The Art Of Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is by nature a habit, and a good one at that. Habits are regular tendencies that are ingrained in how we conduct ourselves, and they are particularly hard to give up, especially the bad ones. 

But the thing about good habits, is that they are often not automatic. We usually tend to automatically gravitate towards bad habits. We are often predisposed to doing things we shouldn’t do, or things that aren’t good for us.

Self-discipline is a prerequisite of several other good habits. It is a super-habit. It allows us to maintain other habits. If you’re going to take up running to stay fit, you need self-discipline to get up and go on time, every time. Self-discipline is that high level habit that allows you to keep your base habits.

We ultimately have to acquire our good habits, self-discipline included, through consistent practice. To make things even more complicated, good habits are not sticky. You have to work at it to retain them. It’s a case of use them or lose them. That is why it is important to keep practising self-discipline, to reinforce it in your daily routine.

What’s wonderful about maintaining self-discipline, however, is that it is learnable. All that is required to attain a high level of self-discipline, is to make the initial commitment, and stick to it. Initially it will be hard to cultivate good habits, but if you persist, you will soon find that through self-discipline, the good habits become second-nature.