Things that are keeping you from building Self-discipline

 

Many times, I have often observed that I tried to build a healthy routine but somehow I failed in doing so. There are certain reasons behind this and I believe once you understand them, you would also be able to follow a disciplined routine as I have. So let's start with problems that usually occur while we struggle to become disciplined-

1.  Cynicism- A cynical person is inclined to question everything that holds some value and is good. And because nothing in life is perfect, a cynic can always find a flaw in absolutely anything. Once found, the flaw is magnified until it overshadows everything else. A cynical is perfect in find out why any plan, idea or choice is no good and won't work. External cynics such as sarcastic friends, colleagues, relatives can be avoided when you realize their cynicism is contagious. But the inner cynic goes everywhere with you. Its a sound that whispers within, "You can't learn self-discipline from this article." "What has exercise to do with self-discipline?" Why not skip it? All this self-help stuff is a lot of bluff.

And the antidote to this is that you have to keep faith in yourself and not look for perfection. If you are consciously aware of this self-defeat chatter, then know that you are already working on it. It will fade away.

2. Negativism- During the initial attempts to improve self-discipline, you need to maintain a positive attitude. So many times while building a routine, your mind will spotlight negative happenings of your life. It will direct your attention to everything unpleasant about persons, places and things that make your environment. You'll notice yourself saying, "Why bother?" Everyone is doing the same thing. "Why bother?" Nothing would change. Then there is this polluted environment, traffic, annoying people, corrupted government. The planet is dying.

Indeed life is tough and of course you'll die. If you don't have any answer to these questions, the thoughts of negativity would conquer and you'll be defeated again. 

Remember whatever you feed to your mind, it gets stored in there. Be it negative or positive, the brain works like that. It will believe all what you say to it and would find reasons to prove it right. So the antidote here is to look at things with a positive attitude. The glass is half-filled or half-full, it depends on your perspective. You can choose your attitude every time.  

3. Defeatism- Cynicism and Negativism married to each other and they have a baby called Defeatism. After reading all this stuff may be you say to yourself, "Self-discipline is good but it won't work for me." "I am not smart enough to understand this stuff." "How am I going to follow this in this age?" "The right time has passed for me." Feelings of low self-esteem and insecurity would lead you to give up or doing things half-heartedly.

A belief in yourself coupled with self-discipline(which you'll soon develop) is a winning combination. Nothing can stop me must be part of your everyday positive self-talk.  

4. Escapism- Self knowledge is essential part of your life. You admit it or not, there are hell lot of emotions that are suppressed by you because you never tried to listen to yourself. You never spend time with yourself and know yourself deeply on emotional and psychological level. You just try to escape all this because you feel anxious and annoyed when you try to acknowledge what is inside you. These emotional stones are road blocks as to why you are not able to build a disciplined routine in life. You feel discomfort knowing your inner self. You always try to skip this part because you always think that something else is more important than this.

Prioritize your emotional health and through self-introspection you'll get to know yourself better and all the hindrances in your path of disciplined life would be gone because now you know that this is important.

5. Delayism- This is the common thing that we often do in every day life. we tend to procrastinate things. I'll do it later. "Once I get nice shoes, I'll join the gym." Once I'll pay off my bills, I'll do things with full focus. I'll start from Monday. I just don't have time for this. Every person whether you or prime minister of your country has got 24 hours a day. 

Its about what you do in those 24 hours. You'll have to take out the time to actually do things. Things never get completed just by thinking about them, you have to make efforts. You have to go for morning walk or gym to shed some weight. Its about practicality. What you do will make all the difference. You got to learn time management and plan your day.