STEPS TO LIVING A DISCIPLINED LIFE

Every body believes the ambassadors of discipline are mainly men in the military, but I bet there are some strategies you can incorporate from the military to help you in your daily life most especially to the civilans,

Don't feel pressured to be the most disciplined person in the world on day one (does anyone like that even exist? OK,  doesn't count). Start by taking small steps instead. And once you finish one goal, go on to the next one until you feel more comfortable with the process. "Once you have accomplished the goal (getting to work early, avoiding the social media sink hole, being on time for meetings, writing a certain number of words a day), then give yourself a pat on the back and commit to one more day. Once you have been consistent for a few days, the behavior will start to become [a] habit. Humans are creatures of habit — and it won't take long for self-discipline to become the new reality. It may take work for the first few days/weeks, but eventually it will

2. Complete The Hardest Assignments First

Instead of avoiding the hardest assignments, try to complete them first so the rest of your day is easy breezy. "If you have many tasks to accomplish in a day, start with the one you want to avoid [the] most. This will make you gain confidence quickly and help the rest of your day roll down hill easy as pie. If the task is too big, chunk it up. Breaking down big goals into manageable parts help you stay focused and keep [you] from being overwhelmed. A common technique is to use a timer,"

3. Learn How Schedule Your Work

While it's OK to get sidetracked every now and then, try to create a system where you have a list of everything that needs to be accomplished so you don't lose track of what your goals are. "If you're working with long-term goals, use the ABC's to schedule [them]. A is for [it] has to be done today, B is for [it] would be nice and C is for if I were my most awesome version of myself. Update the goals before bed so you wake up ready to roll the next day," says Lloyd.

4. Get Rid Of Temptations

If you want to be more disciplined, you have to get rid of your temptations. Even though snoozing on the couch instead of running is tempting, or that social media app is addicting, keep them out of sight so you can focus on what's most important. "Put away the phone and close the Watsapp  Reddit and Facebook  tabs and make a promise to keep bringing your mind back to the task at hand. You don't have to finish it, just make it a priority. You'll end up getting more out [of] your brain as you hack your attention span. After 45 [minutes] most of us feel a little groggy, so if we stop before, we can gas up the tank before we're stuck on the side of the road,"

5. Do What Comes Naturally

If you have a hard time being disciplined, start with things that come naturally to you to help ease yourself into the process. "If you want to eat more vegetables start with something you're already eating and eat more of it. Use grandma's rule. Anyone most especially the Africans brought up by grannies know this rule that  - You will eat your dinner  if only you finish your breakfast in the morning or else grand ma will be giving you the same left-over fast later. So when [you're] at the gym, think about the body you'll have when [you're] done, or the vacation you'll take in August. Just don't reward yourself with something that backtracks your goals like a gallon of ice cream or a shopping spree that will drain your wallet.

6. Don't Overthink It

If you give up every time you mess up, then you won't get anywhere fast. Be kind to yourself and don't over think it. Ease your way into this new system and soon it may become a habit. You really have nothing to lose. "Stop thinking! Certain things are nonnegotiable, I really don't like going to bed early, but I also really don't like being cranky irritable and nonproductive. There's a great quote about this: 'Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.'

7. Hold Yourself Accountable

Even though you want to be kind to yourself, you also want to make sure that you hold yourself accountable. That means if you "accidentally" watched three hours of your favorite TV show, you should try to make up for that time by working your butt off the following few days. "It’s great to establish goals and create an action plan. However, if there is no accountability built into that process, the effort is likely to fail,” Who or what can help you accomplish the actions you’ve identified?’ What might stand in the way of your success (and how can you overcome those things?), and most importantly, how will you keep yourself accountable? The great thing about accountability in a coaching context is that you develop the method that works best for you."

So what kind of methods work? Some people prefer lists, others rely on trusted friends to help them achieve their goals. You decide upon and commit to use your own method of accountability. Your [career] coach will check in with you at each session to ensure that the process is working, and help you identify something else if it is not.

