becoming a master in self discipline

[michaelStewards]

Hi,

First of all great forum!!!

Quick question: I was wondering how to become a master in self discpline.

I would regard myself as self disciplined person but once in a while some emotions and thoughts arise in my head and disturb the things i meant to do.

any advise on howto overcome those thoughts?

[bodi]

the same way you master anything. lots and lots of practice...

meditation is good, too

[quiethumir]

bodi, I've started meditating 2 weeks ago and have been doing it 1 hour everyday consistently. One of the reasons i started meditating was that I wanted to master self discipline. I also want to eliminate procrastination.

How long does it usually take?

[bodi]

How long does it usually take?

To master? Your whole life. But you can begin to see some benefits almost right away, certainly within a month or two, depending on what style of meditation you are practicing and how dedicated you are, which is about more than just how much time you spend practicing.

Sounds like you're off to a good start! Keep it up.

Just curious, what type of meditation are you practicing?

[youssef]

some emotions and thoughts arise in my head and disturb the things i meant to do.

If you are ready serious you will never feel this emotions

[Clint Cora]

Sometimes the self discipline is easier to adopt if you take formal training in some areas. For example, I learned my self discipline in martial arts and this is an area where many parents today have recognized the potential by enrolling their kids into classes.

You also see much better discipline in the military and related fields where there is some structure involved. Not saying that you have to join the military or even take up martial arts to learn discipline, but it helps to join some type of activity where you have to follow some type of structure and must be accountable. Failing to have accountability will result in negative consequences.

This is actually a good thing since it teaches you to not slack off and to keep consistent in working towards anything you want to be successful in. The magic of group efforts, mutual motivation and order all have important places to teach us self discipline.

[saige]

Originally Posted by michaelStewards

Hi,

First of all great forum!!!

Quick question: I was wondering how to become a master in self discpline.

I would regard myself as self disciplined person but once in a while some emotions and thoughts arise in my head and disturb the things i meant to do.

any advise on howto overcome those thoughts?

I know how you feel. I'm a very disciplined person too, but sometimes negative thoughts like fear, regrets, worry, and just boredom distract me from staying disciplined. It's only natural.

When this happens, I try to observe my breath and just re-focus on the present moment. I force myself and give absolutely no time to think about negative stuff, and tell myself they can be thought of, but only once I finish what I'm doing.

Usually, those thoughts just pass away on their own.

If they still don't pass away, I meditate, cook delicious food, sing my favourite songs, go for a walk in the park, etc...Basically, I try to remind myself that life is too short to waste on thinking about useless stuff or weird people- that thought always steers me towards doing the right thing.

[taylor]

Self-discipline means taking ideal action despite your emotions and rationalizations.

It's basically learning to move towards pain.

Rather than running away from pain like our animal nature tells us to, you lean into, move towards, and gently smile and act through the pain.

Pema Chodron has a great chapter that explains more of this attitude if you have spare time Pema Chödrön - Learning to Stay - Feature Article

Don't confuse meditation though with discipline, as meditation can itself become another form of procrastination.

The measure of discipline is utterly simple:

Did I take the ideal action or not.

Everything else is secondary.

Part of the problem with learning to become disciplined is relying on motivation to take action, as if you have to hype yourself up before you do anything you don't feel like doing. That's a terrible strategy though because emotions can be erratic and difficult to control. Rather, like the Nike ad says "Just do it." Take the action and just be okay with hating it.

This sounds like bad advice, as if when you hate something you'll give it up, but it's only when you give up and just decide that you're okay with the work being hard and uncomfortable, that you'll finally do those uncomfortable tasks you've been putting off. You might find it isn't bad at all when you aren't afraid of being uncomfortable.

Let me summarize:
Decide what the ideal action is.
Don't worry about your emotions or rationalizations, and simply do it now regardless of your feelings.

It also helps to really commit to the uncomfortable task. Don't just do it, do it well. That's part of just deciding to do it. If you're dragging your feet, complaining, or doing a half-hearted job, you haven't decided at all and are still partly procrastinating.

[Robou]

Originally Posted by taylor

Self-discipline means taking ideal action despite your emotions and rationalizations.

It's basically learning to move towards pain.

Rather than running away from pain like our animal nature tells us to, you lean into, move towards, and gently smile and act through the pain.

Pema Chodron has a great chapter that explains more of this attitude if you have spare time Pema Chödrön - Learning to Stay - Feature Article

Don't confuse meditation though with discipline, as meditation can itself become another form of procrastination.

The measure of discipline is utterly simple:

Did I take the ideal action or not.

Everything else is secondary.

Part of the problem with learning to become disciplined is relying on motivation to take action, as if you have to hype yourself up before you do anything you don't feel like doing. That's a terrible strategy though because emotions can be erratic and difficult to control. Rather, like the Nike ad says "Just do it." Take the action and just be okay with hating it.

This sounds like bad advice, as if when you hate something you'll give it up, but it's only when you give up and just decide that you're okay with the work being hard and uncomfortable, that you'll finally do those uncomfortable tasks you've been putting off. You might find it isn't bad at all when you aren't afraid of being uncomfortable.

Let me summarize:
Decide what the ideal action is.
Don't worry about your emotions or rationalizations, and simply do it now regardless of your feelings.

It also helps to really commit to the uncomfortable task. Don't just do it, do it well. That's part of just deciding to do it. If you're dragging your feet, complaining, or doing a half-hearted job, you haven't decided at all and are still partly procrastinating.

This is one of the best descriptions of what self discipline is and how to go about it's practice that I have seen on this forum.
This is the mindset that I practice self discipline with on a daily basis... no waiting for motivation, no hesitation, just do it and not only just do it but do it with full intention of doing it well regardless of how menial the task may seem... doing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, furthering your education, taking on and learning new responsibilities at work or elsewhere, starting a business etc...
Thanks Taylor for your great description!