Any recommendations for self control?

[JayGutman]

Hello people, I have been reading your guys' posts for a few weeks now and I finally decided that its time to register and make my first (but not last) post.

I was wondering if anybody has any success stories with breaking into some good habits of self discipline.

I am a college student and specifically I would like to get into the habit of being able to sit down and work on school work for at least an hour and a half every night. I have tried to set a time and stick to it, but I also live in a fraternity and its so incredibly easy to get distracted.

I don't do poorly in school, however it is only because I spend a great deal of time cramming before mid-terms, plus I feel that I can always do better. Cramming also tends to be stressful and I am sure that it is not the best way to retain information for the long term (something that I would like to do).

If anybody could point me to some literature (free is always good too!) or share some techniques then I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks in advance
Jordan

[simon]

The series Steve did on discipline way back in 2005 is very good. Although it wasn't until I read it multiple times over a lengthy period that his actual message registered with me.

I've also been trying to improve my self-discipline although I do have my own office where it is quiet so maybe we are in different situations. I stumbled across a technique that worked pretty well for myself which I'd like to share.

It's really simple so sounds a bit lame. All you have to do is say to yourself, for the next five minutes *I will* work on this particular piece of work in a totally concentrated manner. The psychology of saying to myself that I will sitdown for the next two hours working is a bit boring; but this five minutes works well.

It's pretty similar to timeboxing, which is on Steves site as well

[Swede]

When I learned French I started out by reading one (1) page per day in a book. At the beginning I had to look up almost every word. It seemed ridiculous at first, I did not spend more than five minutes each day (it was a short book) .

After this task was completed I started to increase my time spent on French. But I only did so when I was comfortable with the amount of time I usually put aside. For me discipline is like growing. You grow a little every day, at first you don't notice. At the end of a year you've come a long way.

Maybe you could set your goals a little lower the first two weeks? Then increase for say two weeks, and so forth.