Benefits of Self Discipline and Why It Is Important in Our Lives

In this article, we will discuss the benefits of self-discipline and why discipline is important.

Self-discipline is one of the most important and useful skills everyone should possess. It is an essential and valuable skill in every area of life. However, though most people acknowledge its importance, only a few do something to strengthen it.

Contrary to common belief, building self-discipline does not mean being harsh on yourself or living a limited, restrictive lifestyle. Building this skill requires common sense, making priorities, thinking before acting, and displaying inner strength.

Self discipline means self control, inner strength, and control of yourself and your reactions.

This skill lets you stick to your decisions and follow through without changing your mind. That’s why it is essential for achieving goals and carrying out tasks.

Studies have shown that students with a high degree of this skill retain more knowledge than those without it. This is because they are more persevering and possess the inner strength to focus on their studies.

This skill is essential in business, making decisions, working out, practicing meditation and self-improvement, and achieving goals.

Why Is Discipline Important?

• It enables you to persevere with your decisions and plans until you accomplish them.
• To reach your goals, a good measure of discipline is most helpful.
• It imparts you the ability to persevere.
• Self-discipline is a power that helps you persevere with whatever you do.
• If you wish to follow resolutions, display persistence, single-mindedness, and staying power, you must develop this skill.

With this skill well-developed, it becomes easier to build up good habits and eliminate harmful ones. It also becomes easier to overcome addictions, overeating, procrastinating, and laziness.

You don’t have to feel bad if you currently lack this ability. It is a skill which you can improve with the right exercises.

If you wish to possess more inner strength and stronger willpower, you need to start working on developing your discipline.

A disciplined person is more punctual than others, has the habit of persistence, and is more likely to take control and responsibility for their life. Such a person can set goals and take concrete steps to achieve them.

Self Discipline Benefits and Importance

Being disciplined can help you in many areas of your life.

I want to repeat what I said earlier and mention a few more benefits of being disciplined.

Being disciplined would help to:

1. Avoid acting rashly and impulsively.
2. Carry out your promises and decisions to yourself and others.
3. Break bad habits.
4. Make wise and healthy choices.
5. Overcome the tendency to laziness and procrastination.
6. Improve your ability to concentrate and stay focused when working, reading or studying.
7. Continue working on a project, even after the initial enthusiasm rush has faded.
8. Exercising, going for a walk, or hitting the gym.
9. Continue working on your diet and resisting the temptation of eating fattening foods.
10. It will give you the strength to get out of bed promptly in the morning, even if it is cold.
11. Overcome the habit of watching too much TV.
12. You will confidently meet your tasks and goals and pursue them assiduously.

Accomplishing even a tiny part of this list is an outstanding achievement that can positively affect your life.

It will be easier for you to gain self-discipline if you:

1. Understand its importance in your life.
2. Become aware of your undisciplined behavior and its consequences. When this awareness increases, you will be more convinced of the need to change your life.
3. Make the effort to act according to your decisions. Do so, regardless of laziness or the desire to give up and stop what you are doing.

You can improve your self-discipline with the help of special simple exercises. You can find these exercises in my book on this topic.

How Does Self-Discipline Manifest?

• It manifests as the ability to persevere.
• It is the ability not to give up despite failure and setbacks.
• Disciple manifests as self-control and restraint.
• It is the ability to resist distractions and temptations.
• It manifests as firmness, purposefulness, and self-mastery.
• This skill expresses itself as the ability to try repeatedly until you accomplish your goals.
• It stands for firmness, purposefulness, self-mastery, and single-mindedness.

Life puts challenges and problems on the path to success and achievement. To rise above them, you have to act with perseverance and persistence, and this, of course, requires discipline.

The possession of this skill leads to self-esteem and confidence, and consequently, to happiness and satisfaction.

Lack of Self-Discipline

Lack of self-discipline can lead to failure, loss, spoiling of relationships, health problems, obesity, and unhappiness.

Here are a few examples:

1. You might be unable to resist eating a cone of ice cream while trying to lose weight.
2. Sometimes, you might react in anger or act impulsively, hurting the people you love.
3. Becoming addicted to social media and unable to put your smartphone away for a while?
4. If you lack this skill, you will not be able to persevere with your plans or carry out your decisions.
5. Inability to curb anger.
6. You might hurt your health if you lack the inner strength to exercise your body and stop overeating.
7. Lack of discipline is one other main reason for failure to lose weight.

I believe you now realize how important this skill is for overcoming eating disorders, addictions, smoking, drinking, and harmful habits.

This ability enables you to sit down and study, exercise your body, or develop new skills. It can also help you with self-improvement, spiritual growth, and meditation.

As already said, most people know the importance of discipline, but only some take steps to strengthen it. However, you can strengthen this ability like any other skill. This is done through training and exercises.

How to Be Disciplined

To be disciplined does not mean following other people’s rules of conduct or obeying them. It means acting according to your decisions, common sense, and reason. It means sticking with your plans and not changing them due to laziness and difficulties.

How to become more disciplined? How do you discipline yourself?

The most obvious and direct way to become disciplined is through the practice of suitable exercises. This has been covered extensively in my book on this topic.

Here are a few suggestions to develop your self-discipline:

• Consider your action’s consequences before you act.
• Wait for a few moments before reacting in anger.
• Set small goals and plans that you can carry out during the day. Stick with them until you carry them out, despite the tendency to procrastinate or give up. This will give you, in time, the strength to handle bigger goals and plans.
• In every area of your life, do not give up easily if you encounter obstacles.
• Pay attention to what you are doing instead of thinking about other matters.
• Be courageous enough to get out of your comfort zone.
• When you want to quit, continue for some more time.
• Make small plans for the day, and strive to carry them out.

Start with Simple Small Tasks and Actions

Taking care of big projects is often overwhelming and daunting, but it is easier to tackle small ones. Start with small tasks and goals and carry them out despite inner resistance. This would improve your discipline and self-control and strengthen your confidence and faith in yourself.

You can, for example, take a walk, even if you would rather stay home and watch TV. Choose to cook dinner instead of eating junk food. Invest time cleaning your desk drawers instead of playing with your smartphone.

As in everything in life, practice is most important. Over some time, you will see significant improvement.

You can find many more exercises in our book on this topic.

You might like reading our compilation of Self discipline quotes.

The Book on Willpower and Self-discipline

• Do you wish to have the perseverance to pursue your goal?
• Do you want control over your reactions and habits?

If you do, we highly recommend reading our book Build up Strong Willpower and Self Discipline.

Even a few minutes a day of practicing the exercises in this book would take you far.