It’s February!!!
What happened to our intentions for 2023??
If you are like most people the intentions you set for 2023 went out the window by the middle of January, or maybe some of you may have even made it to February if you are lucky. Why is it so tough to follow through on things that we think we really want to do - and even harder to stop doing things that we think we really don’t want to do anymore?
There are so many reasons why we give up or sabotage our winning goals, but one of the main reasons is that we find it very difficult to plow through new trails without someone holding us accountable to follow it through and keep going.
How do we hold ourselves accountable when it is us that is the one breaking the pattern? How do we become the disciplined and the discipliner?
If you truly want to set yourself up with some new positive goals, there are a few questions to ask yourself - before you even get going:
Choose a goal that you think you really do want to achieve, not just a nice thought.
Next, ask yourself “Is this a goal that you really want?”
Is this a goal that you are really willing to do the work to achieve
Is there something that you are not willing to either give up or receive that has to happen in order to achieve this goal?
If you have honestly answered the above questions and you still want to pursue the goal, you will want to look at how you can strengthen and befriend your self-discipline in order to achieve this goal you would like.
So, what is self-discipline and how does it help you to get what you want?
Self-discipline is something that shows up in you when are choosing to take action toward something that you have consciously chosen to start or stop. You move forward with this whether you feel like it or not. It may be uncomfortable – or, for that matter - even painful (as in doing workouts) but you continue to move forward anyway. You push yourself forward, you stay focused on the goal, you stay motivated and you take consistent action whether you feel like it or not - physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.
As a society, our self-discipline seems to have been on a steady decline over the last several years. We seem to be leaning towards a society that is putting “I don’t want to…, I don’t think I should have to…, or I am not feeling well enough to…, far more than, I will do it because I know it is the right thing to do, I will do it because I know it needs to be done…,
We seem to have forgotten the incredible benefit that self-discipline can offer us in our everyday life. It is what we push ourselves to do in order to get our best in every situation which incidentally will make it much easier to look at ourselves in the mirror at the end of a long day. Self-discipline gives us strength that we did not even know we had, in order to complete tasks and do things that are required to do, even when we don’t feel like we have the desire or the strength. Self-discipline also enables us to keep going through to great success, despite what others might see as insurmountable odds. It can also improve learning and enhance performance.
So how do we strengthen our Self-Discipline?
Self-discipline is like a muscle, the more you work on developing it and using it, the stronger it will become. Having said that, everyone learns and produces differently, and it is no different when it comes to increasing our self discipline. Some people will flourish with a really strict inside voice being forceful with them about what needs to be done, but others would crumble under that. Those people need a self discipline that is fun and rewarding even in the hard times. They need a self discipline that helps them to also find a silver lining and a sense of humor. Ask yourself what kind of self discipline you need. Make sure you choose the way that is right for you so that you are successful with your own self discipline. After you are aware how you want to work with your style of self discipline next choose a fairly easy goal to achieve to help yourself work on your self discipline, choosing an easy goal will make it more about strengthening your self discipline rather that accomplishing the goal at least in the very beginning.
Here are some helpful hints to get started
Choose a goal that you would like to attain, this will help you practice your self discipline. It could be going to bed at a healthier time, eating healthier meals, exercising 4 days a week etc etc. Remember, starting small is the best way to start developing your self-discipline. As your discipline gets stronger, you can spread the focus to more areas of your life.
Find Your Motivation
Once you've chosen a goal, list the reasons why you want to achieve it. Try to express these reasons in a positive way.
For instance, if we look at the above examples.
Why do I want to go to bed at a healthier time, what does that mean to me?
If I go to bed earlier, I will get up more refreshed, I will not fight my alarm clock so much etc etc.
Why do I want to eat healthier?
So I can feel better and have more energy, so I can have less pain in my muscles, so I can think clearer. Etc etc.
Finding positive reasons why you want to achieve something can give you motivation and enthusiasm to encourage yourself to go through with the self discipline to get you the goal you are trying to achieve.
The other thing you may want to make sure of is that your goal is a so-called SMART goal which means that it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This will help you to make sure you have a fighting chance to attain the goal.
The next step is to look at what is going to try to stop you from attaining your goal. Let’s look at the healthy eating goal for this one. Some of the obstacles that you may run into that will make it harder for you to attain your goal might be that you don’t have a lot of time to cook, if you recognize that right off the bat and put into place an action to overcome this obstacle, the chances of being successful at healthy eating skyrocket. Maybe you could cook the bulk of your weekly meals on Sundays so you can just throw them in the oven when you get home from work or something along that line. Maybe another obstacle is you don’t know how to cook or even what a healthy meal is, well then maybe you would want to do some research on some well-respected websites for recipes to help you with attaining your health goal.
Good Habits vs Bad habits- What is one to do about these? We don’t take into account that we are going to have to break some of the so-called bad habits in order to be able to bring in the good habits. Anytime we are trying to create new habits in our daily life there are going to most likely be bad habits that are going to have to be replaced and that can be an extremely hard thing to do. The problem with trying to break old habits is that those habits are probably giving us some sort of joy or reward and now we are going to work at replacing them. They could also be set around some of our daily routines or perhaps they are the very habits that we have put in place earlier in life to help us to get away from our stress for a moment.
So how can we work around this? Let’s look at our healthy eating goal.
One of our bad habits may be that when we are stressed, we tend to eat chocolate, chips or maybe a coffee and donut. In order for us to have a hope of attaining the healthy eating goal, we will have to have a plan in place when that stressful time comes and we are going to want to eat - what plan are we going to have in place? It will have to be something that will bring a similar satisfaction that the bad habits were giving. Do something that rewards you in the same manner, if you are having chocolate, try to have something that will make you feel along the same line but make it a healthier version. Maybe dark chocolate 70% instead of milk chocolate, homemade popcorn instead of chips etc. Choosing healthier alternatives can make the difference between failure and success.
Think about keeping a journal to write down your self-discipline goals and track your progress. This reinforces the positive changes that you're implementing in your life and gives you a record that you can look back on to see the progress that you've made. You will also want to write these alternative habits down so you can look back on them when you are possibly losing the battle of stopping the old habits.
For example: at my 3 o’clock break instead of having an o’ henry bar I am going to have 2 squares of my Lindt Dark chocolate & peppermint bar.
Instead of eating chips at night while I watch tv I will pop my own popcorn and add a measured amount of butter and salt.
If you are the creative type, make yourself a chart to see how you are progressing. Small wins can surely add up to a milestone in no time with consistency and seeing your progress can certainly give you added incentive. Working on improving your self-discipline is a gradual process so don’t expect to not have setbacks. Remember to enjoy the wins and learn from the losses. As you work on your self-discipline, pay attention to how you're feeling, you will notice as it develops and strengthens you will probably feel freer, happier, have a better sense of pride and of course more energy because you are working in a harmonious way with yourself and that gives you so much extra energy. Over time, your self-discipline will strengthen, and then you'll be able to apply it to so many other areas of your life.
Hope this has helped to inspire you to help yourself up to another level of living that you would like to achieve. We all have it inside of us if we are willing to engage with it.
Good luck to you all!
Lyza
Let us know your comments about the article and the blend at info@casaromawellness.com
Commentaires