Smart but Scattered Teens: The “Executive Skills” Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential – R

Walter explains that one of the biggest threats to self-discipline is acting on your impulses without thinking—most commonly, giving into temptations and instant gratification. However, if you can identify your weaknesses and determine strategies to overcome them, you’ll be able to strengthen your self-discipline and engage in productive behavior. However, while Walter focuses on building positive associations to replace old ones that cause unproductive behaviors, this might not be enough to completely override the original negative association. To ensure that your old associations are completely undone and replaced by new, positive ones, Robbins recommends taking a few additional steps: She committed herself to completing one short film every month thereafter. She soon grew a reputation for being one of the speediest and most knowledgeable directors in the business. A scant three years later, one of her short films was entered into a film festival competition, something she never even dreamed about when she was just starting out. While she didn’t win any prizes, she still gained recognition and began to be able to support herself through her childhood dream of directing.By delving into root causes, Dr. Neil Fiore invites his readers to get a better grasp of their unique difficulties and deal with them in the most appropriate way. The words we say to ourselves, whether spoken or not, are very powerful. They may change how we perceive ourselves and how successful we may become. This explains why using the term "try" might prevent us from realizing our goals and limit our level of self-discipline.

The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit – Amy Johnson PhD and Mark Howard PhD If you commit to customers to deliver a product by a particular day, do all you can to ship your products on time. Or let people know, "It'll be ready, when it's ready." For Every Disciplined Effort, A Multiple RewardMorning routines: Start your day with a consistent morning routine that sets a positive tone for the day. This could include activities such as exercise, meditation, journaling, or reviewing your daily goals. By beginning each day with intention and focus, you can cultivate discipline and create a strong foundation for success. Like Walter’s method, the Pomodoro Technique recommends that you set a timer for 10 minutes (or longer) when you feel the urge to procrastinate. However, whereas Walter doesn’t specify what you should do in that 10-minute time span, the Pomodoro method says to fill that time by doing something productive. Many experts believe engaging in productive behaviors during these 10 minutes will make you more likely to continue to be productive afterward and less likely to give in to instant gratification and other temptations. To override bad habits that weaken your ability to self-discipline, Walter recommends developing the following good habits: Habit #1: Create Morning and Evening Routines Walter explains that big goals are daunting and can lead to inaction if they seem too lofty—and as previously discussed, failing to take active steps toward your goals is a bad habit that weakens your ability to self-discipline. To avoid inaction, clearly identify your goals and create a plan of action for accomplishing them. Your plan will consist of the numerous daily tasks and sub-goals that must be fulfilled before you can achieve your larger goal.

Shortform note: Experts agree that mindfulness and meditation are two of the most impactful practices for increasing self-discipline because they give you control over your emotions and impulses. These practices also indirectly improve self-discipline by increasing sleep quality and alleviating stress. One of the best meditation techniques to help beginners develop mindfulness and awareness of their emotions is “noting:” recording the thoughts, feelings, and urges you’re experiencing in a given moment. For example, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by impulses, record the experience. This will help you realize that impulses are just thoughts to overcome.) Habit #6: Fully Commit to Your GoalsDelaying gratification: Practice delaying gratification by setting smaller, short-term goals that lead to your larger objectives. By achieving these incremental milestones, you can build your capacity for self-control and develop the discipline required for long-term success.

Walter explains that one of the best ways to develop mindfulness is to get into the habit of meditating. Over time, meditation allows you to be more mindful more often. It also produces many benefits that are directly linked to the ability to self-discipline, such as focus, rational decision-making, and delaying instant gratification. Finally, Walter explains that we set unrealistic expectations by underestimating the amount of time and effort it takes to reach our goals. When we neglect to put the necessary time and effort into our endeavors, we’ll likely fail to reach our goals. This failure discourages us from continuing to work toward our goals in the future, crippling our ability to self-discipline. It considers the roles of mindfulness, nutrition, mindset, and self-compassion in self-discipline, and includes practical advice regarding productivity, habits, and procrastination. In Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins agrees that rewiring your negative associations (what he calls negative neuro-associations) is crucial to engaging in productive behaviors, or in other words, practicing self-discipline. If you allow negative associations with necessary activities like work to persist, you’ll struggle to get anything done.When we’re more focused on our goals than on the system we use to achieve them, we’re likely to fail. It is easy to set a goal, but the chance to achieve these goals is small if we do not have the right system - a set of good behavior, thoughts, and beliefs that will keep us motivated. During learn time, Rosa methodically studied how to write a script, assemble a plot, and what methods renowned directors used to get the shots they wanted. During practice time, she experimented with different shots and angles, wrote a few scenes, and changed perspectives and storylines to see which ones worked the best. No more was she spending hours watching commentary of old movies she’d seen hundreds of times before. And no more was she letting her equipment gather dust in the closet for fear of not being able to use it correctly. For a while, Rosa was brimming with energy and enthusiasm at finally doing something about a dream she had held for so long. Being clear about your goals and breaking them down into daily actions will make it easier for you to practice self-discipline, and it’ll make you more likely to succeed. This is because you’ll know exactly what needs to get done and when, so you can hold yourself accountable.