Guiding Yourself into Self Discipline

The bridge between goals and accomplishment

Guiding yourself into self discipline

What is self discipline?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “discipline?”

Unfortunately, we often associate discipline with punishment and deprivation.

Perhaps you’ve used self discipline as punishment when you’ve made a mistake. 

Or maybe you associate self discipline with the times in your life when you were forced to follow other people’s rules instead of your own.

But true self discipline is born out of love for ourselves.

The type of discipline that says:

• I love myself enough to  show up for what I desire

• I honor myself 

• I make myself proud

Discipline is your ability to show up for what you desire.

Discipline is about deciding what you want and aligning your thoughts, feelings and actions with your desired outcome.

What are we truly always after? 

A feeling.

We may think that what we’re really after is weight loss, a new job, more money, a partner, or anything physical, but…

The reason why you want anything is because of the feeling you think having that thing will give you.

What creates our feelings?

Our thoughts.

Outside circumstances do not create your feelings; your thoughts create your feelings.

Self discipline begins in the mind.

The discipline to create what you desire from a place of joy, love, excitement, confidence, and abundance.

Train your mind to think on purpose, create better feeling states, and take inspired action to reconfirm how you desire to feel.

When you embrace discipline, you begin to relax more in your life, because you know that you’re going to show up for what you say you want. You know you’re going to keep your promises to yourself. 

You know you’re not going to disappoint yourself. And you’re able relax more in your everyday life feeling confident in yourself. 

Many of us get accustomed to feeling disappointed in ourselves.

But when we’re disciplined, we get to feel proud of ourselves. 

One of the most amazing feelings you can practice for yourself. 

You get to go to bed at night realizing you showed up for yourself today. 

Feeling proud of yourself, thinking thoughts, experiencing feelings, and taking actions that align with what you desire. 

Then, it begins to spill over into all areas of your life.

Life becomes easier when you are a disciplined person.

You don’t feel out of control.

You’re not constantly disappointing yourself. 

As a result, life becomes easier. 

Have you ever been around a child that has no discipline? Wild, screaming, running through the house, knows no rules. 

And then there’s the child that is disciplined. That knows the rules, that knows what is allowed and what’s not allowed. They’re a joy to be around. 

It resembles our relationship with ourselves.

If we have no rules for ourselves, and we’re just running around like wild children, it’s not fun to be with ourselves. 

Versus when we know what the rules are that we’ve created for ourselves, and we’re honoring them. 

We enjoy our own company.

When we’re disciplined enough to manage our mind and actions, we create amazing results in our lives. 

There’s something that you want to create that you don’t yet have. 

It requires discipline. 

Discipline begins in the mind.

Often, what we try to do, and what we have such a hard time creating change is we try to be disciplined with our actions from a place of fear, from a place of not “enoughness.”

Our thoughts create how we feel. How we feel drives what we do. Or what we don’t do. 

Our best leverage is through changing our thoughts first. Our new thoughts create new feelings. Our feelings drive new actions. 

That’s why discipline begins in the mind.

Discipline is about ease. 

Is it easy to not show up for yourself? 

Is it easy to disappoint yourself day after day? 

To create something you’ve never had, you become someone you’ve never been. 

True discomfort? Dissatisfaction with yourself. 

Ease comes from aligning thoughts, feelings, and actions with what you desire to create. 

That’s what feels like ease. 

It does not feel like ease to say you want something, and then not to show up for it. It does not feel like ease to disappoint yourself day after day.

Discipline is the key to freedom.

Think about what areas of your life that you are already disciplined in: Maybe it’s work. Maybe with your family. Maybe it’s around your hygiene. Maybe it’s in your finances.

Notice what areas of life you’re already disciplined in. And think about what the result of that discipline is. 

Chances are those areas probably have a sense of ease, instead of total chaos. 

Think about the areas of your life you do not practice discipline. And be really honest with what the results are. 

Maybe you are not disciplined around your money. Maybe you overspend. Or maybe you don’t even look at your bank account. As a result, it feels very overwhelming. 

There’s scarcity and fear. When we feel scarcity and fear, it makes us not want to look at it. It makes you not want to be disciplined in that area.

But when you embrace discipline, you create freedom. 

How will show up differently for yourself?

How do you want to feel?

What daily habits do you want to practice? 

What loving rules do you want to put into place to support your desire? 

“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering”

— Dalai Lama XIV