How to Build Self-Discipline (With an Example)

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Self-discipline is the ability to act, no matter what emotional state you’re in. If you could do what you vowed you would do, no matter what, imagine what you could achieve. If you’ve fully mastered the art of self-discipline, anything you decided to do would be as good as guaranteed.

Want to lose 20 lbs after Christmas? No problem.

Want to train for that half-marathon? You’d smash it!

Want to write that novel you’ve been thinking about for ages?

If you don’t practice self-discipline, however, it’s much less likely you’ll achieve what you intended to.

With this in mind, we’ll discover more about self-discipline in the rest of this article, including what you can do to build and develop it to give yourself the best chances of getting what you want out of life.

First, though, let’s find out about the 5 pillars of self-discipline.

The 5 Pillars of Self-Discipline  

It’s generally accepted that there are five pillars of self-discipline.

They are:

• Acceptance.
• Willpower.
• Persistence.
• Hard work.
• Industry.

Let’s look at each of them in turn, before we turn to the question of how to develop self-discipline.

Acceptance

This is all about understanding that you can’t alter anything until you accept your current situation.

You should take responsibility for things that happen in your life. No matter if you like the situation, you’re in or not, you’re the one who must figure out what to do about it.

When you accept the reality of something, you can begin taking steps to change it, and start to spot opportunities where others only see problems.

Successful, self-disciplined people know they’re not perfect and choose to learn from their mistakes and move on. They accept what has happened in the past and are at peace with their own flaws.  

Willpower

The second pillar of self-discipline relates to your capacity to resist temptation and deal with challenges.

You cannot be successful in life without exercising at least some degree of willpower. The degree of willpower you can exert determines how much effort you put into tasks.

If you need to increase your willpower, there are steps you can take to do just that. You can:

• Set yourself micro-goals everyday so you’re forced to practice willpower regularly. You can read our post on goal setting for more on micro-goals.
• Remind yourself of the goals you’ve set yourself periodically throughout the day.
• Reward yourself when you reach a micro-goal.
• Establish a routine.

If you practice all these things, you have more chance of achieving your goals.

Persistence

Persistence matters more than most people believe. It refers to the ability to push on toward your goals regardless of setbacks.

When you consistently work towards your goals, it’s more likely that you’ll be successful, because you keep trying new things and following new strategies until you work out which is the right one for you or know what skills you need to acquire to succeed.

When you’re aware of the problem, you can adapt your strategy to help you overcome, or address it.

Persistence is key if you want to achieve any goal but is especially important if you want to accomplish long-term goals. Remember to set yourself short-term goals first before you pursue larger ones.

Hard Work

There’s no shortcut to success. It’s a cliché, but it’s true.

You must apply yourself if you wish to succeed and achieve your dreams. The number one reason most people fail to do this is that they don’t expend enough effort and give up too readily in the face of difficulty.

If you have trouble keeping your emotions under control, you will be able to exercise less self-discipline. Therefore, there is a relationship between hard work and emotional development.

When you master self-discipline, you will have a handle on your emotions and will be able to deal with multiple situations without becoming so upset it lessens your ability to work hard.

The trick, then, is to not allow your emotions to rule you and put in effort consistently to reach your goals and succeed.

Industry

This refers to your willingness to spend energy, time, and money on something for a sustained period.

It’s a commonly held belief that industry equates to wealth. In fact, this is not the case. Most wealthy people did not become rich quickly. Instead, it took years of hard work, persistence, and effort to become successful.

So, work on becoming more industrious and spending less time on unproductive activities during work hours. Also, be patient as you wait to see the results from all the effort you’ve expended.

When you’re able to improve all 5 pillars of self-discipline, you will be well on your way to becoming a master of the art.

Next, we’ll cover what you can do to build self-discipline.

How to Build Self-Discipline  

If you can exercise self-discipline, it can help you solve many problems. It can help you overcome addiction, banish procrastination, and acquire useful knowledge. When combined with passion, planning, and goal setting, self-discipline is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal.

The more you work to develop your self-discipline, the more you will be able to accomplish.

We all have different levels of self-discipline, just as well all have different strengths and weaknesses.

No one is entirely without self-discipline, though some have trained and honed it more than others.

The most basic way to build self-discipline is to take on challenges that test you to the limit, but you can still overcome them. You need not try something every day, failing at it, but you do need to venture outside of your comfort zone. You won’t gain any advantage by trying to accomplish something that’s obviously out of your reach, but neither will you gain anything if you don’t learn to push yourself.

Once you can overcome one challenge, increase the difficulty of the next challenge until you’re once again testing your limits. If you don’t set yourself a real challenge, you won’t develop a greater level of self-discipline.

You shouldn’t push yourself too hard when you attempt to build self-discipline though. You will almost certainly fail if you try to transform your life too quickly and set yourself too many goals. It’s also important not to compare yourself with others, because you’ll only discover what you expect to find.  Instead, just aim to improve from where you start, and don’t focus on others.

In brief, you can follow these nine steps if you want to build more self-discipline, even if you have only a little, to begin with.

• Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
• Set clear goals and have a plan.
• Practice self-discipline every day.
• Forgive yourself if you fall short.
• Build new habits. Read more on how to form habits that stick.
• Change the way you view willpower.
• Have a backup plan.
• Find someone you trust to guide and mentor you.
• Get rid of any temptations you’re likely to face. This may involve closing tags on your computer that aren’t relevant to what you’re working on.

Next, let’s look at an example of how you might build self-discipline.

Example of How to Develop Self-Discipline  

Research suggests the average office worker spends as much as 50% of the working day engaged in unproductive activities.

Given this fact, let’s say you want to be able to do 8 hours of work each day so you can advance in your career. Instead of trying to work for a solid 8 hours for days in a row and becoming disheartened when you fail, try to work with complete focus for 1 hour a day for 5 days in a row.

That is a tricky, but manageable challenge. If you succeed at that, increase the time you must concentrate for every working day to increase the challenge. If you can’t concentrate for an hour over consecutive days, don’t beat yourself up. Just reduce the time you must focus until you find a level at which you can challenge yourself but still succeed.

As you succeed at one challenge, increase the level of the challenge until you can focus on doing productive work for 8 hours for several days in a row.

Apart from having built a fantastic amount of self-discipline, you will also benefit from the work you’ve managed to complete when building that habit.

Wrapping Up

Once you understand the 5 pillars of self-discipline, you will give yourself a better chance to build self-discipline and create habits that will allow you to succeed at almost anything you turn your hand to. We hope you found the real-life example of how to build self-discipline we gave helpful.

Remember to challenge yourself, but don’t beat yourself up if you have setbacks. When it comes to self-discipline, the journey is as important as the destination.

Want some tips on how to plan your day, to get yourself started on your journey toward living a life of greater self-discipline? Read our simple guide to planning your day.