The Secret to Building Discipline

Have you ever felt like you just don't have enough self control or discipline to reach your goals?

Dude, I know the feeling!

I remember starting over a million times in college because I didn't have enough discipline to not eat an entire thing of Ben and Jerry's.

Can I let you in on the secret?

HABITS!

Habits are the secret to building discipline.

Here are some of my top tips when it comes to building habits:

1. Make it EASY!

2. Habit Stack

3. Create Ques

4. Have an Accountability Partner

5. Tie the habit into your identity
   

Let me explain.

Can we use the example of wanting to create a healthier lifestyle?

Yes? Cool! Here we go…

Make it easy - let's say you want to get back into working out as part of your lifestyle, how can you eliminate as many excuses as possible and make it easy for yourself to workout?

For me, it's working out at home & starting back up with a doable program *ahem new program alert - JOB1, join my email list to learn more.

Habit Stack - let's keep going with this working out example.

Tie your workout into something you already do. For me it would be I wake up, make my preworkout and go workout. Maybe for you it's, I walk in the door after work, change my clothes, and go workout. The key is eliminating the thought process because that's where we talk ourselves out of doing it.

Create Ques - This means have something that reminds you to do the habit. So maybe the first thing you see is a reminder to workout, or maybe you have your workout clothes sitting out to change into.

Accountability Partner - This one is a GAME CHANGER! I have a ton of people holding me accountable through coaching which is part of why I've been so consistent over the years. If that's not for you right now here's another example: recently, my husband and I started holding each other accountable. We right down 3 habits we want to build and how often we want to do them (workout 5 times a week, eat 4 cups of veggies 6 days a week). Then we incentives ourselves: if we each accomplish our habit goals then we will go out to eat. We pick an incentive we both want, this makes us actually hold each other accountable.

Tie the habit into your identity. If the habit is part of who you are, you are more likely to do it. Again coaching makes working out easy for me:

I am a coach.

I show people how to get results.

I am proof that you can get results.

Ok, but what if you don't want to coach right now, how can you tie the habit into your identity?

Wisdom 6:17 says the first step toward Wisdom is an earnest desire for discipline. I know I can build discipline and become a more virtuous person through building the habit of working out. If I workout 5 days a week, I will be building discipline and seeking Wisdom which comes from God. See how I tied my identity as a faithful daughter of God into the habit? It's easier to do the habit when it is part of your identity or part of who you are becoming.