Transcription
Now here are 10 steps to help you improve on your level of self-discipline.
Number one: Acknowledge your weakness. Acknowledge your weakness. Whatever it is that is your own area of weakness, having a turnaround begins by first of all acknowledging that you have a weakness in that area. Yes, some smokers will say that they will quit if they wanted to. It's not that easy. It's not that easy for them. For the habitual smokers, a lot of them cannot quit the day they actually decide. It's not that easy. And when they make such statements, they refuse to acknowledge that they are addicted. So they make it look like it's just a habit that can be easily overcome, but it's not. For many, it's deeper than that. So the first thing to do is acknowledge your own areas of weakness when it comes to self-discipline.
Number two: Choose very few goals at the beginning. Choose very few goals at the beginning. Begin by choosing, for instance, just one goal that you want to focus on to develop your self-discipline. Start small and settle into daily habits that make you feel accomplished. Start with simple, small tasks and actions. Carry them out despite the inner resistance, and this will improve your discipline and self-control and strengthen your confidence and faith in yourself. And you must also make sure that whatever these goals are at this beginning, ensure that they fit into these five areas which we like to call, we like to summarize and just tag them as SMART, as implying specific. The goal must be specific. M implies the goal must be measurable. A implies that the goal must be attainable. R implies that the goal must be relevant. And T implies that the goal must be time-bound.
Number three: Find your motivation. Find your motivation. Once you have chosen a goal, list the reasons why you want to achieve it. When you list the reasons why you want to achieve something, you will find it much easier to get the job done. You'll find it much easier to get the job done. However, professionals will, or experts rather, will advise that in doing this deliberately, try to express these reasons in a positive way. So, for instance, instead of saying, "I want to exercise three times a week to lose weight," instead, you can say, "I want to exercise so that I have the energy to work successfully and to play with members of my family when I'm back home from work."
Number four: Identify obstacles. Yes, you will need to identify the obstacles that you will likely face when working towards your goal. Then devise a strategy for overcoming each one of these obstacles. Devise a strategy.
Number five: Avoid distractions. When you begin to develop your self-discipline, make it harder to engage in the activity you are trying to avoid. Make it harder. Eliminate distractions. Avoid distractions that take time away from your goals. And to achieve this, you can, for instance, take some small actions like putting your phone in your desk drawer, putting your phone in certain meetings, sent to environments where something very serious is being done. Put your phone on the back. You can also eliminate distractions by having a set schedule, a sketch of a schedule for a particular day with timelines attached to each of them. Adding positive distractions might also be beneficial. There are some kinds of things you can do to counter what you are trying to avoid. But as much as possible, whatever is that temptation or distraction, will remove them when necessary. Yeah, even the Bible tells us to do what? Run from every appearance of evil. Run from every appearance of evil. So it's not every time that you would be successful by exposing yourself directly to it. Sometimes the more effective approach is to keep it away, either permanently or for the period of time it needs to be kept away.
Number six: Replace the old habit. It's close to number five, but it's different. You will need, when you are developing self-discipline, we are often, you are often trying to break a bad habit and replace it with something more productive. However, if that habit is tied to a certain time of the day or routine, breaking it can leave a vacuum. Breaking it can leave a vacuum. Now, the best thing to do is to deliberately ensure that you do something else within that same time. If you leave that time vacant, it will be easier for you to go back to the particular thing you are trying to avoid doing anymore. If someone, for instance, is trying to prevent himself from shopping online during break hours because it destroys your focus and attention, and it also makes you spend beyond your budget, and sometimes into what should have actually been part of your savings. One of the things you should do is to ensure that within that same period of time, you should deliberately get yourself engaged in something else. It could be a time for a cup of coffee. It could be a time to take a walk around the premises of the environment where you work. So this will definitely be a better idea than just sitting down doing nothing within that same time you are trying to avoid something.
