Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have had a fantastic week thus far. While we are on the topic of taking responsibility in your life, I want to talk about how to build your self-discipline abilities. It is one of the most important things to learn and be able to do throughout your life. You need to be able to take responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
One of the first steps in building self-discipline is understanding that it is your responsibility to practice and know your limits. Learning self-discipline is for you, made by you. You must keep yourself accountable because no one else will do it for you. You also have to know where you need more work, where you exceed, what you want to learn, and what you want to accomplish. Part of building self-discipline is to know where you lack so that you can build those skills. Another necessity is either finding your meaning or revisiting that meaning. What makes you get up and go to work in the morning? I know mine is making a difference in people’s lives, trying to give back, but what about you? When was the last time you revisited why you do what you do? What is the difference you can make in someone else’s life?
Once you have all of these things in mind, you can start understanding where you’ve been, where you are, and where you are going. Do you push yourself to accomplish certain things, or are you coasting, hoping for an opportunity to fall in your lap? Do you have the will to change, can you take responsibility for the things you’ve done, and can you put time and effort into yourself to build the skills you need, like self-discipline?
Putting time into helping yourself, growing as a person, and creating great habits that support your professional and personal life are all ways to take some responsibility in your life. I hope during this next weekend you start taking the time and putting in the effort to improve yourself: for yourself. Remember to check out the video of Admiral McRaven and his commencement address for the University of Texas at Austin in 2014, Make Your Bed, and the podcast for this week, Self Mastery.