5 Lessons That Self-Discipline Teaches You to Achieve Your Life Goals
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” — Jim Rohn
Nicole and Chris are strangers to each other and they both live in the same city.
Nichole wakes up before dawn every morning to exercise. She’s immensely focused at work — ignoring distractions and devoting all of her attention to her projects and clients. In the evening, she catches up on her online classes; she’ll be graduating in a few months with her MBA.
Chris, on the other hand, wakes up an hour before work. He’s constantly in a rush and struggles to meet deadlines. The work just keeps piling up and all he wants is to get it out of the way. From one thing to the next with no break, Chris finds himself getting stressed at the end of every working day.
We each spend our 24 hours differently every day. So how do people like Nicole achieve so much, so consistently? How do they have such unwavering focus on their life goals?
Part of the answer lies in self-discipline (or just simply discipline).
Having self-discipline is like possessing a cheat code that unlocks every perk in a game. You could call it the Krabby Patty secret formula because it is quite literally the key to success.
This is essentially what pushes us to deliver, even when we don’t feel like doing so. Don’t get this confused with being motivated. Your motivation can fade or change completely, and when that happens, your self-discipline has to step up to the plate and keep you moving forward — especially when the going gets tough.
What is self-discipline?
Let’s break this down first.
The word “self-discipline” is made up of two parts; discipline is a noun that means “training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The self pertains to yourself and your ability to perform these actions on your own accord.
There are many definitions and synonyms of self-discipline out there, but they all have the same meaning. My favorite definition, perhaps, is this:
Self-discipline is forcing yourself to do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
It’s easy to do something when you feel like it. However, it’s when you don’t feel like doing it and you force yourself to do it anyway is when it really makes a difference. Controlling our feelings in the present moment to have something better later takes a lot of mental strength. It involves delayed gratification, which is not acting on your impulses.
It’s knowing that you have to do what is necessary now in order to enjoy what you want to do later.
When you master yourself, you can succeed at everything. Here are 5 lessons that having self-discipline has taught me:
1. Hard work pays off in the long run.
I used to half-ass my homework all through high school and I could get away with it. I thought that the “work hard” rhetoric was a load of bull. But when it came to college, that lesson came back around and nearly got me kicked out. I will save this story for another time.
Taking the easy path makes life much harder later on. This is true in business, in sports, and definitely in our everyday lives.
The foundation of success is hard work, but hard work doesn’t come without self-discipline. It is what separates the winners from the losers and what allows us to get what we want.
Michael Jordan was not the most talented basketball player in the world, but he was the hardest and most disciplined worker in the room. Practicing for 7 hours a day and also having a “never-give-up” spirit is what made him one of the greatest athletes of all time.
2. Success is found in the journey.
Times will come when you feel like giving up and throwing in the towel, but that is the moment when you have to keep pushing yourself even further.
Success is not a destination like reaching the top of a mountain. It’s the journey that starts from the very beginning — getting mentally prepared, doing fitness training, and finally climbing up to the finish line. Enduring the harsh conditions and having the strength and the mindset to keep moving forward plays a huge role in this.
Throughout this whole process, you are inherently disciplining yourself. As the Japanese proverb goes,
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Ask any successful person today and they will tell you about the numerous failures they’ve experienced. But “failure” doesn’t mean “unsuccessful”. Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time. It simply means you have a reason to start over.
3. Sacrifice is a requirement, not an option.
Whether it’s your time, your comfort, or even your relationships, the truth is that you must give up the things that are holding you back. And if you are willing to make these sacrifices, then you’re already halfway there.
Success is an ugly road. You may have heard that many of the richest people on Earth have gone through unimaginable things to get to where they are.
Oprah Winfrey was dealt a poor hand early in her life. She was raised in poverty by her grandmother and was sexually abused on multiple occasions as a child. These kinds of hardships would normally break a person. Not her. She came out stronger and more fearless than ever.
She once said that she made many sacrifices, including working long hours and putting her personal life on hold. In the end, her sacrifices were worth it because she’s now a role model and an inspiration to millions of people around the world.
4. Patience and persistence win the race.
Not many people possess both of these abilities. They may say that they do until things start getting out of control. If you’ve ever worked a customer service job, handled children, or been to college. You probably know all about this.
Patience and persistence teach you a lot about the nature of the real world. This makes you a more resilient person; you do not get easily discouraged by setbacks or challenges because you’ve learned to cope with them.
You have developed the discipline of staying calm without complaining and the discipline to keep trying because you know that if you persevere long enough, you will reach your true potential.
5. Never give up.
Nelson Mandela was sentenced to 27 years in prison for fighting against the apartheid regime in South Africa. He never once gave up on his dreams because he had a strong belief in himself and his cause.
He believed in himself so much that he was willing to sacrifice everything, including his freedom. This is how disciplined he was to himself.
If you’re going through hell, keep going — Winston Churchill
Dreams are what make life worth living. They give us something to strive for, something to work towards. When we give up on our dreams, we give up on a part of ourselves. We lose our sense of purpose, direction, and our self-discipline.
If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. So, keep fighting for what you want, no matter what gets in your way.
Final Thoughts
Discipline not only helps me achieve my goals, but it also pours over into other areas of my life that are more important than material possessions;
- I have an amazing close circle of friends.
- I am involved in my community through charity fundraising and mural paintings to help make a difference in the lives of others.
- I try to make a better, more improved version of myself every single day.
Self-discipline can help you transform your dreams into reality. It’s like a new, cloudless lens that turns what was once a winding, crooked path into a straight track that leads directly to your desires.
I’m sure many of you have big plans and life goals that you’re working towards achieving. But do you have the self-discipline to get there?
Read next —
