Are there simple ways to master self-discipline? Harnessing willpower as the key to success

One of the common hindrances to our success is our inconsistency- the lack of willpower to perform the action steps leading to personal victory. Philosopher Plato summarized it well when he said, “the first and best victory is to conquer self.” 

Whether we have tried becoming more self-disciplined and failed many times, or we want to try harnessing our inner will for the first time, we may feel that developing self-discipline is daunting. 

Views on self-discipline

We can agree that in order to find happiness, success or rewards in life, there is a need to focus and control and direct our inner being. 

We may also view self-discipline as doing something so difficult even though we don’t feel like doing it, thereby making it more intimidating! It is like envisioning climbing a very steep hill without much preparation or prior experience. The thing ends up becoming more scary than it might actually be. 

How can we become a master at self-discipline? 

It might help us to look at the people around us who have the kind of life we want. Who are those who seem to have reached a level of success that we want and who are enjoying their journey while they are getting closer to their success? 

One school of thought that I find helpful is this. Would making the action steps towards our success smaller, fun and easier to do help us to become more focused and disciplined? This way, every step towards our goal would feel rather enjoyable and less of a climb over a steep hill? 

Of course, we would surely encounter hardships- but what if we focus on making the process of solving problems more rewarding? 

Here are some simple ways to harness our willpower towards our success. 

• Be crystal clear on your main life goal. 

Life is made up of so many good choices and attractive options! There may be many possible roadmaps that will bring us to a destination. But pursuing so many destinations all at once may slow us down because our attention, energy, and talents are distributed thinly. 

Often, when we look at the times we feel that we have failed in achieving our goals, we see that it was not because we lacked the capacity, but maybe it was because we were just doing so many other things that time. 

One tip to be more focused is to give ourselves 3-4 main goals per year so that we see more progress in these areas over time. 

• Do not compare yourself with an expert. Become the expert in your own journey over time. 

Imagine berating yourself for not performing a task like an expert is able to do, just because you might not have developed the skill set and system they have in life. The success we envy in others did not come to them overnight. 99% of the time, it’s because of their consistent small progress over time. 

Are you just starting to be self-disciplined in an area of life? Set the bar low in the beginning. And come back to applying the skills and principles again and again, until you are able to consistently overcome the challenges. Then set the bar higher for yourself, until you reach that summit you desire. 

• Create a system or a routine that will guide you towards performing meaningful tasks, while allowing some form of creativity and rest. 

People who have experienced working free of routines or schedules might tell you that it did not work so well. Boundaries, routines, and systems seem to encourage productivity as they give us freedom to do important things with more focus. 

Rather than being a source of stressful rigidity, a flexible schedule can be a great source of both productivity and rest. 

The road to a successful and a fulfilling life is not a short one, and progress requires our patience and focused efforts. Make the journey fun and continue on!

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