Everyone would agree that achieving goals require self discipline. It does not matter if the goals we have are about how we eat, our finances, personal relationships, organizing our work, reducing our television watching or anything else it all requires self discipline.
The fourth part of gaining self discipline is more than just saying we are going to do something – it is in fact the step of setting self – discipline goals. This fourth step is the basis of all the rest that we have talked about. If you do not have clearly defined, short term and long term goals – you have no need for self control, motivation or persistence.
Self discipline goals are about self improvement and the goals must be clearly defined or specific with dates or time frames included. Simply wanting something is not enough, but when you are specific about what you want, when you want to accomplish it by, and set up specific actions and schedule then you can use self control, motivation, and persistence in reaching your self improvement goal.
If I have a goal of eating 5 portions of vegetables every day, then we can ask ourselves every time we eat if we are demonstrating self discipline in our eating habit and working to reach the goal. We may have to use self control and not eat something less healthy, or we may have to rethink our motivation or remind ourselves that individuals with self discipline would persist in getting all of the portions in to the day. How would a self disciplined person thnk or act? When you demonstrate self discipline you will thank yourself later for being strong, exercising self control, and persisting with your specific goal.
This is the fourth in a series of post on self discipline:
Part one: Self Control
Part two: Motivation
Part three: Persistence