There’s always someone who has that stellar discipline, someone who appears organized and energized at all times. They resist temptation. Know that these disciplines are developed, refined methods of controlling themselves better, while using them more fluently.
They display instances of remarkable self discipline not because they have stores of it, but because they’ve developed how to use what they’ve got better, more effectively. What most of us have is a habit of getting distracted, bored, and then begin wasting time.
We can easily end up spending a couple hours a day surrendering to these distracting desires, to get sidetracked, and at the end of the day we wonder where all that time went.
So the idea is to find out how those extremely high energy, self disciplined individuals manage their time, do differently, and then emulate them.
Manage Better Self Control
What we think is we have a limited capacity of mental energy when it comes to self control. The more decisions that we make during the day, the more that it taxes our brain, then it begins to take shortcuts.
We get tired, we get impulsive and reckless. We then begin making decisions that we shouldn’t make, but can’t help or stop ourselves. We expire our mental energy, and then do the wrong things.
So the fewer options that we limit ourselves to, we can then make the right more efficient choices, this to make the right decisions.
Having too many choices becomes the enemy of self discipline. Think of all the decisions which requires willpower, and then take the willpower out of the equation.
Decide What To Do Beforehand
It’s recommended that you prioritize your most important decisions which are pending, and then decide what to do the night before. It’s best to plan and decide ahead, so you won’t be faced with making that decision at the moment it comes up. So plan accordingly.
Make these decisions when you’re not stressed out, this to make the proper most logical choice. Doing so will also preserve your willpower and self discipline. So the night before, choose what you’ll wear for that big presentation the next day.
Decide to take as many decisions as you can off the board beforehand, and then execute them first thing in the morning, which will then allow you to conserve your energy and be ready for all the unexpected ones which will invariably pop up.
Doing Your Most Difficult Tasks First
What we have is our maximum capacity of mental energy and wits first thing in the morning. Our minds are at its peak, most favorable and alert to make the best decisions. Then once mid morning drags into lunch, our discipline begins to wane.
As the day grows on, we’re affected by various factors, we get mentally tired and begin to experience decision fatigue. So the best is to make all the critical decisions early to set up the day, and then make sure that you stick to the plan.
Those with self discipline will perform their most pressing things as soon as possible. So decide what those issues are, and then have a plan to attack them and follow through.
Keep Your Body Fueled
Although we all start out strong, the decision making process will usually begin to bounce up and down as the day progresses. The reason being that we need to refuel our bodies properly by taking breaks.
It’s found that incidences and awareness of better decision making peaks right after taking a break, this by taking a short walk, having a beverage, or eating something.
Right after lunch, before the mid afternoon lull, the likelihood of making better decisions increases and usually spikes upwards. The same applies directly after the mid morning coffee break.
The reason for this is because it’s found that glucose influences our willpower. Although the brain doesn’t stop working once the glucose levels are low, what it does is it stops a few functions, forcing us to lose focus and get distracted.
It begins to respond stronger to immediate rewards while paying less attention to outcomes which are of longer term. So make sure that you eat healthy meals and snacks. Doing so makes you feel better while allowing you to make better decisions.
Bridging Longer Term Goals
If you have a habit of easily getting distracted, check your email or Facebook account every few minutes, have the discipline to turn them off or set specific times you can check them.
You’re wanting more sales, you’re wanting to expand your company, but if you’re tired mentally, drained of motivation, it becomes easy to get distracted, rationalize, and not do your best.
What having mental fatigue does is it becomes a distraction, it convinces you to take the easy way out, even though you know this easy way is the wrong way of doing things, and that you’re being lazy.
So always have tangible reminders which keeps you on track from straying towards the impulsive. Some will have a picture of their kids as a reminder to keep them grounded, and why they do what they do.
Give yourself constant reminders, visible cues on why you need to remain focused. Post a photo of how much weight you’ve lost, which reminds you of how far you’ve come, and the reason why you need to stay on track.
Think of the times during the day when you’re the most vulnerable and likely to surrender to impulse, and then jolt yourself. Use the visible tangible reminders to intercept those bad impulses.
You can always create better ways to reconstructing and reworking your immediate environment, this to increase your ability to stay sharp, then you won’t need to rely on willpower at all.