8. Write Down Your Progress

9. Create Healthy Habits

You will most likely feel better about trying to be more disciplined if you're taking care of yourself first. "When you make something a habit — a regular part of your daily routine — it actually frees up your brain. You no longer have to decide 'Am I going to do this today or not?' You just do it, and your brain is less stressed and freed up for other more important decisions, about creating healthy habits.

10. Remind Yourself Of What's Actually True

"Once you've proven what's true, it helps to remind yourself [why you need to continue to do it]. For example, if you've learned that if you get up and go for a walk when you're tired then you'll have more energy. Plus, [you'll] feel great because you exercised, then remind yourself of this fact. 'I'll feel so much better if I just get up and move' is a powerful way to keep yourself disciplined," . The only way you'll know something is true is if you continue to do it. Don't hesitate to do something that will benefit you. Tell yourself positive affirmations to help you stay disciplined and focused.

11. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

"Set goals that are Specific, with details to help you achieve success. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant to who and where you are at the time, and Time-bound. SMART goal-setting can help you change the things that stand in your way . Because you're the only person who can alter your future, you don't want to stand in the way of it by making poor decisions. Use this system to set smart goals and make yourself more disciplined for a stronger, better you. You deserve it.

While it might take some time to be more disciplined, it's totally worth it. All you have to do is write down your progress, hold yourself accountable, and set smart goals. Trust me, you're stronger than you think. You got this.

You may read about those people who have built self-discipline especially those in the military. They get up at 5 am, meditate and plan their day, run for 6 miles, and then drink their tea and protein smoothie for breakfast. They do all of this before going to work at their startup, which they hope to take public next month. They never waste time, and their accomplishments are astonishing.

Yet, here you sit, surfing the internet, reading online politics, playing candy crush or temple run, and eating Tantalizer's ice cream straight out of the container.

Is this the life you really want to live? Or, are you searching for a life in which you will accomplish your goals and dreams, no matter what they are?

If this is your goal, the key to success in achieving your goals and plans both in your professional and personal life is to become a more self-disciplined person.

How can you build the kind of self-discipline that other people have? Discipline is critical to career success, so are there tricks to help you become more self-disciplined? There are. Here are eight ways to help yourself become more self-disciplined than you are now.

1. Start Small

You don't need to wake up as a completely different person. As a cultural event, people tend to make resolutions on New Year's Day: They say, this year will be different. Well, you can make this year different, but you don't need to change everything at once. For best results, pick just one thing.

Otherwise, you'll tend to overwhelm yourself with too many changes to make at once.

This defeats your intention of becoming a more self-disciplined person.

2. Identify What You Want to Do Differently

Do you even like kale smoothies? Do you want to? While drinking one may seem like the noble, healthy thing to do, it's not likely to make you a better person. It may make you an insufferable jerk, though, if you are only doing it to show how awesome you are.

If you're focusing on health, pick something that is practical and that will make a real difference in your life. That could be going to the gym, walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator or limiting the ice cream you eat.

If you want to make your career different and more successful, ask what would make a difference. Take a look at the performance of people who have the job you want. What do they do differently than you? Do they arrive early? Stay late? Work from home? Dress up, even though the dress code is casual? Do they respond to all emails within an hour? Figure out the characteristics that you are missing, pick an important one and build on that.

3. Remember You Are dealing with maturity

Matured people don't sit around and wait until someone tells them what to do; they just do it. That may mean giving up some of your downtimes at work, but disciplined people are the ones who succeed, and disciplined means that you keep going even when you'd rather not.

Again, you can start small. If you normally sit at your desk and play on your phone until your manager comes by and gives you a new task, set your phone time for 5 minutes. Then, when the alarm goes off, go find your manager and ask for something new to do.

The timer will help remind you that you are on the clock even if you don't have a task at hand.

Better? Work with your manager to establish such clarity about your goals and the expectations about your contributions in your job that you never have to ask your manager what to do. You just move on to the next task. (Perhaps you may never play on your phone at all. It's conceivable.)

