Importance of Self-Discipline and is Self-Discipline Really Important?
The term self-discipline can be defined as “the ability to control yourself and to make yourself work harder or behave in a particular way without anyone else needing to tell you what to do.” Jim Rohn explained the term self-discipline by saying that ‘Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. Self-discipline can also account for the realization of responsibilities by the individual. Self-control, self-regulation, willpower, determination, and resolve are the few synonyms of self-discipline, which, themselves, highlight the importance of self-discipline.
Table of Contents
Is self-discipline essential?
The importance of self-discipline is such that it an essential part of all components of human life. Be it maintaining fitness, aiming for good grades, complete house chores, meet professional and career goals, or anything else, nothing can be achieved without self-discipline. For example, if an individual aim to reduce weight, he needs to continuously ensure self-discipline by eating better, exercising more, being positive, etc. Self-discipline cannot be ensured without ignoring the temptations and focusing on one main goal of life.
Self-discipline can be made sure by following the few simple strategies mentioned below;
- Get motivated
- Remove temptations
- Create a goal
- Start from small
- Stop going against the grain
- Create constructive habits and rituals
- Put the big rocks in first
- Be nice to yourself
Importance of self-discipline for students
The importance of self-discipline is utmost in student life. This skill, once developed, helps a student not only in his academic career but throughout his life. No doubt, a student can have less interest in a particular subject than others, but with the help of self-discipline, this feeling can be overcome. Self-discipline can help a student regulate himself and make corrections in his thoughts and behaviors to bring improvement in himself.
Ensuring self-discipline can have students experience the following things:
- Power and energy to achieve goals
- The feeling of being in control of yourself
- It helps in sticking to a decision
- It helps in not losing sight of goals
- Helps in accomplishing goals
- Provides self-control and inner strength
Students can follow the following strategies to make sure they have self-discipline in life:
- Know your strengths and weaknesses: Find out the subjects you study with interest and the subjects you do not find really interesting. Based on this observation, devise strategies to study the subjects which you are least interested in.
- Know when you are motivated: Observe your daily routine keenly to determine which factors help increase your motivation and productivity. Later on, these factors can be clubbed with whenever and whatever you study.
- Recognize your downfalls: Keenly observe the factors which make you distracted from your goals and note them down. Avoiding these factors can help in assuring self-discipline.
- Stay positive: A positive mind and attitude can help a student grow to a huge extent. If you feel distracted, then instead of feeling discouraged, you can challenge yourself and use your mistakes to your advantage.
- Get support: Students can opt for group studies where the entire focus can be placed on getting the assignments done. Friends and family can also be of great support by ensuring silence and avoiding activities disturbing students’ attention. Similarly, technological advancements like screen time limits in certain phone applications and other applications like calendars and reminders can be used.
- Get better at time management: Efficient time management can help students to limit procrastination and avoid stress. It also helps in achieving goals.
Students can also improve their habits and follow self-discipline in life by following the below-mentioned steps:
- Put away cell phones and other gadgets causing distractions
- Take good notes
- Update calendars and review deadlines often
- Set personal deadlines for larger essays and projects
- Set up a good study area at home
- Be very clear in mind about time to be spent with friends to socialize and study.
Importance of self-discipline in our lives
The importance of self-discipline is evident from the fact that we cannot achieve success in our lives without adopting self-discipline principles. It helps people in becoming very efficient, due to which they become unstoppable in achieving their goals. Self-discipline has been categorized as vital due to the following reasons:
- Self-discipline creates a habit: Habits have the potential to make or break people. Self-discipline helps people achieve their goals and get success in life. Self-discipline also helps people to work consistently.
- It helps people get things done: It plays a significant role in getting things done. Moreover, it also enhances the beauty of an individual’s personality. Self-discipline ensures consistency in life which, in turn, helps an individual to achieve all his goals.
- It helps people focus: Our world is full of distractions, while self-discipline helps us focus on important things.
- It boosts people’s self-esteem and works ethic: Self-discipline, focus, and sense of accomplishment boost the confidence of an individual. With this attained confidence, an individual can make the impossible possible.
- It helps people achieve mastery: It also plays a vital role in developing specific field skills. Mastery can only come with discipline. Self-discipline helps people focusing on one thing at a time with complete concentration.
- It helps people become the best version of themselves: To achieve success, one needs to work on his development continuously. We should ensure to become the best versions of ourselves.
Importance of Self-discipline in developing a positive attitude
Attitude is how an individual thinks. It is completely the choice of an individual if he wants to think positive or negative. While negative is an instinctive process, positive is learned self-discipline that needs to be practiced daily. Achieving and maintaining a positive attitude requires physical, verbal, and mental actions. Mastering positive thinking can be done by following the below-mentioned steps:
- Admit that it is the fault of no one but your own: The opposite of blame is responsibility. The more we blame others, the more we shall remain disturbed. Therefore, we should accept our mistakes to proceed towards a positive solution.
- Understand you always have (had) a choice: An individual always chooses to select from positive and negative, responsibility and blame. Therefore, he should make a choice wisely.
- If you think it is OK, if you think it is not OK, it is not: The individual should deal with the challenges with patience and not always think like a victim. Even in an uncertain situations, an individual’s mind should be trained to see the positive outcome, i.e., what he is learning.
- Invest time, do not spend it: Make time for activates keeping in view the future goals. If an individual wants to master a skill, he may only allocate one hour daily from his routine to learn that skill. Eventually, five years down the lane, he would be the Master of It.
- Study the thoughts and writings of positive people: Study people’s writings with a positive approach towards life. It shall help develop a positive vision.
- Attend seminars and take courses: Attend as many seminars as possible and take various courses to develop different skills. It shall enhance learning, knowledge, and self-confidence as well.
- Say why you like things and people, not why you do not: Say things that are positive in nature. One should be able to appreciate the world around him.
- Help others without exception or measuring: Be a helping hand whenever and wherever possible. It shall fulfill the thirst of the soul and provide inner satisfaction.
- Celebrate victory and defeat: Success and failure are part of life. One should be able to remain peaceful in both situations. While success brings joy, failures also teach valuable lessons of life.
- Count your blessings every day: Focus on every blessing of nature and be thankful to God. Be it health, education, food, peace, or anything – they are all huge blessings of nature.
Conclusion
It is not possible to deny the importance of self-discipline at any cost. It is a vital component of success. Every individual aspiring to be successful in life needs to focus on discipline first. God has blessed each individual with unlimited potential, helping them reach the highest level of life. However, all that is needed is self-discipline. Therefore, without wasting any time, one should aim to be self-disciplined.