The biggest key to unlocking YOUR potential

I hope this isn’t a shocker to anyone but… 

Everything worth having in life comes with a price.  

Self-discipline is the price for unlocking your greatest potential.  Self-discipline is the ability you must have to control and motivate yourself, stay on track and do what is right.   Developing your self-discipline is the key to achieving your best desired results in life.

Self-discipline is defined as the correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement.  It is the ability to control your feelings, overcome weaknesses and temptations to pursue and act on what we think is right and aligned with reaching our potential, priorities and goals.

Are you stopping short of reaching your potential in some or all areas of life because you are not willing to pay the price?

There are 2 types of pain we bring in the world by our actions:

• Short term pains of self-discipline which is eased by doing right and achieving long term results
• The permanent pain of regret of not doing what we needed to do along the way

Self-discipline is all about taking control of the areas of your life that will unlock your greatest potential for success.   In life, there are no such things as accidental achievements.

If you embrace and act on the following 7 truths about self-discipline, greater achievement in all areas of YOUR life are possible.

1. Be fully committed to the journey of unlocking more of YOUR potential for achievement

We must live each day intentionally.   Commitment moves us from good intentions to actions.    We often get caught in the gap between sounding good and actually doing good because the journey is hard and comes with cost. 

When we don’t achieve our potential and desired results, all the best intentions in the world just leave us unfulfilled and lacking joy.  Self-discipline paves the way to results. 

You must change the focus from the cost of what you have to go through to what you are going to!  To take more joy from the journey, you have to be committed to not complaining about the cost and knowing that the cost is what gets you the achievement and results you desire most.

2.  YOU must let go of temporary success for sustained success

Everyone is looking for the quick fix, instant gratification, short-term payoffs.  When you are looking at the quick fix, you will likely quit trying for more, once the pressure is relieved.

If you want to keep unlocking your best life, it is showing up committed day after day after day…   

  “Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not”

Short-term easy or gratifying choices often lead to greater long-term difficulties.   The challenges to stay disciplined that appear to be the toughest often lead us to greater ease in life over the long run.  

 Think of some examples:  

Do we buy trendy clothes today or save for a new car?

Do we enjoy dessert or skip it for your weight loss goals?

Do we yell at someone that makes us angry or work to build a better relationship?

All of the battles are between your emotions and the logic of a long-term view for potential.

The committed mindset to long term results allows you the freedom to experience joy and fulfillment in the journey of knowing you are doing the work to get there.

3. Good habits will serve YOU, not master you

The more clear you become on your values, long term goals and priorities, the easier it is to identify the disciplines needed to get there.   We all have bad habits that don’t support our desired results.  The habits you have make you or break you.  You need to build discipline around the right habits.

First, identify the habits that support your goals and chose the things that are right for you even when we don’t feel like it.

You can only move one direction at a time.  You need to choose the actions that move in the direction of your desired results.    

Second, change your thinking to deliberate, consistent and willful from unintentional, inconsistent and fickle thinking.

Consider the thoughts you need to move forward:

Forward thinking:  

Everything is worth the price
Winning
Preparing
High morale
High self-respect
Purposeful
Fulfilling
Making a difference
Intentional Actions (doing)
Uphill habits
Take responsibility
Take Action
Get Results

 

Backward thinking: 

The price is too high
Losing
Repairing
Low morale
Low self-respect
Aimless
Empty
Not Making a difference
Good intentions (knowing)
Downhill habits
Blame shifting
Make excuses
Procrastinate

 

I know you don’t think everything you want will just come to you in life…  

Self-discipline is the key to taking control of our thoughts and actions and making it happen!

4.  Self-discipline does not just show up, YOU have to develop it

By now, we can all agree that the lack of discipline restricts your potential.    So how do you  develop this key to reaching new results in your life?

Grow your self-awareness around new habits and behaviors that will serve your long term goals.  We all have blind spots, be open to receive feedback from self or others.

Avoid temptations that don’t line up with your long-term results.   (Think… take the Oreos out of the house if you are trying to lose weight!)

Be very thoughtful about matching your best energy each day to what priorities matter most to you.

Pay now, play later!  We need to appreciate that everything we do daily for the long-term results will compound your achievements.  It’s true in our health, wealth and relationships

5. Self-discipline is most easily developed in areas of YOUR strength and passion

What you love and what you are good at, point you to unlocking your best self and best life. 

Self-discipline is fueled by motivation and inspiration.   What you do well inspires yourself and others.  Motivation is a by-product of passion and things that bring you joy.

If you try to develop self-discipline where you are not aligned with your gifts or passion, it can feel overwhelming and frustrating.    Start in your strengths.  Sometimes we need to supplement support for our weaknesses.

6. Respect is the fruit of YOUR disciplined life

Self-discipline leads to achievement, results and reaching our potential.  All of these outcomes boost our pride, self-esteem, self-confidence and personal satisfaction.  You respect yourself more for paying the price to get the results.   Consider a disciplined parent, composer or author or losing weight.   Self-discipline is its own reward!

