Your mental discipline affects many things in your life. You can’t be full of happiness and success unless you have focus and control over your mind. Imagine you go to a buffet, and you’re overwhelmed by the options and want to eat everything in sight.
While you want to go back two or three times for more food, you know that you will pay later by being sick if you overeat. So, you use self-control to only eat the portions and foods you can without overdoing it.
This is an example that can also be used in your life. When you have mental discipline, you can make informed decisions without giving in to temptation. Sure, it’s not always easy to resist, especially when you’re dealing with comfort foods, but you know that you must stop yourself as it will cause issues.
One of the benefits of developing such control is that, eventually, you won’t be tempted to indulge. You’ll know your perimeters and stay within them without giving it much thought. Though a buffet is just an example, you can use this analogy for many aspects of your life.
Ten Excellent Ways to Have Better Mental Discipline
You won’t let your impulses dictate your actions when you learn not to give in to temptations and exercise your beliefs and boundaries. If you struggle with mental discipline, here are some ways that you can help to strengthen this form of self-control.
1. Develop New Habits When Building Better Mental Discpline
If you want to develop a new habit, you need to allow yourself anywhere from 18-250 days, according to a study from the European Journal of Social Psychology. The new practice will become automatic for most people by the 66th day. So, your new habits will not become a part of your life overnight.
Your habits are actions that have become automatic for you, and you don’t have to stop and think about doing them. For instance, you buckle your safety belt when you get into the car. You don’t realize you’re doing it, and you don’t think about it, but you do it.
The same thing can happen with other aspects of your life. A disciplined brain likes habits because it helps it to function more efficiently. Automated actions help to free up some of your mental resources so that you can focus on other tasks.
2. Eliminate Temptations
If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know that you must remove the temptations from your home to be successful. It’s challenging to develop new eating habits when you have a drawer full of snacks calling your name. When you remove the temptation from your presence, it doesn’t have the same power over you.
Sure, you’re still going to crave and want these things, but if they’re not as easily accessible to you, it makes it harder to get them. If you want a disciplined brain, you must remove the temptations from your path.
3. Always Have a Plan B
If life teaches you anything, it’s that you must be flexible. Things will never go as planned, and you may need to alter your route. So, while you’re making your goals and deciding where you want to be, make sure you have a plan B.
It’s essential that when your device has this backup plan, you don’t think of automatic failure, but you need to be realistic. While you don’t plan on using it, you need the other roadmap for purposeful course correction. Mental discipline will allow for adjustments in your path, but you must keep moving forward no matter your setbacks.
4. Dust Yourself Off When You Stumble
There’s no way you’ll be perfect and never make any mistakes, as it’s unrealistic. The disciplined brain can see that when you make mistakes, it’s all part of the learning process. You must pick yourself up and try again. How many times does an ice skater fall before they learn to do a triple axel?
They certainly don’t start on the ice doing flips and landing perfectly, but it’s a skill they must acquire. They wouldn’t know the proper stance and speed to make the perfect jump if they didn’t fall twice. Don’t expect perfection when changing your mental discipline, but know that you can try again.
5. Define Your Goals and a Plan to Achieve Improved Mental Discipline
If you want to obtain a higher level of self-discipline, you can do so by having a vision for your future. It would help if you had a plan or a roadmap for your life. To start, you must define what success is to you, as it’s different for each person. It’s much easier to get sidetracked when you don’t have a clear destination.
When you take the time to develop a clear plan, each step you make is done with purpose. For instance, you won’t spend that extra money on a new car because your goal is to be debt-free in three years, and a new car won’t fit into the plans. Well-disciplined people know how to stay on track, and they do it by becoming emotionally connected to their journey. It’s easier to see the finish line when you have an emotional connection to your goals.
6. Gain Strength from Mentors and Coaches
Remember the story of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller? A debilitating case of scarlet fever caused Keller to become blind and deaf at only 19 months old. As a young girl, it seemed like her life was over, but Anne Sullivan saw the potential through her darkness.
Under Sullivan’s direction, Keller learned sign language and that everything has a name. Sullivan also taught her how to speak and communicate with the world. The fascinating part of the story is that Sullivan was also legally blind, and she wore dark sunglasses. She lost most of her vision at five years of age from trachoma.
Keller published an autobiography of her journey, but she wouldn’t have been successful if it hadn’t been for her mentor. Everyone needs mentors in life to help them along the way. In contrast, you may not have the challenges of Hellen Keller, but having someone to help you along the way can mean everything in your journey.
7. Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Everyone has a few weaknesses. For some folks, it’s video games and electronics, and for others, it’s junk food. Regardless of your vulnerabilities, the real issue is the amount of control it can have over you. Identifying both your strengths and weaknesses is essential to securing your mental discipline.
You’re not doing yourself any favor if you pretend these weaknesses don’t exist, and you’re causing yourself great harm by living in denial. Never throw your hands up and say, “Whatever!” Instead, you need to realize what you struggle with, and it’s only with the proper mindset that you can overcome them.
8. Alter Your Perceptions
Your beliefs greatly limit you. Perhaps you want to run the 5K in your local town, but you only think you can run two miles, so you don’t sign up. If you don’t believe you can accomplish something, you won’t. Consequently, if you think you can run the race, you will push through. It’s all about willpower and your ability to press through your judgments.
When you develop a mindset of unlimited willpower, you can strengthen your mental toughness. Your internal perceptions about willpower and self-control will help establish your level of discipline. Everyone has subconscious obstacles that stand in their way, but your drive will help motivate you to turn your dreams and goals into a reality.
9. When It Comes to Mental Discipline, Practice Makes Perfect
No one comes into this world with a disciplined brain, but it’s a learned behavior you develop over time. Have you ever watched a ballerina elegantly glide across the floor? They don’t just wake up one day and decide to dance, but they must practice from a young age to develop this skill.
Why are some dancers better than others? It’s all about the amount of time they spend in training, and their focus and discipline play a big part. Sure, these individuals have other things to do, but their self-control drives them to reach their goals. Practice makes perfect, and exercising your self-discipline can get you where you want to be.
10. Realize Your Mind is Weak
Your mind is restricted by rigorous limitations, but your consciousness doesn’t have these constraints. Sometimes, you need to look beyond your mind and realize that you have another energy source from which you can draw strength. There will be days when you feel mentally and physically exhausted and don’t want to keep going. You realize that you must push yourself, as this is what being disciplined is all about.
Final Thoughts on Having Better Mental Discipline
You have the power within you to do anything you set your mind to accomplish. It takes focus, willpower, and determination to have the mental discipline you desire. Developing a disciplined brain isn’t an easy process, but it’s worth the effort.
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