Proven Ways to Develop Self Discipline While Working Remotely
Self discipline is a critical component of achieving success. Developing this component is not an easy challenge. No matter you’re trying to improve your health or do better at work – there is always going to be resistance that disturbs you from being disciplined.
This concept looks especially relevant when you work remotely. This is about the case when, in addition to your own lack of organization, many external factors interfere. For example, a full fridge in the kitchen, household chores, social networks, or even the bright sun outside the window. How to ignore all these factors and remain disciplined, working hard?
What is Self Discipline?
Self discipline means the ability to do what you should be doing. It often about putting off your wishes or any immediate comfort in favor of long-term success.
You endure the short-term discomfort of 6:00 a.m. in a gym before your work just because want to be physically fit, right? That’s true as you want to get the long-term benefits of being healthy and feeling great. In most cases, self-discipline gives us the ability to overcome our emotions by moving forward with physical action.
In business reality, there are many ways and tactics to help you become more self-disciplined – creating rules, setting priorities, seeking external motivators, etc. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, however, you should try and find what will work right for you.
Self-discipline should be always developing in both personal life and at work. Often, it requires strong motivation, grit, willpower, and many other mental traits. In this post, we try to define some vivid ways and steps you can make to boost your self-discipline.
“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”
Stephen Covey
The Power of Habits
Developing the right habits will help to improve discipline in our lives. However, is it always possible to define how are they developed?
Unfortunately, in many cases when we try to change our habits, we only follow through for so long before we give up and revert to our old ways. It directly relates to the neural pathways that have been etched in our brains.
Neural pathways link up neural networks to perform a specific function, for example, smoking a cigarette or waking up because of the alarm clock. These pathways help to automate human behavior that’s constantly repeated in an effort to reduce conscious-processing power in the mind. So our mind focuses on other things that might be going on.
The neural pathways are getting deeper over time and it becomes hard to break bad habits or form good ones. However, if you add some useful habits into your life, you’ll find that disciplining yourself becomes much easier.
Where to find motivation?
Of course, the initial question here is “How to motivate yourself to start?” Most people do not want to think about the lack of discipline, let alone take a bunch of actions.
Being wholly undisciplined can cause yourself a bunch of pain. And when you realize that you’re hurting yourself, you may develop an intention to stop it. Luckily, there are some reliable ways that may help you to be more disciplined.
8 Proven Steps to Gain Self Discipline
1. Hide tempting irritants
Out of sight, out of mind! These words are really true and relevant to this situation. No matter you are trying to have better control of your eating or studying new programming language, – removing all distractions and temptations is an essential first step when working to optimize your self-discipline.
There are some simple rules that may help. For example, turn off your cell phone and remove the clutter from your desk – all to improve your focus while working. Download a special app to block distraction websites such as YouTube or social media pages. Ditch all bad influences and set yourself up for success.
2. Visualize your goals
Writing down your goals will help you to achieve them more likely. The act of writing down your goals will force you to visualize every, define the way how to achieve it, and find the steps you need to take to get there.
So, try to thoroughly identify your goals and write them down before you set out to become the best version of yourself. The concept of SMART goals setting will help you to succeed.
3. Make decisions in advance
Good preparation is a part of success. If you are aimed to become more self-disciplined about food, try to skip advertisements for junked food and try to always eat just half of the sandwich.
If you want to be more attentive during daily meetings, leave your phone or a laptop at your desk and do not grab them with you.
It is about making decisions before the situation presents itself and you’ll find it a lot easier to remain steadfast in the face of temptation.
4. Eat regularly and improve your diet
It is not a secret that erratic eating and unhealthy food often weakens a person’s resolve. Your ability to concentrate suffers when you are hungry. The brain is not functioning well. You can not focus on current tasks and start to be grumpy and pessimistic. If you have no balance in eating, you are more likely to have a weakened sense of self-control in all areas of life.
To improve this, make sure that you are well-fueled throughout the day. Add healthy snacks and meals every few hours. Try to have a dose of healthy protein and fats timely. You will see that eating can regulate your blood sugar levels and improve your decision making skill.
5. Change your normal routine
This change can be awkward and uncomfortable but this is the right step to improving your self discipline. When your usual behavior becomes a habit, you stop using your decision-making skill. Instead, you function on auto-pilot.
Losing a bad habit and acquiring a useful one requires us to make active decisions. The brain will resist such change for sure. It will take a while for your new regime to feel good and natural. Take some time and you will definitely face the result.
6. Make lists
Improving your self-discipline, you should care about what you need to do and then doing it. Starting your day with a list of tasks that are needed to be accomplished is a good way to work on it.
This list may contain everything from checking business emails to purchasing goods in a grocery store. Checking and managing the items on the list can help you towards developing self-discipline.
Luckily, today you no more need paper and pens to list all your plans and challenges as there are numerous trusted to do list applications that can assist you to get all things done. Check them out and choose the most appropriate tool for your own needs and requirements.
7. Plan breaks and practice self-rewards
Self discipline does not mean your new approach regimen needs to be bulletproof. The lack of wiggle room can often result in failure. So do not forget to plan breaks and rewards for yourself while practicing self-control.
8. Forget your own mistakes and keep moving forward
Developing a new approach will not always go according to plan. You will probably have ups and downs, successes, and failures. However, do not hesitate to move forward.
Analyze all setbacks and move on. Anger and frustration will not help, and will not forward you to improve self discipline. Forgive yourself for mistakes and get back to your plan as soon as possible. The longer you’re off the plan, the harder it is to keep going in the right direction.
The only thing we should add and highlight is that self-discipline is a practice. Working remotely or performing in the office, you will not have a chance to be perfect every day. What’s important is showing up every day ready to try. So, are you ready to become more disciplined? What changes are you going to make today?
