Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - How to become better at controlling your thoughts?

iamthebest · 08-23-2009, 04:53 AM

Focussing on your goals without getting distracted definetely reqiures descipline.
I wouldn't really distuingiush it from the habit as discipline in itself is a habit.

Whenever we have a thought, it may be in alignment with your intention (your goals or plans) or it may not. The ones that are in alignment are okay to have because they are helping you towards your goal. But when it comes to the ones that ain't really supporting your cause, discipline plays the important role.

And discipline is simply the ability to act towards your goal regardless of your emotional feelings or more accurately your desires and whims.

A simple way to build descipline or a habit is to BEGIN SAYING "NO" TO SMALL INSIGNIFICANT THINGS THAT ARE NOT IN ALIGNMENT WITH YOUR GOAL BUT YOU FEEL TEMPTED TO HAVE THEM IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, AND THEN SLOWLY AND PROGRESSIVELY YOU MOVE ON TO REMOVE BIGGER DISTRACTIONS IN YOUR LIFE THAT DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM YOUR GOAL.

For example,
let's say you're a high school student and your goal to excel in your grade/class. Assuming that there are other super-geniuses in the grade/class it may reqiure you to make massive efforts to pull this off, especially if you haven't done any such sort of this thing before.
So how do you begin to get into the phase of "toppers".
Of course, this reqiures a lot of input. You may have to give up various distractions to reclaim time for study. This may involve minimizing time in watching TV, listening to music, playing computer games.
You may begin the "NO" process from you favourite song (anything that's slightly outsife ypur comfort zone).Say, you're trying to study and suddenly you hear your favourite song on TV in the next room. Of Course you'll be tempted to go and listen to it, but you do have the choice to say "no". It'll feel pretty strange but it'll definitely improve your descipline.
This simple act when repeated in various other non-aligned activities will help you to build descipline.The key idea is that YOU BEGIN FROM WHERE YOU ARE AND YOU PROGRESSIVELY MOVE TOWARDS YOU GOAL even if the step seems small.

BECAUSE EVERY NON-ZERO DISTANCE COVERED TOWARDS YOUR GOAL IS A PROGRESS.

Hope this bit of suggestion helped you.

08-23-2009, 04:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
iamthebest Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2	do it anyways Focussing on your goals without getting distracted definetely reqiures descipline. I wouldn't really distuingiush it from the habit as discipline in itself is a habit. Whenever we have a thought, it may be in alignment with your intention (your goals or plans) or it may not. The ones that are in alignment are okay to have because they are helping you towards your goal. But when it comes to the ones that ain't really supporting your cause, discipline plays the important role. And discipline is simply the ability to act towards your goal regardless of your emotional feelings or more accurately your desires and whims. A simple way to build descipline or a habit is to BEGIN SAYING "NO" TO SMALL INSIGNIFICANT THINGS THAT ARE NOT IN ALIGNMENT WITH YOUR GOAL BUT YOU FEEL TEMPTED TO HAVE THEM IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, AND THEN SLOWLY AND PROGRESSIVELY YOU MOVE ON TO REMOVE BIGGER DISTRACTIONS IN YOUR LIFE THAT DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM YOUR GOAL. For example, let's say you're a high school student and your goal to excel in your grade/class. Assuming that there are other super-geniuses in the grade/class it may reqiure you to make massive efforts to pull this off, especially if you haven't done any such sort of this thing before. So how do you begin to get into the phase of "toppers". Of course, this reqiures a lot of input. You may have to give up various distractions to reclaim time for study. This may involve minimizing time in watching TV, listening to music, playing computer games. You may begin the "NO" process from you favourite song (anything that's slightly outsife ypur comfort zone).Say, you're trying to study and suddenly you hear your favourite song on TV in the next room. Of Course you'll be tempted to go and listen to it, but you do have the choice to say "no". It'll feel pretty strange but it'll definitely improve your descipline. This simple act when repeated in various other non-aligned activities will help you to build descipline.The key idea is that YOU BEGIN FROM WHERE YOU ARE AND YOU PROGRESSIVELY MOVE TOWARDS YOU GOAL even if the step seems small. BECAUSE EVERY NON-ZERO DISTANCE COVERED TOWARDS YOUR GOAL IS A PROGRESS. Hope this bit of suggestion helped you.