As more and more people move away from the traditional style of corporate work and move into an embraced environment of remote employment, and more so, self-employment, whole other levels of challenges become apparent that were not so apparent in the traditional work-place environment. Communication skills now need to be refined to compensate for the limited face-to-face interaction, and many professional relationships are now developed via online mediums such as Skype, Messenger, Whatsapp, Slack and so on.

And the boom of the entrepreneur has seen a large amount of people leaving the traditional workplace and leaving the safety of the corporate company to forge their own way in the world of business, embracing work-from-home practises, co-working spaces, and seeking out hubs all over the world as is seen in the rising trend of the ‘digital nomad’.

One of the greatest challenges I think facing this whole new breed of entrepreneurs and remote workplace employees is the art of self discipline. Coming from a time when the catch cry of my generation was ‘if it feels right do it’, (or the reverse if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it), this phrase can be a hard pill to swallow. And our natural inclination is to ease ourselves away from this conversation altogether to go and eat another donut and check Instagram or Snapchat for the thirtieth time today.

Let’s look at how this phrase is defined:

“the ability to control one’s feelings and overcome one’s weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it.”

“discipline and training of oneself, usually for improvement”

“the ability to make yourself do things you know you should do even when you do not want to”

 Self-Discipline is therefore the number one key to success in any area of your life. Read as many self-help books as you like, there is no escaping this one.

If you want to be successful in both business and life, you need to learn the art of mastering yourself.

To be a success in both business and life, you need to learn the art of mastering yourself. Click To Tweet

Self discipline refines your skills, focusses your attention, enhances your positive character traits, increases productivity and leads to great personal freedom and success.

Master your Thoughts and Emotions

Emotions are like the weather – inconsistent, unreliable and generally incongruent with your overall plan. To begin we need to recognize that emotions are complex reactions to physiological and environmental changes that occur on a daily basis. Chemical reactions that happen in your brain that can easily affect your decisions, motivations, temperament, mood and personality. So even the types of foods we eat, the amount of sleep we get, and the amount of water we drink can severely affect how we ‘see the world’. In fact, a lot of issues that people suffer from possibly stem from the simple neglect of just not drinking enough water. Have a look at this:

“Dehydration causes your brain to shut down and not run at full speed. Some of the mental symptoms of dehydration include brain fog, afternoon fatigue, focus issues, depression, anger, emotional instability, exhaustion, headaches, sleep issues, stress, and a lack of mental clarity and acuity. Studies have shown that if you are only 1 percent dehydrated, you will likely have a 5 percent decrease in cognitive function.” (Source: http://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/water-and-brain.html)

Mastering your emotions is no small feat. But the beginning of wisdom is knowledge, and so begin to recognize how your emotions are affecting your work life, your relationships, your overall view of life and the world around you. Very few people these days actually review themselves from an objective point of view. To be able to grow and form yourself into your full potential, you need to be able to self-appraise.

Thoughts and emotions are often strongly intertwined. I am no psychologist, but some moments of self-reflection have shown me that most times my emotional state of being has stemmed from the allowance of seed thoughts to grow in my mind – both positive and negative. We have the ability to control this and I believe this is the first step towards self-discipline.

Recognize thought patterns and continually make decisions to direct them towards beneficial outcomes.

Habits are tied up in all of this too. Habits are an extension of our thoughts that are allowed to become actions, over and over again.

When it comes to stimulating thought-patterns, have a look at what you are feeding your mind. Who are you listening to, what are you reading, even the kind of music you chill out to can affect your thoughts and emotions. What food are you eating?

Alcohol has a severe affect on your efforts towards self-discipline, and we all nod our head in agreement here! But it is also a depressant and following a binge session on the weekend, this will cause you to feel flat and unmotivated for days.

 

The End Goal is Key to Self-Discipline

Self-discipline must have something to work to. Without a vision, a goal to focus on, you will lose the vitality and energy that drives you and makes you feel alive. Self-discipline is thrown out the window when the vision cannot be seen or is unachievable.

“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint” – Proverbs 29:18, The Bible

Write a list today of why you need to be more self-disciplined and which areas you want to improve on. Even writing the list may take some focus on your behalf, but it is a very good place to start. Set yourself a limit to how much you are going to write. 10 points. 10 reasons why you need to be more self-disciplined – what you are aiming to achieve by mastering your self. Perhaps it is self-discipline with your finances so that you can take the trip overseas your have been dreaming about. Perhaps it is writing 2 blog posts per week to help stimulate your business marketing efforts or improve your writing skills. Perhaps it is managing your time better to be more productive and therefore produce more profitable results. Perhaps it is changing your eating habits and sticking to a fitness routine…

Divide your goals into the various parts of your life: your career, your health, your money, your relationships, your time. This will help you to focus your efforts and recognize the ‘needs work’ areas.

Take a snap shot of where you are currently in all of these areas so that you have something to measure your progress against.

Review your goals. It is often much easier to write these things down than to discipline yourself to come back and review them after a set period of time. 1 week is a good measurement. I have started doing this with my finances, and each time I come to review the week, I groan and moan, but then feel liberated once I see the progress I have made. This moment of review also inspires me to set fresh new goals for the following week, and thus encourages me to continue to develop good habits of self-discipline.

Some thoughts for motivation: 

Self-discipline leads to greater productivity and therefore oftentimes greater personal satisfaction

Self-discipline is like learning to walk – at first you will fall over and hurt your knees. Have a little cry and then pick yourself up and try again (it gets easier).

Self-discipline is a learned practice, so the more you do it, the better you get at it.

Boundaries are an essential part of developing good self-discipline practices. Without boundaries and measurements there will be no refinement of behavior.

Self-discipline actually leads to more freedom. It helps you break through feeling stuck, stagnant, frustrated and effective in your life.

Your lazy, emotional, unrestrained self will never feel like doing the tasks that will help you move forward. Recognise this and accept it. Move past it. I never ‘feel’ like going for a run, but always love the feeling afterwards. Our weak human nature will always in the early stages just ‘feel’ like sitting on the couch with a bucket of ice-cream watching movies all day. But the difference between those who are succeeding and those who are not is the decision they made to move past their feelings and do the hard work that is necessary, including mastering themselves.

 “To master the world, you must first learn to master yourself.” 

Photo Credit: Clem Onojeghuo