WHAT I'VE LEARNT 50 DAYS INTO THE 100 DAYS OF SELF-DISCIPLINE CHALLENGE ✨
1. Discipline is a skill that must be developed just like playing the piano or lifting weights at the gym. The first time you go to the gym you don’t try to lift a 100kg, you start with 5kg and then move up from that as you gain strength, with self-discipline is the same. First, you need to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable and then progress begins.
2. Everything in life is about trial and error. There is close to little chance to get things done perfectly the time you do them. You first need to try them see how it goes and look for ways to improve it, whatever it is. Trial and error.
3. Just keep going even if you feel you are making no progress because you are. And if you stop you will lose all the hard work that you have put in until this moment. And there is no fun in that. Believe me when I say I’m sick and tired of always being a beginner or at the start of everything because I just quit and then it all goes to sh*t. Keep that in mind! Just put your seatbelt on and pull through. It will get better I promise.
4. Find inspiration/motivation from whichever source/s you like the most. The more the better. I personally use YouTube (Fearless Soul, Be Inspired, Motivation2Study, Matt D’Avella, Nathaniel Drew, Lavendaire, Muchelle B…), Castbox (a free platform for listening to podcasts: The Ground Up Show, The Lavendaire Lifestyle, Kwik Brain, Optimal Living Daily, College Info Geek…), and Twitter (The Secret, Jay Shetty, Jen Sincero, Ted Talks, Vex King, James Clear…). Tumblr [cwrote is my favourite] and Instagram too, but not so much). They help me to think positively and be in the right mindset for growth and personal development.
5. Talk to people about your struggles you are not alone, and they might help. Just be careful who you share that information with. I am a person who doesn’t like to share personal stuff, like feelings or fears with anyone, literally. But this past month I started taking walks with my dad in the evening and it has helped me to open up a little bit and better my relationship with my dad. I told my dad how I was struggling to go to bed and that it had been going on for months and it wasn’t like I couldn’t sleep, just that I couldn’t get myself into bed because there were so many things to do. After that talk, I found myself going to bed at the time that I had planned and I believe that was from the push my dad gave me to just to it and feel uncomfortable. Because I wasn’t going to feel right at first and also because I felt I wasn’t alone I felt supported.
6. And if you still don’t feel comfortable enough sharing your emotions, just write them down. Let it out. It doesn’t have to look pretty or be grammatically correct just let the words flow out of your mind and read it afterwards. Is there anything that is my power that I can make to improve? If the answer is yes, do it; if not, burn the paper or at least throw it away, there is no use in revisiting your sorrows. This works for me very well because I’m still reserved and still feel uncomfortable talking openly about my feelings.
7. You cannot do everything at the same time especially if all those things are new (habits). What I mean by this is that if you want to create a morning routine habit and a night routine habit (like me, or something completely different), don’t try to form them at the same time because it won’t work, especially with routines because it isn’t just one thing, it is a chain of lots of little things that you need to do and remember.
If you’re new to this self-discipline thing, just like I am, you cannot expect everything to go right as soon as you start doing it. When you attend your first dance classes you are clumsy and you don’t know what to do, but as the weeks go by you develop the skills you need to dance and your confidence in yourself grows. Here happens the exact same thing. Note that in the example I didn’t mention the drawing class I wanted to go to, and neither the creative writing one. Choose one, focus on that one and when you have developed the skills and confidence move on to the next one.
8. To have a great day you need to have a great night. And no, I’m not talking about that kind of night ;) What I mean is if you want to have a good day in terms of productivity, energy, and happiness you need to have had a good morning, but before you have to have a good evening/night. If you go to bed at 3am without having prepared your bag and clothes for the gym for the next day or without organising your room, you probably will wake up late the next day, tired because of the lack of sleep; you probably won’t feel like going to the gym and you will feel overwhelmed because your room is a mess and so is your mind. (I’m talking from experience here). Instead, if you have a night routine or at least prepare the things for the next day and get 8h of sleep, your morning will be much better and therefore, your day will go as amazing as you planned it to be.
9. It’s okay to f*ck up. Forgive yourself. And do not look back, just go forward. It is okay if yesterday wasn’t a great day or if today didn’t go as you planned. Forgive yourself and look ahead. Get it together and ask yourself what am I going to do tomorrow?
10. And now my favourite quotes for inspiration/motivation by the most amazing human being (Will Smith) - link to youtube video
“The road to sustained happiness is through disciplined behaviour. When you say you love yourself, it means that you have behaviour towards yourself that is loving.”
“DISCIPLINE is to forgo immediate pleasure for the exchange of long-term SELF RESPECT.”
“I believe that SELF-DISCIPLINE is the definition of SELF-LOVE”
I hope you’ve found this post useful and if you did, reblog to help others! ~ @imacoolbookworm