8 Simple Ways to Developing Extreme Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is a critical skill to develop for personal change, goal success, and creating your best life.

But developing self-discipline is not easy.

So in this guide, you will learn the exact steps you need to be more disciplined. Also, we will cover a simple strategy to start building discipline – even if you struggle with it.

What we will cover:

• What is self-discipline?
• Why is it important?
• How to become more self-disciplined?
• A simple approach to start building self-discipline

Let’s dive in!

What is self-discipline?

The definition of self-discipline is your ability to do what you need to do, especially when you don’t want to do it and when no one else is doing it.

There are two scenarios in which discipline is essential:

1. Create new habits in which you use discipline to develop healthy habits, like exercising.
2. Break bad habits in which you use discipline to restrain yourself from doing things. An example is reducing alcohol, which is especially challenging in social settings.

The second one is more challenging. Breaking bad habits requires you to stay disciplined throughout the day.

Developing self-discipline through new habits is a lot easier. It also comes with the benefit of making use of willpower.

Willpower vs discipline

Willpower is your ability to delay short-term gratification to achieve your long-term goals.

The problem with willpower is that it’s a finite resource.

In other words: it decreases throughout the day, making it an unreliable source of self-discipline. However, you can use willpower strategically to develop self-discipline.

What’s the big difference between the two?

Willpower is a finite source of energy that declines as the day progresses – and restores over a night of sleep. 

Self-discipline is more consistent and reliable for taking action because it comes from an identity shift.

But more about that later.

Why is self-discipline important?

Self-discipline makes you consistent in your actions, which is essential for achieving your goals. 

Additionally, self-discipline builds trust and confidence – both with others and yourself. 

Self-trust and self-confidence are important because it enables you to overcome challenges and setbacks. And that’s needed for success and happiness. 

Self-discipline builds those character traits.

Here’s a complete list of the benefits of self-discipline:

• More self-confidence and esteem
• Stronger resilience when facing adversity
• Lower levels of self-doubt, fear and anxiety
• Better relationships with yourself and others
• More success in achieving your goals
• Better physical and mental health
• And you will feel happier

Self-discipline is an essential ingredient in realizing personal change. Develop it, and the quality of your life will improve.

Pro tip: self-discipline is an interoperable skill, meaning that developing it in one area of life benefits you in other areas.

How to become more self-disciplined?

The benefits of building self-discipline are amazing: more self-confidence, success, and happiness.

But anything worth developing won’t come easy.

Learning how to be more self-disciplined can be a bumpy ride. That’s why you want to stack as many of these 8 ways to ensure success:

1. Identify what
2. Identify why
3. Transform your identity
4. Create a plan
5. Take action
6. If you fail, try again
7. If you succeed, celebrate
8. Repeat the action

Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these steps.

#1: Clarify “What”

The first step in building self-discipline is identifying precisely what outcome you want. 

What do you want to achieve?

Setting life goals like this should meet the following criteria:

• It is specific (preferably with numbers);
• And measurable (numbers work great here too);
• That is achievable (e.g., others have done it before you); 
• And relevant (it motivates you intrinsically);
• With a deadline (by when do you want to achieve it).

Once you set the goal, let someone else have a look at it. Do they immediately understand what you want to achieve?

If so, you’ve set a good goal.

Pro tip: also identify what obstacles you will likely face. Doing that now allows you to plan and avoid surprises.

#2: Identity “Why”

Once you clarify what you want, you need to understand why you want it.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s what you do in difficult moments that determines your success. And most people tend to give up in the face of adversity because they lack a strong reason that drives them.

That’s why your “WHY” matters.

To get to the core reason you do what you do, ask yourself why at least 5 times.

• So you want to become a millionaire? Why?
• To have freedom and travel around the world? Why?
• To see the world and gain experience? Why?
• Etc.

Anything can motivate you, whether money, freedom, saving the world, or whatever. What matters most is that it’s something that fires you up.

#3: Shift your identity

Athletes have a tremendous amount of self-discipline. Even in social events, they restrain themselves with ease, whereas others easily fall for the temptations.

How do they do that?

The answer explains the critical idea to developing rock-solid self-discipline: identity. 

You see, athletes see themselves as athletes – and thus, they behave like one.

So if you want to get the results you desire, you have to become the person who achieves such results.

The fastest way to build rock-solid self-discipline is by shifting your identity. That means you need to start thinking and behaving like the person you’re trying to become.

That requires a commitment.

But what if you don’t want to make the sacrifices? Then you have to be honest with yourself. 