7. Self-discipline leads to consistency and consistency compounds YOUR results

The world is captivated by bursts of charisma, genius, excitement, creativity and innovation but consistency provides so many long-term benefits:

• Consistency establishes your reputation. Anybody can be good once!
• Consistency is a prerequisite to excellence
• Consistency provides security to others
• Consistency reinforces your vision and values
• Consistency compounds accomplishments
• Consistency allows you to make your impact in the world

NOW:  Let’s get into 20 specific simple strategies for developing greater self-discipline.   

You do not need to implement them all at once.  However, implementing even a few of these strategies will bring about major shifts in your own capacity for self-discipline.

1. HALT - Do not try to add new habits or rely on your will power when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.  Do whatever you can to support yourself with good nutrition, sleep and exercise for well-being that supports self-discipline.

2. Focus on results NOT your excuses: Challenge your own excuses and solve with identifying the behaviors and habits that focus on the results you truly want.

3. Expect to tolerate discomfort: Delayed gratification  comes with dome discomfort. As we mature, we learn to tolerate a level of discomfort in order to achieve a greater goal.

4. Plan Ahead: Make choices in advance to avoid bad choices in the midst of decision fatigue or overwhelm. 

5. Remove not resist:  Don’t rely on resisting temptations, remove them as much as possible

6. Stop the sloth: STOP doing things that don’t move you toward your goals.

7. Small and Consistent: choose some small habits and get consistent first before committing to big results.    Write for 10 minutes a day if you want a book!

8. Improve your Focus: Focus is a skill you can build.   Try setting a timer and working exclusively on one thing for a set period of time that you think would be a challenge.

9. Make it about the result, not the pain: Walk, talk and think about the result you want, no the pain of the journey and discipline. 

10. It’s just what I do and who I am! Practice claiming the habit that you are trying to build until it is “just what you do”.   Example:  “I am a healthy eater”

11. Measure it! Measuring progress is a powerful way to motivate yourself to improve.  Remember, you are measuring your progress against your past self, not anyone else.

12.  Do the hard things first - Once you decide on the daily habit that is the most challenging, get it out of the way as early in the day as you can.

13. Start with one - Tell yourself you only need to do one small thing to get started. Likely,  you'll end up adding quicker than you think.

14. You are in control – YOU only need permission from YOU. Building self discipline means that you will need to learn how to find that approval within yourself.

15. Prep the team - A support system of people who believe in you can be incredibly value when you are improving your own self-discipline and striving toward a difficult goal.

16. Budget Your Energy, Not Your Time – Consider what energizes you and when the most productive time of the day for your consistent actions will be.

17. Check the box - Some days will be easier, just keep doing what you committed to do, whether you feel like it or not.  Keep checking the box!

18. Fail forward - If you fall off the plan, learn and reassess and do different next time.

19. Enjoy the ride - When a behavior becomes habit, we get to stop using our decision-making skills and instead enjoy expending less time and energy to make the right decision.

20. Don’t miss twice - If miss you your committed habit once, don’t miss again.  The odds of not sticking with it are greater if you miss successively.

  "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar :)

It is so important to develop the self-disciplined person within you.  It is a such huge key to unlocking YOUR potential to be your best self and have your best life.  

I want to encourage you... . Just start somewhere.   

What values, beliefs, passions, purpose and dreams are not getting the attention and results you want to unlock in your life?

Define the results you want, identify the habits and behaviors that will move you toward your desired outcomes.

Develop the self-discipline to keep showing up and doing the work to unlocking YOUR best life!

DON'T LOOK BACK, YOU ARE NOT GOING THAT WAY! 

On today's #tuesdaywithtammy.  I taught with more examples of how to own the truth of self-discipline and these 20 strategies for developing greater self-discipline.

You can watch the FULL 30 minute video teaching  by visiting our Unlocking YOUR Best Life facebook page  

The video is titled  The biggest key to unlocking YOUR potential 11/05/19

When YOU begin to implement any of these strategies to develop self-discipline that lasts, you unlock the results YOU desire most in life!

You are worth it!   

I hope to see you soon. 

Always with hugs, Tammy

JOIN ME every week for our FB LIVE chat on #tuesdaywithtammy at 12:00 noon cst on our Unlocking YOUR Best Life facebook page  

If you can’t join us LIVE, you can always catch a replay posted on the FB page or on YouTube later in the week.  Y’all know, I’m a people person. I really love when you show up with some input or just to listen.  Of course, I will check and respond to comments on the replays too!

 

 ps.  Did you know that A FREE 40 minute Life Strategy Session  with me could provide some keys for unlocking more of your best life?

Sign up today so we can chat about what matters most to YOU.  No obligation, just 40 minutes to talk challenges and strategies for YOUR new results  :)

  

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