Discipline is a way to lead a healthy, wealthy and contented life.
But it is not that easy to adopt and follow it for long.
Those who adopt it all through life are successful and lead a contented life.
After realizing the benefits of discipline, many try to adopt it but fail due to one or other reasons.
The reason is following improper discipline techniques.
Below we will see which aspects to be kept under discipline.
a) How to keep up discipline?
b) Factors that disrupt discipline?
c)How to overcome factors that might disrupt discipline?
Also, you can read the 10 days to self-discipline guide by Theodore Bryant.
Discipline techniques
1. First, decide priorities.
2. Ritually follow them every day
3. Avoid depressing factors.
♠ First, decide priorities:
Whenever someone pieces advice us to stay disciplined, we assume it for one aspect of life. Like for studying, eating, or getting from sleep at the right time. We try to do so and we give up once we encounter boredom or insufficient success.
This is because we adopted discipline in one aspect of life and neglected the remaining aspects of life.
So we need to understand priorities in life and adopt discipline towards those priorities.
So what are the priorities to be kept under discipline?
a) Health
b) Income/ earnings
c) Relationships
d) Reputation and character
The above priorities are in a way interlinked to one another, but we need to have them all for a successful life.
i) Health is the most important issue in your life to be successful. Imagine if you made a list of dreams to achieve in life and died before achieving them. Today we see many cases of premature deaths due to health issues. Also to perform our duties well we need to be healthy and fit. So it is necessary to keep healthy.
So our first concern in discipline is to stay healthy. To be so, we need to have our food on time, sleep and wake in time. Also, we need to follow regular exercises and cleaning habits, including bath. This is an everyday effort and it definitely pays off as a long-term effort.
You can notice most successful leaders, film actors, business people lived very long due to their rigorous discipline.
ii) Income or earning is the next important factor. If you are a kid, you may need to focus on studies as it can help build a career in the future. If you are grown up, you need to be disciplined in earnings. Discipline helps to complete your job on time. Avoid loss of income due to health issues, delay in work, or distractions. Having sufficient income helps you avoid stress and keep up discipline. It also helps you stay focused in life. You will rarely see those without sufficient money for daily needs to stay disciplined. Staying disciplined helps you keep up good earnings. One can be disciplined in ways like staying in time for an appointment. Completing the job in time etc. Though these issues seem simple, they can have a big impact on the progress of life.
iii) Relationships: Relationships are quite important for everyone. One cannot grow up in life without proper relations. Relationships can be in the form of family, parents, honest friends, well-wishers, etc. Keep up the discipline to call them in time. Stay with them, go for an outing with them, etc. If the friends are far away keeping contact with them regularly. This must be done for long periods to keep their affection.
iv) Reputation and character is one which indicates your worth in others mind. It takes a good time to build up a reputation by behavior. But discipline is also another way to build up the reputation. People value those with discipline. Hence in giving out a project, people consider the time sense of the person aspires to it. So performing your duties in time also builds up the reputation.
Hence when we think of staying disciplined, we should keep up with the above priorities. Discipline means trying to stay healthier, keep income right, maintain healthy relationships, and build a reputation.
Based on the above priorities, if one tries to keep discipline, he will definitely succeed.
♠ Ritually follow them every day: Discipline comes by doing it and not just thinking about it. So try to keep up discipline regularly. Health, earnings, reputation and even daily relationships are part of the discipline.
These should be kept up even during holidays and tours. Try to spend more to keep up with them. Do not sacrifice them at any cost. Like if you are on travel, to keep up health, try to sleep, eat at the right time. Also, drink safe water and eat healthy food. Do not eat junk to save money. If not, do not go on a trip or manage other alternatives.
i) Decide what to do in a day: Every morning, one needs to decide what to do in the day. This helps to keep us active and get disciplined for work.
ii) Regularize habits: Have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the right time. Also, sleep early, like by 10 pm at-least and wake early by 5 Am.
♠ Avoid depressing factors;
One tends to quit discipline due to factors like depression, laziness, circumstance, harsh words from others, etc. We need to remember that with discipline, we achieve more and overcome any depressing circumstances.
If still you are unable to overcome your depressing mood and is disturbing your discipline. Then have these tips to keep the depressing mood away.
♦ Music. Due to technology, we have always had music gadgets around. Keep some favorite music in your mobile or tab. In case of a depressing mood, listen to them as they are always with you. This helps you forget that depressing incident and brings a positive mindset back.
♦ Prayer: This is a more powerful tool. If you are in a heartbreaking circumstance, simple mood boosters will not help. Then prayer comes in handy. Praying to your favorite god helps you have self-confidence.
♦ Staying with those who are disciplined. It is said that our thoughts are like the company of people we are in.
Discipline is a consistent effort. If one follows discipline techniques for a long, it becomes a habit. This habit will help us build up a character.