I tend to talk a lot about self-discipline. Why? Because I believe that self-discipline is the key to success. I think that once you know yourself and take control of your life, you can do anything. Until then, you’re waiting on life to lead you into the right places and you’ll end up wondering how you got to those places. You got there because you had no plan.
However, the problem with articles about self-discipline and ways to succeed is there is too much information too fast. It’s easy to get excited about something that you’ve read and then to completely forget about it in a week. The reason that happens is because we, or at least I, try to do too much at once.
For example, I’ll read one article about running and decide, “I’m going to run 6 miles every day!” Then I’ll read an article about writing and decide, “I’m going to write a 6 page sketch every day!” After that I’ll read two or three more articles and add two or more things to my new “schedule.” By the end of the week, I find myself sleeping in only to wake up and eat a whole carton of ice cream.
I personally don’t believe that you can ever have too much ice cream.
Self-discipline is a snowball rolling down a hill. It doesn’t start large. It starts very small, but on the way down it picks up more snow and more speed. By the time it reaches the bottom it’s the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark and it’s speeding forward lightning fast.
The best way to start being self-disciplined in your life is to start good habits, but those habits must be small and must start slowly. Otherwise they’re doomed to overwhelm you and fail.
So, start small. Instead of starting an intense work out routine immediately, decide to go to the gym for at least 10 minutes every day. You’ll find that once you get there you’ll likely spend more time there and you won’t feel the pressure to be amazing immediately. After that, you’ll find yourself used to going to the gym and you can start staying longer and working harder. Then maybe you can start juicing, then reading more, etc. The sky is the limit.
What do you think? How many changes can one person handle effectively? How do you make your new life changes stick?
