Hey everyone, and welcome to TopThink. Today, we are going to learn about 10 simple habits to build
self discipline. Now, let’s begin.
1. Empowering Choices There are many things in life you cannot change.
You can’t change the way people perceive you. You can’t undo a mistake that’s already been made.
But your choices are always in the palm of your hand.
If you want to build self-discipline, take control of your choices.
You have the power to choose and create your own path in life. If you want to accomplish
new goals or live a different lifestyle, it’s your responsibility to make those changes.
For example, if you want to increase your productivity, you need to make positive
choices that foster efficiency, creativity, and concentration in your daily routine.
But how do you empower yourself to make positive changes? How do you transform your lifestyle,
your relationships, or your career? Every day, challenge yourself to make
one unexpected decision. Eat something out of the ordinary. Drive a different route to work.
Reorganize your morning routine. These unexpected changes remind you
that you are in the driver’s seat. You and you alone control your choices. Sometimes, a small
reminder is all it takes to stimulate a larger transformation in your habits or your lifestyle.
Once you realize how much power you have, you can use that power to change your life for the better.
2. Emotional Triggers Do you find yourself repeating
the same bad habits? Do you fall into the same traps, day after day? To build self-discipline,
you need to recognize the impulses and pitfalls that cultivate your bad habits.
Take a moment to think about when and where you struggle. Do you spend too much money when
you get excited? Do you lose control whenever you get angry? These situations revolve around
an emotional trigger. An emotional trigger is a feeling or a combination of feelings that cause an
impulsive reaction. You may do things you regret. You may spend too much money. You
may say something you don’t mean. Either way, you’re doing something you don’t want to be doing.
It’s important to recognize your emotional triggers before they impact your life.
What makes you feel guilt, shame, or regret? Where do your bad habits come from? These are
important questions to ask yourself on a regular basis. That way, you can identify
your triggers and create a plan of action, which is something we’ll talk about next.
If you want to build self-discipline, start by finding your triggers. Reflect on recent moments
in your life in which you lost control of your decisions. What do these moments have in common?
If you look closely, you may discover one emotion that ties them all together.
3. So-Statements Once you’ve identified your emotional triggers,
try to understand how those emotions interact with your behavior. For example, when you feel sad,
do you watch TV instead of doing your work? When you get angry, do you raise your voice?
From each of these scenarios, you can create something called a so-statement.
A so-statement is a cause-and-effect exercise that helps you identify your destructive habits.
A so-statements sounds something like this: “I feel X, so I do Y.” Using our previous example,
you might say, “I feel sad, so I watch TV” or, “I get angry, so I raise my voice.”
So-statements are simple exercises that anyone can perform, but they have a remarkable impact
on your self-awareness. By acknowledging the areas in which you struggle, you can understand where
your bad habits come from. 4. If-Then Planning
You know what emotions are driving habits and how your emotional triggers affect your behavior.
So, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to change?
Our next exercise gives you an easy and repeatable plan of action.
Using your emotional triggers and so-statements, you’re going to craft something called an
“if-then” statement. An if-then statement sounds like this: “If X happens, then I will do Y.”
The goal of an if-then statement is to re-route your emotional trigger. Instead of engaging
with the same bad habits, you’re going to create a detour, which you can use each time
those negative emotions creep into your life. For example, you might say, “If I get angry,
then I will take three deep breaths.” Instead of raising your voice, like you usually do,
you’re rerouting your emotions into a positive and constructive action. Every time you get angry,
you’ll know exactly what to do, and that gives you control over your emotional triggers.
To build self-discipline, you can use if-then statements for just about anything.
Use them to motivate yourself to accomplish challenging goals.
Use them to overcome bad habits and create good ones. No matter what you’re trying to achieve,
this exercise creates a bridge between your intentions and your actions. That way,
you can actualize your ambitions, control your impulses, and accomplish specific, concrete goals.
5. Short-Term Control Many people struggle with
delayed gratification. For example, we struggle to control our relationship with television,
video games, and social media. If you’re like most people, you may not know how to put your long-term
goals in front of your short-term desires. Luckily, there’s one easy habit you can use
to strengthen your self-control. Pick something you really enjoy, like a TV show or a video game.
