What is Self-Discipline and How to Strengthen It?

We are busy directing and managing our employees, but are we directing or managing ourselves correctly? Elon Musk, one of the co-founders of PayPal and Tesla Motors, sleeps six hours a day at most. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, wakes up at 4:30 every morning and goes for a walk with his dogs. British investor and businessman Richard Branson wakes up at 5 every morning and exercises. Elon Musk He devotes several hours a day to reading books, and Mark Zuckerberg states in his interviews with the press that he sets himself the goal of finishing a book every two weeks.

What makes these people get out of bed early in the morning and read books regularly, even though they are highly educated? Why do medal-winning athletes train five or six hours a day and use their willpower to avoid unhealthy foods?

People who have achieved what they wanted in life and achieved their dreams have one thing in common: Have self-discipline. Self-discipline is the ability to not give up in the face of difficulties in achieving the goal. always moving forward and the ability to show determined behavior on the way to the goal. These people can focus on the goals they set themselves without the pressure of others and continue these behaviors consistently. “What does waking up early in the morning or exercising have to do with self-discipline?” If you ask, we can actually say that this is more the ability to delay pleasure. The abilities we call self-control and self-regulation, which enable a person to control his desires and impulses, play a very critical role in having self-discipline.

Delay of Gratification and Willpower

The Marshmallow Test, which was applied for the first time in the world by Walter Mischel at Columbia University in 1970, examined the relationship between delaying pleasure and academic success. Children aged between four and five were taken to the observation room and given a piece of candy, and they were told that they could eat the candy now if they wanted, or they could get another candy if they waited 15 minutes. Children who passed this test and were able to delay gratification were more successful academically than those who could not delay gratification and received higher scores on exams such as the SAT.

So how does this situation affect our lives? Let’s assume it’s Monday and you’ve started a diet. For your health, this time you are very determined to stick to the list given by your doctor. During your lunch break, your colleagues suggest you go to a newly opened pizzeria around the corner. While a voice inside you says, “What will happen once, dear, you can start a diet after pizza?”, while the other voice says, “Use your will, your health is more important.” Which sound do you usually listen to? Do you choose to be healthy in the long term by postponing the pleasure you will get from pizza for the moment, or do you focus on the pleasure you will get from pizza? Being able to give up momentary pleasures for long-term goals and not getting off track is closely related to having self-discipline.

don’t reward yourself

We make decisions regarding our behavior in every aspect of our lives, and sometimes we act recklessly in this process. In his book Behave, Robert Sapolsky mentions that genes, hormones, evolution, social and physical environment, past experiences, the context of the event and other factors play a role in every decision we make. The dopamine we release when choosing between pizza (immediate reward) and a healthy menu (delayed reward) is sent to different places in our brain.

When we think of pizza (immediate reward), dopamine is sent to limbic targets in the brain (emotional brain), while when we focus on the healthy menu, it goes to frontal cortical targets in the brain (logical and rational brain). This directly affects our decisions, such as eating salad for lunch instead of pizza or spending time on social media instead of finishing the work at hand. In fact, our brain is fighting a great war within itself when it comes to willpower. So how does our brain decide how much dopamine to release to which part? The brain makes decisions based on how satisfying the reward is and how long it will take.

For example, if I told you that you will receive 5 thousand Turkish liras today or tomorrow, when would you prefer to receive this award? Of course today. However, if I told you that if you wait until tomorrow you will receive 10 thousand Turkish liras, you would probably prefer to wait until tomorrow. What if I told you that if you wait until tomorrow, you will receive 5 thousand 10 Turkish liras? In this case, you probably want to receive the money today.

Changing reward amount and time have such an impact on the decisions we make. Therefore, one of the best ways to develop self-discipline is to break your long-term goals into smaller goals and give yourself rewards when you achieve each small goal. For example, if you are working on a project that spans six months, you can reward yourself as you complete the project steps and take a weekend getaway. By dividing your daily agenda into hours, you can take a short break after allocating an hour to answer your e-mails.

Simple Decisions That Improve Willpower

The use of willpower plays an important role in the development of self-discipline. It is actually possible to start developing willpower with small decisions. Sometimes simple decisions help us stay out of some comfort zones that we get stuck in because we are lazy. I’m talking about simple actions like taking a cold shower in the morning, using the stairs instead of the elevator at work, or watching an English movie without subtitles even though we have difficulty. In fact, these decisions, which seem simple, enable neurons to connect with each other and create pathways, that is, neurological pathways, in our brain to improve our will power. As repeated behaviors turn into habits, we become able to use this pathway we have opened for willpower in our other choices.

