8 Ways To Be More Disciplined
How to Boost your Discipline
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Discipline – also known as grit – is one of the most significant indicators of success in life, and it will do wonders for achieving your goals.
Making yourself do something (exercise, not eat something) when you don’t want to do it is a situation we’ve all experienced.
Here are 8 strategies to start – and do – what you don’t feel like doing, especially when you don’t feel like doing it.
Tip #1: Start
Don’t feel like doing something that you need to do? (Exercise, etc). Do it for 5 minutes.
Usually, the anticipation of an activity is the killer: You don’t want to go through all 1-2 hours of whatever.
So, just do 5 minutes. If you want to stop, stop. 9 times out of 10, you’ll feel the energy to keep going. Even if it’s only for another small chunk of time, you’ll have done more than if you didn’t start in the first place.
Tip #2: Celebrate progress
What have you done successfully in the past, similar to what you’re resisting now?
If you’re going through something emotional, what have you gotten through in the past similar to what you need to get through now?
Remember and celebrate your past grit achievements. This will give you inspiration and strength – but more importantly, it will make you believe in yourself.
“Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.”
Henry Ford
Tip #3: Embrace Failure
Don’t be afraid to fail. What’s the worst that could happen?
Unless it’s something catastrophic and irreversible, pause. Think. If you failed, what would you learn?
Think about two times you failed in the past and learned from the experience. That knowledge made you smarter. It might have been difficult, even painful, to obtain, but your grit was the tuition.
Speak out loud: “I had it then, I have it now.”
Tip #4: You’ll get another chance
Want to hit the gym, do an 8fit workout, or diet – but fail? Do not focus on this.
Instead, focus on the big picture. How many days do you have in the next week to try again? Take comfort in realizing:
Life is long
The world won’t end if you miss a small step in a big goal
You don’t need to be perfect
These will reduce the anxiety that comes from fearing failure.
And, paradoxically, with the anxiety gone, your mental strength will increase – and suddenly you feel more like taking action.
Tip #5: Look for ways to build grit!
Find challenges. Push your limitations. Transcend them.
Set a bar higher than you think you can reach. Even if you don’t hit it (failure is OK), you’ll still have achieved more, and reached higher, than if you set your sights low.
By putting yourself in situations that require grit – especially more than you usually have – you will strengthen your willpower.
Tip #6: Visualize on the goal
Visualizing your success can give an incredible amount of motivation and inspiration.
See where you want to be in your mind. Feel what life would be like with your goal achieved. Get really into it, emotionally. Get excited. Believe that you will succeed. Know that you will succeed.
Practicing this technique can bring a smile to your face. This is a way to transform a “grit” situation to becoming easier. Instead of muscling through, you’re reframing – and making the action easier.
Tip #7: Push yourself within reason
If you’re exercising and feel pain, stop.
If you’re intermittently fasting and feeling lightheaded, eat.
Never seek to build your grit so intensely that you cause damage or significant side effects. While it’s up to you to define “significant” for yourself, there’s a difference between doing 2 workouts in a row when you only feel like doing one…and pushing yourself to do 4 workouts, tearing a muscle, throwing up, or worse, and experiencing a whirlwind of negativity all in the name of self-improvement.
You will make progress. You will get fit. You will become stronger, mentally as well as physically.
But do so within reason.
Tip #8: Use 8fit!
Want to measure the actions you take? Track them!
Want to measure your goal progress? Track it!
Know how you were performing before you focused on your grit VS after – and thus how valuable and helpful “grit” is? Track it!
Beyond the education, advice, workout plans, nutrition tips, and community, one of the biggest things 8fit can do for you is help you #improve your capacity to improve.
We want to enable you to get more done in less time. We want you to be able to achieve bigger goals and more meaningful goals, period.
Your body is just the start.