If you chose a TV series, force yourself to watch only one episode each day. If
you chose a video game, play only one hour at a time. No matter how badly you want to
watch the next episode or play another game, challenge yourself to control your desires
This exercise teaches you to manage short and long-term rewards. By waiting a week in
between episodes, you’re building patience, self-discipline, and mental fortitude.
Over time, these changes will impact your life on a larger scale. You can moderate bad habits.
You can prioritize larger goals. Above all, you gain control over impulsive, short-term desires.
And that is an invaluable skill. 6. Self-Monitoring
Self-control isn’t black or white. You may avoid something one day…and
engage the next. You may stay disciplined for a couple hours, then surrender to temptation.
Even if you stay disciplined for just fifteen minutes, that is a step in the right direction.
You’re still earning 15 minutes of time you otherwise would have wasted.
To build self-discipline, practice appreciating your progress.
Recognize and reward yourself when you overcome obstacles you’ve never overcome before.
You may fall short. You may not maintain your self-control forever.
But every bit of progress counts. So, keep track of your improvements,
no matter how small. Not only does your progress show you how well you’re doing,
but it’s a greats source of motivation, pushing you toward a more disciplined lifestyle
7. Ego Depletion When you’re learning self-control,
where do you start? What bad habits should you address first? If you want to build
self-discipline, it’s important to be patient with your new lifestyle. Just because you’ve
decided to make changes doesn’t mean those changes are going to happen right away.
This is a trap many people fall into. They want to change their lifestyle,
so they try to discipline every aspect of their lives. They change their exercise routines. They
work for hours and hours. They start a dozen new habits, and they get rid of a dozen more.
The problem is… you only have so much self-control. When you run out of willpower,
you may experience something called ego depletion. In other words,
you lose control of your desires, and your healthy habits fall by the wayside.
To make the most of your self-control, prioritize the things that matter most
to you. Pick two or three areas of your life where you really want to improve.
By narrowing down your options, you can focus your willpower on the activities that matter most.
8. Placebo Willpower Here’s another big problem many people face.
They want to change. They want to build self-discipline, but they don’t believe
in themselves. They might say, “I have no self-control,” or, “I can’t stop myself.”
But these negative phrases will instantly destroy your willpower.
Self-control doesn’t exist unless you believe you have it. You need to have faith in your
ability to overcome personal obstacles, resist temptation, and make good decisions.
If you’re convinced you have no control, guess what? You’re right. You have no control. But if
you maintain a can-do attitude, you’re capable of anything. Because belief is half the battle.
9. Narrowing Motivation Do you ever think about your goals and wonder,
“how could I possibly do this?” Many people worry about how they will
accomplish a goal without asking why. Before you pursue any challenge,
ask yourself, “why is this goal important to me? Why do I want to invest my time and effort
into this opportunity?” The answers to these questions will motivate you moving forward.
Your “why” is the reason you do what you do. If you want to build self-discipline, you need to
find your “why.” Why does this matter to you? Why do you want to create healthy or positive habits?
Don’t waste your time worrying about how something will get done.
Because where there’s a will… there’s a way. 10. Learning Forgiveness
Self-criticism is the enemy of self-control. It’s almost impossible to build self-discipline
if you don’t like, support, and empower yourself to succeed.
If you’re the kind of person who heavily criticizes your mistakes, it’s time to learn how
to forgive. I’m not telling you to let yourself off the hook. I’m telling you to stop trying
to rewrite history. What’s done is done, and no amount of regret is going to undo your failures.
Instead, try to forgive your shortcomings and learn from your mistakes.
Examine each failure as an important lesson, and let those lessons influence your future success.
It may take three or four tries until you find what you’re looking for. You may fail again;
but each time you fail, forgive yourself; otherwise, you won’t have the confidence
or the courage to try again. Thank you for watching TopThink,
and be sure to subscribe, because more incredible content is on the way.