Number seven: Monitor your progress. As you work on improving your level of self-discipline, monitor the progress you are making. Pay attention to how you are feeling as it develops and strengthens. This is key, as put forward by experts in this field. If it's possible, have a notepad, keep a journal where you write down your self-discipline goals and then begin to track the progress you are making. If there are certain things you have to achieve for within a year, and then certain things are to be done daily to achieve that goal for the year. Now, from time to time, sit back and check how well you have done in the week that has just ended. How well you have done in the month that has just ended. Monitor your progress, and you are going to discover that it's going to increase your motivation. You are going to begin to have some level of joy, some level of fulfillment, a sense of fulfillment as you begin to achieve whatever is that approach on a consistent basis.
Number eight: Reward yourself. When you experience success, celebrating your accomplishment has been found to actually also be an effective motivation that will further improve on your consistency in what you have now started doing well. So when you keep records of your progress and you observe that you are actually making progress, then you would something. It could be a trivial, but it will be useful. Reward yourself when you experience some measure of success.
Number nine: Don't let a fear of failure or an occasional setback discourage you. Don't let the fear of failure or an occasional setback discourage you. Every human being goes through some kind of setback or failure. It's part of life. So whenever you make any of these mistakes or you fail to keep up with what you ought to have done at a particular day, time, or week, don't allow that to discourage you. People who eventually get themselves to improve, they would also testify to you and acknowledge that even while they were in the process of getting to where they are today, there were still some few times that they broke the rule. There was a few times that they didn't catch up with what they were supposed to do. But eventually, they mastered the act of doing the right thing at the right time. Some days, you know, whatever you are supposed to do in the realm of self-discipline will just be so easy. Some other days, it will be so hard. And some days, you may end up not doing what you ought to do. But never call it off. Never call it off.
Number 10: Always have a positive mindset. Always have a positive mindset. Don't ever say, "I can't." Don't ever say, "I can't." Because you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. Always have a positive mindset. Your gender is not an obstacle if it is God's will. Don't ever say, "I can't." Don't ever say, "I can't." If some other person can do it, you can do it. And there will be some things in life that God has ordained you to be the pioneer, the first person ever. So even if no other person had done it before, no other person had achieved it with, you know, the same kind of circumstances, the same odds, your case will be different. Instead, always say, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me." In Philippians 2 verse 13, Philippians 2 verse 13, he said, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." So even if the desire was not there before, when that phase comes in your life, that time eventually now comes, God will put the desire. God will put the desire, and then God will give you the strength. He will give you the power. He'll give you the grace. He'll give the enrichment. He'll give you the anointing. He will give you the wisdom. He will give you the intelligence. He will give you the understanding. It will give you the insight. What others cannot see, you would be the first to see. So please, don't ever say, "I can't." You can. You can conquer that weakness. You can overcome that bad habit. Your son can overcome that bad habit. Your daughter can overcome that weakness. Can I hear a parent say amen? Because whenever you tell yourself, "I can't control my temper," is a big error in the spiritual, and it's a big error in the reign of our study. "I can't break this addiction." "I can't keep my eyes on the right things." You are defeating yourself in your own thinking. And now our holy book tells us in Proverbs 23 verse 7 that, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So when you believe, when you are you believe, and then you are now confessing that you can't, you are already spoiling the potential of something that could have been achieved. You are defeating yourself in your own thinking. The battle starts in your mind. The battle starts in your mind. And I announce to you once again that you can. You can. So get your mind going in the right direction. That's the first step to victory. Get your mind going in the right direction. Think positively. You are in this world to succeed. You are in this world to conquer. And with the help of God, except God has not ordained you to do that thing, if God, if it's God's will for you to achieve anything in life, when the time comes, help will come from above. That's this is one of the reasons why we pray. This is one of the reasons why we pray. We ask God for grace. We ask God for help to achieve the, especially the things that are in accordance and agreement with his will. If it is God's will that something that has never been achieved before will be achieved, and by providence, you are having the opportunity to achieve that thing, then you can do it. In Philippians 4 verse 13, Philippians 4 verse 13, living Bible, he says, "For I can do everything God asks me to." Can I hear you repeat that after me? "For I can do everything." Say it one more time. "I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power."