Issue 20: Discipline
THE LEAP
BY QUANTUM ORANGE
GROW, EXPAND & EVOLVE
ISSUE 20 | DISCIPLINE
Each week The (Quantum) Leap summarises a key aspect of success into what you need to Think, Feel and Do to create a personal shift.
Only the disciplined are truly free. The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites, and passions.
~ Stephen Covey
THINK
Discipline often has very negative connotations. But in truth, it is discipline that will set you free.
Discipline creates magic.
Research has found that when you learn how to be more disciplined, it positively impacts your mood, assertiveness and conscientiousness with your tasks, whether at work or home.
You can come up with a whole host of fantastic ideas - but if you don’t have the discipline to execute them, you won’t get far.
Discipline not only helps you plan, it will keep you on track and taking action in the areas that matter most. But discipline cannot be forced on you - it’s something you must develop for yourself.
When you develop the discipline to think right, it will give you the discipline to act right. The bonus is when you’re disciplined in your thinking and acting, you will feel good and be inspired to do more.
Choose one thing you are trying to change in your life right now…
Ask yourself, ‘What is the real reason I want to make this change?’
Once you know the answer to that, you can use it to help yourself stay disciplined when you are struggling. This type of big picture thinking assists you in doing the right thing in the moment, for your long term benefit, when you may want to do something else.
Ask yourself, “What is the right thing for me to do to move towards my goals and be the person I most want to be?”
FEEL
Discipline is doing something even if you don’t feel like it, although you will often feel good afterwards.
So you need to cut the link between feelings and actions, and do the thing anyway. The key to making this work is to find ways to link being disciplined with feeling good.
We are all hardwired to do do more of what makes us feel good and less of what makes us feel bad.
Look back at your answer to what the right thing to do is, and ask yourself…
What will be the end result this action will bring me?
How will I feel about this result?
What can I do to link being disciplined with feeling good?
DO
The best way to cultivate discipline is by building habits – starting as small as you can manage, even microscopic, and gathering momentum, reinvesting it in progressively bigger changes to your routine, and building a positive feedback loop.
Go back to the one thing you are trying to change in your life right now.
Pick something you don’t feel like doing that you need to do in order to make this change and work through these questions to develop your ‘discipline muscle’.
Ask yourself:
- What is the right thing for me to do?
- What are my motivations?
- What does my mind want?
- Want do my emotions want?
- What does my body want?
The key is to decide on your goals, actions and behaviours up front. Once you’re in the thick of things, it’s easier to react than respond. But you can respond more effectively if you committed to a decision.
For example, if you wanted to give up chocolate, resisting chocolate cravings may test your willpower. But choosing not to buy chocolate (to remove temptation) is about practising discipline in making a decision up front that anticipates future struggles and supports further discipline.
You can successfully make huge changes by slicing them into incremental, manageable steps. The trick is that the change-resistant troll living in your head doesn’t notice anything big is going on. Resistance increases exponentially with the size of the change, rather than proportionally.
So start with small but consistent things - small steps, big priority on taking those steps.
Want to start exercising more? Take a walk.
Want to eat better? Start by removing the single worst item in your weekly intake - perhaps sweets.
Applying small steps progressively allows you to remain disciplined, and in so doing shapes your thinking, feeling and doing the change becomes a new habit.