4. Make a List

Part of self-discipline is knowing what you need to do and then doing it. When you're not used to behaving in a disciplined manner, you will sometimes struggle to come up with your next activity. Start your day with a list of tasks that you need to accomplish.

You can make the tasks work-related or plan part of your day for personal items. Everything from emails to laundry to stopping at the grocery store can go on the list.

Checking the items off the list can help you towards developing self-discipline.

5. Make Choices in Advance

If your goal is to pay attention in meetings, choose to leave your phone at your desk. Don't even put it in your pocket. You can't play with it if it's not there. If you want to become more self-disciplined about food, ask the waitress to box up half your meal before she puts it in front of you or choose to always eat just half of the sandwich.

If you want to get on top of your emails, decide how many emails you'll respond to before doing something else, whether it is 5, 10, or all of them. Just decide before the situation presents itself and you'll find it a lot easier to remain steadfast in the face of temptation.

6. Make Use of Technology

Technology makes people flighty—they can always check Facebook or Twitter or reblog something on Tumblr, not to mention playing games and texting friends. But there are also technological tools that can help you build self-discipline just like what this blog is saying.

One such tool is Zen Zone, a brain fitness trainer app that will help you achieve your goals in self-discipline training. Another is Coach.me which helps you form a new habit with their habit tracking app.

Additionally, you can set timers that limit the amount of time you spend playing a game, or on your favorite time-wasting website. Take advantage of these tools. You can use one that tracks your time to give you an idea of how you spend your time and then work from there to lower the number of hours you spend wasting time.

If your goal is a fit lifestyle with a healthy weight, regular exercise, serious walking, and a restful sleep each night, trackers exist to help you. Fitbit, for example, helps you track all of this. While you need to record some of the data, Fitbit connects with other devices to automatically capture, as one example of its capabilities, your weight from a synchronized scale.

7. Recognize Your Limited Temptation Capabilities

If a self-disciplined life was easy, everyone would practice self-discipline. But, it's not. However, did you know that every temptation you avoid improves your ability to avoid the next temptation? So, for example, when you make decisions in advance, you reduce your temptations. This also holds true for decisions in your personal life.

If you want to stay sober and professional at the office holiday party, decide in advance that you will strictly limit your intake of alcohol. If you want to eat healthily, go grocery shopping when you're full and don't buy bags of candy.

If you want to arrive on time for work, go to bed earlier so that you have time to get up and get out the door without feeling pressed for time. If you know that the drive to work varies between twenty minutes and a half hour, always leave expecting to spend thirty minutes on the road.

Figure out a way to make the things you struggle with less available. This will lower the number of times you are tempted to do something that hurts your self-discipline. This will also save your strength for unexpected temptations. For instance, if snacking on sugar coated is a disaster for your diet, don’t buy it. Keep only healthier foods in your cart if when you go for shopping. If you know that you will have a difficult time talking with your boss about a particular topic without rolling your eyes and saying something inappropriate back, plan what you’re going to say in advance.  Then, schedule the discussion for the beginning of the day when you have the most stamina against temptation.

8. Remember That Failure Is Always Part of Succeeding

Many people want to become self-disciplined and then they make a mistake in their hoped-for routine on day two and give up. You will not make yourself perfectly disciplined overnight, so expect some failure to happen along the way. But, if you plan for it, and understand that you will fail from time to time. one mistake won't derail your whole plan on your way to success.

At the same time, when you experience success, you need to celebrate. You accomplished all of the five goals that you had set for yourself this week. Reward yourself and celebrate in a way that won't undermine your success. (Eating healthily? No food rewards.)

Say that your goal is to gain new clients for your business. A bad reward would be to take three days off from prospecting. A good reward might entail lunch at a fancy restaurant with a friend.

Building self-discipline can help in all areas of your life. If you're ready to get started, pick one area and get going. Don't worry about perfection in all areas at once, and don't worry about failure, just worry about becoming better today than you were last week. Gradually, you'll become disciplined in that one area and then you can move on to the next.

          Have a nice day. Wish you a more disciplined life.