Making the Target an Identity

Steven Spielberg, who made the most acclaimed films in the history of cinema, was 12 years old when he decided to become a director. Spielberg won his first award at the age of 13 for his 40-minute war film titled “Escape to Nowhere.” Antony Robins tells a story about him in his book Unlimited Power.

“At the age of 17, he joined a tour to visit Universal Studios. At one point, after leaving the group and watching the shooting of a real movie, he burst into the Editor-in-Chief’s office and chatted with him about cinema. The next day, Spielberg put on his suit, grabbed his briefcase with a sandwich and two candies, and went back to the Universal Movie Set. It was like he was acting like a set worker. He found himself an abandoned trailer and had ‘Steven Spielberg, Director’ written on the door in plastic letters.”

Self-discipline is also the power to influence ideas. It is the ability to take things from thoughts and realize them through actions and tangible results. What Spielberg did was actually name his dream. People with high self-discipline begin to make their goals a part of their identity.

In order to have an emotionally healthy approach to self-discipline, your choices must be in harmony with your emotions, rather than against them. You may have heard of people who started smoking again 10 years after quitting. These people cannot succeed because they try to fight the feeling of deprivation that the idea of ​​quitting smoking gives them. However, when your choices become an identity, you say “I don’t smoke anymore” to someone who offers you a cigarette, instead of “I’m trying to quit smoking.”

Awareness of Strengths and Setting Goals

Harland Sanders, a 65-year-old retiree who earned his living as a dishwasher and cook after being discharged from the US Army, decided to commit suicide out of sadness over the course of his life. When he started writing his will, he asked himself: “What am I doing well?” Realizing that he was a good cook, Sanders decided to sell his own chicken recipes to restaurants. He traveled all over America for two years and found a restaurant to sell his recipe on his 1009th try.

Sanders is the brainchild of the million-dollar, world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant chain and the official face of the company. Self-disciplined people have a clear vision and action plan of what they wish to achieve. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s easier to give up and get off track. Instead of “I need to improve my English”, say “I will improve my English to B2 level this year” and make a plan for this.

Distractions and Planning the Day

The best way to focus on any task is to eliminate distractions. According to a study on the Digital World Information World site, we spend an average of 142 minutes a day on social media or messaging platforms. Another study by Rescue Time reveals that people talk on the phone for approximately three hours a day on average. There is a great way to identify things that hinder your self-discipline. You can write down what you do during a routine work day, including the minutes, and easily identify the things that prevent you from focusing on what you do.

You can divide your day into time zones and organize the tasks you do according to your brain’s productivity settings. According to John Trougakos, associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of Toronto, 75 percent of people are most mentally alert between 9 and 11 a.m. You can do your work that requires focus and attention between these hours. Between 12.00 and 14.00 is the time when your blood sugar drops and you start to feel tired. Skipping lunch and continuing to work doesn’t actually do any good in terms of productivity. The brain is in entertainment mode between 15.00 and 16.00, and this time interval is ideal for doing your creative work.

Meeting hours

We recommend that you hold your important meetings in the morning. Of course, not everyone’s biological clock is the same. David Ehrenberg, founder of Early Growth Financial Services, says in his interview with Capital Magazine that he likes to work at night the most: “I can only work uninterruptedly at night. “I can answer all my emails, summarize the day, and come up with creative ideas on different projects.”

People with high self-discipline take good care of themselves. Adequate sleep, regular exercise and healthy nutrition will keep the mind fit, allowing you to spend your life more efficiently and establish effective communication.

Self-discipline does not mean being perfect. In fact, this is more about being able to manage ourselves and exercise personal leadership. Contrary to popular belief, self-discipline does not mean being hard on ourselves or living a limited, restrictive lifestyle. Postponing instant gratification allows us to stick to our decisions, stay on the path to our goal, and realize our own inner power. It is up to us to reprogram our brain. We can either choose to make excuses for the things we want but cannot achieve, or we can choose to move forward by giving up our wrong beliefs and habits… The choice is always in our hands. Decide what you want to change in your life and start now…

The road to self-discipline

Answer the following questions about a goal in your life for which you want to gain self-discipline. Make sure that the sentences you use are positive.