This is the authentic approach to fostering discipline.

Think about waking up at 5 AM on a Monday morning alone, while everyone else is asleep. While everyone hates Monday, you start the week as the best version of yourself. You learn, work out, or go for a refreshing jog outside. Even though it’s not an effortless task, you persevere. Doesn’t sound like you? If you just listen to me, you can become that person.

Discipline is a superpower. Developing it will make you more productive and successful. You will be happier and less distracted by social media and other addictive outlets. You act because normal tasks are too hard for others or yourself. Without any doubt or hesitation, you go and start the work. You count from 1 to 3 and then proceed to work, exercise, or perform any other necessary tasks.

After the day is over, you no longer experience feelings of incompleteness and laziness. Instead you feel proud of yourself; it is a daily achievement.

Motivation is fuel.

Motivation is also important, but many people place too much value on it. They use motivation and nothing more. But motivation without discipline won’t bring you far. It’s akin to attempting to reach the moon with a nearly depleted space rocket. You won’t come far, that’s for sure. Motivation serves as the catalyst that ignites your productivity. It makes you start the work, but it doesn’t make you finish it. Just a few minutes after starting, you’re already sitting on your phone, playing a video game.

Despite your motivation, there will always be a nagging voice in your mind telling you to divert your attention from productivity. It may sound sweet and charming to say it’s okay to be unproductive, but is it? Motivation can only temporarily silence this voice within you. However, there is one way you can use the motivation.

Don’t use the motivation to just start the work; use the motivation as fuel for your discipline. Indeed, you aspire to maintain discipline and resist the voices in your mind that reassure you that everything will be alright. That is the sole purpose for which you use motivation. Discipline motivation comes from a different source. You persevere through the task, despite your inner voice telling you not to. No way out of it.

Hard Things and the Reward

Discipline is a skill that you need to train every day. It is like a muscle; you always need to go over your limits to reach a better version of yourself and be more disciplined. Every day you need to do at least some difficult things; you need to challenge yourself weekly. Of course you can have a free day—a rest day. But ultimately, if you don’t stay disciplined, you slowly lose the skill.

Generally, if the task is challenging, it will enhance your discipline. You can develop discipline, lose it, and then regain it. But in the best case, you stay disciplined every damn day. This doesn’t work without some form of pain, but it is better to have some pain from challenging yourself than pain from never achieving your dream. Believe me, the pain of regret will be bigger than any pain you can experience through discipline.

If you are new to this and it sounds quite intimidating, there are easy ways to access discipline. You don’t have to start with the hardest thing; everything that challenges you will improve your discipline. But the more you work on it, the harder things you need to do.

In example one, an easy way to improve your discipline is to take a cold shower every morning. This practice can be challenging, particularly during the winter season. While there are additional benefits, the primary factor is discipline. The colder and longer she showers, the better. It is perfect for beginners as well as experts in discipline. You can always adjust the duration or temperature of your shower.

But if you want to do some harder challenges, wake up at 4 AM in the morning and go jogging. This is an extremely difficult task, and not many people would choose to undertake it. Some people struggle with early mornings and only choose to wake up early when necessary. However, most individuals would not choose to wake up early on their own initiative. That’s the power behind it. Naturally, after a thorough warm-up, you will feel significantly more energized. This gives you a positive start, energy, and a sense of accomplishment. For me, the mornings when I go jogging are the most productive days. I accomplish my most challenging task between 5 and 6 AM. All the other tasks feel like nothing in comparison. Therefore, if you engage in challenging activities, your tasks will feel significantly easier than if you don’t.

How to Avoid Distractions

Occasionally, during your planned activities, you may feel tempted to grab your phone and indulge in your addiction. You might find yourself immersed in a Handygame, utilizing social media, or binge-watching Netflix. These outlets are never your friend, always your enemy. Furthermore, these outlets aim to create addiction in you and profit from it.

Please read the following text, close your eyes, and imagine this: There are two versions of yourself in the future; one is very productive, happy, and fulfilled. Distractions are no problem anymore, since you managed to control or stop social media or other addictive outlets. The future version of you still struggles with the same issues, remains addicted to various activities, and is prone to distractions. You haven’t accomplished much because you consistently allow distractions to interfere with your focus. You see, the first version will have a sense of achievement and pride in your accomplishments. The second version will feel like a loser because you didn’t achieve the things you could have.

The first one is your higher self; the other is your lower self. What version should it be?

Every day, remind yourself where you want to be and what you want to achieve. If you work on the distraction every day, you can achieve your goals. If the problem is too difficult to handle right now, you can install an application that blocks all your unnecessary distractions. This will prevent any distractions from your phone. Also, you should create a work environment without distractions. Make one place in your room, apartment, or personal office to be entirely work-related. Avoid playing video games, turn off your phone (or use an alternative method to block all unwanted apps), and keep earplugs handy to filter out any unwanted noises.

If it truly helps, listening to music during work could be beneficial, but keep in mind that some people are more easily distracted by music. Find your own solutions for your problems. Then train your mind to resist distractions and to work nonetheless. It’s a skill to remain focused and avoid distractions, even when there are potential distractions. Resist temptation by telling yourself it will hurt you in the future.