When your boss gives you a task or a project to carry out, you might not like it, but you do it to keep your job.
When you are given an assignment at school or college, you might postpone it, but ultimately, you need to do it.
It is different when you promise yourself to do something. In this situation, there is no authority figure telling you what to do. You do not have a boss or a teacher telling you what do. It is you telling yourself. In this situation, it is so easy to procrastinate or forget the matter.
To do what you tell yourself to do, you need discipline. Words without discipline lead nowhere. Most people do not carry out what they tell or promise themselves to do. Without discipline and self-control, what you tell yourself to do, you will most often not do.
Discipline Means Doing What You Say or Promise
Self-discipline means telling yourself what to do and doing it right away or at an appointed time without procrastinating.
- Do you tell yourself that tomorrow you are going to start a diet, but the next day, you postpone your decision for another day?
- Do you promise yourself to start exercising, but you never start?
- Are you often promising yourself to act in a certain way but never change your behavior?
- Do you promise yourself to carry out a certain task but then find yourself looking for excuses not to do what you promised yourself to do?
If you are acting in this way, it means that you lack self-discipline and inner strength.
It also means a lack of inner strength.
This means that you do not value your words and your promises.
How can you make real changes, improve your life, or progress in anything if you never stand by your words?
Let me repeat:
- Discipline means telling yourself what to do, giving yourself tasks and goals, and carrying them through without procrastination and without looking for excuses to avoid them.
- Self-discipline is the power that enables you to be a doer. It enables you to act and carry out tasks despite difficulties and obstacles. It means stickiness and not giving up.
- Self-discipline means the strength and courage to leave your comfort zone.
Can you tell yourself to do something, carry out a task, or pursue a goal, and stand by your decision?
Can you do what you decided to do promptly and without laziness, excuses, or procrastination?
If you can, that is great, but if you cannot, it is the time to start learning to do so.
Why discipline is important? This is obvious. If you wish to be a doer and achiever, improve your life, make progress at your job, or achieve goals, you need this important skill. To learn more about the benefits, read my article Self-Discipline Benefits and Importance.
The title of this article you are reading now describes this skill concisely, in just a few words: “Self-discipline means telling yourself what to do and doing it”. Think about this sentence, and find out how and where you can apply it in your life.
I have written about this skill in many of my articles as we as in my book, Build up Strong Willpower and Self Discipline, where I explain what this skill is, and offer guidance and exercises, suitable for everyone.
Motivational Discipline Quotes
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
– Jim Rohn
“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day, lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”
– John Maxwell
“Discipline is being able to force yourself to do something, in spite of how you feel, over and over until it becomes a habit.”
– Kim Brennrman
“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
– Dalai Lama XIV
“You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself.”
– Jim Whittaker
“No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.”
– William Penn
“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.”
– Clint Eastwood
