have certain obstacles that are getting in your way? You may want to be a morning person but have a habit of sleeping late. Maybe your once stellar musical talent is deteriorating due to poor practice. Or maybe you are trying to lose weight but hate to play sports. Find some space in peace to think about it and take your time.
Step 3. Create a table with your action plan
This can be done by hand or using a program on the computer, such as MS Word or Excel. Don't worry about completing it at this point, it will come later! Consider adding a relevant title, which expresses your purpose, to this table, such as "Become More Disciplined". Once you've done that, aggregate the following columns, titling each as follows:
- Action.
- Time to Begin.
- Possible Problems.
- Strategies for Overcoming Problems.
- Progress Report.
Step 4. Complete the spaces in the columns below the appropriate headings
Read the following guidelines on how to do this for each of them:
- Action. The actions will represent all the steps you may have already thought about, or are starting to consider, in an attempt to work towards your goal. This could be anything you can think of, from limiting time wasted on an underproductive activity to economizing on spending habits. If thinking about these ideas causes you more than one difficulty, brainstorming is the right technique to do it. You may also find that asking a relative, friend, or someone else you know is helpful. You will probably think of multiple actions, for this you will have to include multiple files. Again, take your time, and put in whatever comes to mind.
- Time to Begin. Afterward, think of a time to take each action. You could schedule it for today, tomorrow or another day in the week / month. Make this planning realistic by taking into account any time constraints that may, or certainly will, manifest. For example, if the action should be to start waking up at 6 in the morning every day, it will hardly be useful to decide to try to do it the same day you propose it if it is already afternoon when you think about it.
- Possible Problems. Next, be aware of any difficulties you think may arise with each of the steps (Step 2 should help you with this). For example, if you have established the action of waking up at 6 in the morning but you know almost for sure that, when the alarm goes off, you will simply press the "snooze" button and this will make you fall into the temptation to napping again, then you may note difficulties such as "I will fall asleep again". By identifying such obstacles at this point, you will increase your chances of success by reaching your long-term goal! Again, think carefully about one action at a time when completing the information.
- Strategies for Overcoming Problems. Again, brainstorming or asking someone else's opinion could be good ways to get some useful ideas. Alternatively, thinking about things that have worked well for some stage in the past in specific situations might be a good place to start. However, if deep down you know that something is unlikely to work as a strategy because you have had bad experiences previously (e.g. promising yourself that you will convince yourself to get up early next time when you've already had problems on numerous occasions), discard the idea.. Try not to reuse methods that didn't work before, otherwise you will be running for disappointment. Move to other ideas (for example, it is possible to set the alarm clock some distance from where you sleep, and this may guarantee you more success getting up, because the effort of having to turn it off will be greater).
- Progress Report. No planning is needed for this part. All you need to do is start implementing your strategies to solve the problem you have identified in the scheduled moments; when you finish a stage, write down the date and the result you achieved, whether it was a success or not.
Step 5. Implement the plan
Follow it consistently for at least a few days to get a clear idea of its functioning or its failure for your case, remembering to fill in the necessary information in order to keep track of progress.
Step 6. Review the plan
Do this at the end of the time period for which you calculated the implementation. Carefully scroll through the progress comments you noted over the course of the course and take into account everything that went well, as well as what you didn't overwhelm. As for the weaknesses, ask yourself if you have learned anything useful from experience, which will make you perform better next time and incorporate the mistakes for a future optimal plan. In any case, if the plan goes completely wrong, consider eliminating the current strategy you are aiming for and try an alternative. Going back to the methods suggested earlier to come up with ideas is advisable if you feel that this is one of the parts that cause you the most conflict.
Step 7. Don't give up
You may find that the first time you try to implement an action plan, or even the first few times, you won't fully achieve the results you were hoping for. Either way, don't allow yourself to feel discouraged. Learning a new thing, whatever it may be, often requires trial and error, and it's only by giving up that you will be sure you can never achieve the goal. Maintain a persistent attitude.
Advice
- Take into account your bad habits, such as overuse of TV, computer or internet, spending too much time playing video games, etc. This will help you manage your time better and you will have more of it to do productive things.
- Making the effort to finish homework on time could be a good way to practice your self-discipline.
- Measure your progress daily, as this will show you the amount of work you have already completed and what remains to be done.
- Action-based goals are positive. Instead of aiming to lose 10kg, why not make daily training your goal?
Warnings
- Don't expect changes overnight.
- Be patient and make sure you don't get discouraged by difficulties in reaching your goal.
