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6 Small Things
You Can Do When You Lack
Discipline

Article by Leo
Babauta

6 Small Things You Can
Do When You Lack
Discipline

Written by Leo Babauta. http://zenhabits.net/about/

One of the biggest problems people face is
the lack of discipline - they have goals or habits
they want to achieve, but lack that discipline
needed to stick with it.

Then we beat ourselves up about it. We feel
crappy because we can't stick with it.

And that leads to more failure, because we're
forming a mindset that we don't have the necessary
discipline.

Here's what to do when you face a situation
like this:

1. Forgive yourself. You
aren't perfect. No one is. Realize that beating
yourself up will only make things worse. Take a
few slow, deep breaths and let it go. Forgive
yourself. And move on.

2. Realize that discipline is an
illusion. While discipline is a common
concept, it doesn't actually exist. It's not a
thing you can actually do. Think about it: people
say discipline is pushing yourself to do something
you don't want to do. But how do you do that? What
skill is required? There isn't a skill - it's just
forcing yourself to do something you don't want to
do. And that requires ... some kind of motivation.
Without motivation, you won't be able to force
yourself to do anything. So motivation is the key
concept - and this is something that's real, that
you can actually learn how to do.

3. Focus on motivation.
What's your motivation for pursuing the goal or
habit? How will you sustain the motivation when
you struggle? Have very strong motivations for
doing something, and write them down. Commit
publicly. When things get tough, remind yourself
of your motivation. Focus on it. It'll pull you
along - that's more powerful than trying to focus
on the push of discipline.

4. Make it easy. Discipline
is tough because whatever the task or habit you're
trying to do is tough. Instead, make it easy.
Remove barriers. Having a hard time exercising?
Make it ridiculously easy, by only exercising for
5 minutes. What use is exercising for 5 minutes?
You're creating the habit, not getting yourself
into shape overnight. The 5 minutes of exercise
will have only a tiny impact on your health, but
it makes exercise super easy. If you can do that
30 days in a row, you now have an exercise habit.
Hate waking up early to go to the gym? Do it at
home. Do it during lunch or after work.

5. Focus on enjoyment. It's
hard to push yourself - to have discipline - when
you hate doing something. So find something
enjoyable about the activity. If you don't look
forward to exercise, find some good music, or a
workout partner who you can have a nice
conversation with, or a peaceful setting in nature
that is just beautiful. And focus on that
enjoyable aspect. Hate doing your paperwork? Find
a peaceful sanctuary where you can do the
paperwork and enjoy yourself. Maybe have a nice
cup of tea or coffee, play some nice music. And
focus on the enjoyment.

6. Repeat. You'll almost
inevitably slip up sometime, no matter how good
you are. Unfortunately, people often take this to
mean they don't have discipline, and they just
beat themselves up and give up. Well, it's just a
bump in the road. Get up, dust yourself off, and
get going again. Start from Step 1 and start all
over.

_____________________________________

This article is by Leo Babauta, married
with six kids, living on Guam. He's a
writer and a runner and a vegetarian, and the
owner of Zen Habits. He's also the
author of a new best-selling book, Power of Less, The: The
Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the
Essential...in Business and in Life . If you want the Zen Habits'
philosophy in a handy little volume, please buy
the book.

_________________________________

Remember these tips also when you are
educating your children.

God bless your marriage and
family.

Jim
Stephens

Men = hunters, Women =
gatherers cartoon.

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