Self-Discipline Hack

Self-Discipline.        

You either have it, or you don't. 

I thought about it this way for years. 

It's not true. 

It feels like it is, especially if you seem to lack it. 

The actual definition: The ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it. 

Why are some people so good at it?

Is it their upbringing? 

Maybe they just have that in their DNA...

Is it just easier for them? 

Maybe their life isn't as complicated... 

Maybe they don't struggle as much... 

Maybe they're just lucky...

I was curious about this for quite some time. 

I never once thought that maybe, just maybe... 

Maybe they decide they'll feel bad now in exchange for feeling better later.

For example:

Let's say that you're a salesperson, and a big part of your job is prospecting for new business.

You hate prospecting, but you know you have to do it to be successful. 

So you schedule an hour to do it on Monday morning. 

Monday morning rolls around, and you see Prospecting on your schedule. 

"Ugh, this is going to suck."

"I hate cold-calling, this is going to be awful."

"People hate receiving sales calls; this is going to be soooo uncomfortable." 

You don't want to do it because it will feel awful. 

So you don't do it. And you do something else that is much easier. 

Like check email. Get on Facebook. Put together a report.  

You move on with your day and you’re most likely going to think about how you SHOULD be prospecting all day. 

You might beat yourself up a bit over it.

Or think you're an awful salesperson.

Or that you might not be cut out for the job.

You might even spend the day thinking about how your colleagues are better at it than you are.

You might feel like a fraud. 

And this feels awful. 

Instead of prospecting (which would have felt awful for an hour), you chose to do something else that felt better (for about an hour). And in exchange, you felt awful for the rest of the day. 

You chose: one hour of feeling good and 7+ hours of feeling awful. 

Okay, now, Mrs. Self-Discipline, who also hates prospecting rolls around to Monday, sees it pop up on the calendar, and thinks “Ugh. Better dig in and get it done. “ And she knocks it out.  

And then she goes about her day, feeling great. She pushed through the resistance and did it anyway. 

She is going to feel awesome even if the prospecting doesn't pay off because she followed through on her commitment even when she didn't feel like it. 

She chose: one hour of feeling awful and 7+ hours of feeling great. 

We are humans, and everything we do is because of how we currently feel or how we want to feel. 

You can even just look at it in terms of how you want to feel. 

Would you rather feel awful for an hour and great the rest of the day or feel good for an hour and awful for the rest of the day? 

Even selfishly, for someone without discipline, the first is the obvious choice. 

I used this approach to help build more self-discipline, and it has been a game-changer. 

All I have to do is drop into that mode when I start dreading something I have scheduled. 

I will always dread certain tasks because I have one of those pesky human brains. 

But I will ALWAYS prefer to feel awful for an hour (and it’s never really that bad once you get started) over feeling awful for 7+ hours.  

Play around with this approach and see how it works for you.  

It changed everything for me. 

I even used the following in an email to a client this week.  

Do you want it to suck now or later? 

It really is that simple.

When you are ready to master the art of doing things that you dread doing, hit me up. I can help you conquer this area of your life in the most effective way possible (it’s not easy but it’s super fun and a little addictive).

You can schedule your free call here 

Best,
Machele

Machele Galloway is a Certified Life Coach through The Life Coach School. She's based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and specializes in helping her clients manage their time and their minds. She firmly believes that you can't manage one without managing the other. She virtually coaches women nationwide. If she isn't coaching clients, she is studying concepts and techniques. And if she isn't doing that, she's probably playing with a dog or watching the Real Housewives of some city. - “Life is short. Play a little.”