How bad do you want it?

After all, success requires (short-term) sacrifices. And if you’re not willing to make them, you may not achieve the desired results.

But if you do, here’s what to do:

• Learn everything about what the people are doing who are getting the results you’re trying to achieve.
• Pick one or two role models you would like to emulate.
• See it as a challenge to adopt their identity and commit to that lifestyle for some time (say 1 to 3 months).
• Think and live the way they do – ask yourself continuously, how would they approach this obstacle or challenge? 
• Use positive affirmations to reinforce this new identity.

Shifting your identity is not easy and takes effort. But if you’re ready to commit, you can do it.

Pro tip: long-term success requires short-term sacrifice. So think about what you’re willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals.

#4: Make a plan

Most people know what they want but never create a plan to achieve it. 

And while they know their ultimate goal, like losing weight, they have no idea how to make it happen.

If you want to lose weight, for example, you might want to address a couple of different areas:

• First, buy fewer lunches at work and eat healthier.
• Exercise more and do so consistently.
• And stop snacking during the weekend.

You need to understand the individual pieces to become more disciplined. The more specific you get, the better your plan for success. 

And the easier you’ll find it to stay disciplined in executing it.

Let’s take weight loss as an example again. How can you break up this goal into more actionable steps?

1. Prepare healthy lunches at home.
2. Do five workouts per week by going to the gym before work. 
3. Buy carrots and fruits to replace the other snacks (and don’t stock on those bad snacks anymore).

Creating a plan for each of these pieces makes it much easier to stay disciplined and achieve success.

#5: Take massive action

Now that you know what you want, why you want it, and how to achieve it, it’s time for action.

Taking action is how you build self-discipline.

Even when you restrain yourself from something, like alcohol, it’s the ongoing action of not giving in to the temptation.

And to develop rock-solid self-discipline, you need to take action every day. Here are some tips to help you to do:

• Take your time for the first steps of this article – these steps mentally prepare you for success.
• Remove distractions – when you identify obstacles, make sure you create a plan of action to overcome them.
• Use willpower strategically – which is strongest in the morning. So if you can, make sure to take action early.
• Expect mistakes – inevitably, those who take action make mistakes. So what to do when you experience failure?

#6: If you fail, try again

When failures happen – and they inevitably will – know that it’s a stepping stone toward success. And an opportunity for growth. 

Making mistakes is essential for success. 

Besides, bouncing back from failures and mistakes builds resilience, confidence, and self-discipline.

Here’s are some quick tips to get over failures:

• Acknowledge you slipped up.
• Accept that you did. 
• Become curious about why it happened.
• Learn the lesson to avoid it from happening again.
• Take action. 

Sometimes, there is no lesson to learn. You just slipped up. It happens – so get up and try again.

But what if you fail repeatedly?

It can be very frustrating and overwhelming to experience many failures – especially if you took action on this article. And though you still have to try again, try to start with something smaller. 

Make taking action easy for yourself.

For example, rather than following a strict diet, start by swapping your muffin for two carrots. 

So are you someone who tries to make significant changes in life but experiences consistent setbacks? Then take a step back and take tiny steps to practice self-discipline and rebuild confidence.

#7: If you succeed, celebrate

Rewarding yourself for your successes is an excellent way to reinforce behavior. 

For example, when I take a full day of action, I’ll reward myself with an episode of a series by night. 

That includes rewards for breaking bad habits.

Let’s say that you want to swap your daily muffin for a piece of broccoli. If you succeed, you can reward yourself with a muffin at the end of the week.

Is that the most effective way to do it?

That depends. There are many different ways to celebrate success. And the best way is to personalize your rewards.

When you do that, keep these in mind:

• Use big rewards for grand achievements. For example, reward yourself with a full day of cheat meals after following through on a strict diet needed for a competition.
• Use small rewards for small victories. For example, watch a series after a full day of work. Or celebrate sticking to your diet that day with a small piece of chocolate.

Tiny rewards that you often give to yourself are especially useful. They reinforce good behavior and motivate you to do more of it.

#8: Repeat the action until you form the habit

Taking action becomes much easier with self-discipline. 

But until you reach that point, it requires effort.

Some people expect to build habits within 21 days (or even faster sometimes). But that’s unrealistic for almost any practice – especially self-discipline.

Instead, give yourself at least 90 days. Though you will see progress much sooner, discipline comes on many levels. And the longer you practice it, the better you become at it.

Besides, it’s a good idea to set the right expectations. 

Because unrealistic expectations lead to frustration, resulting in a lack of motivation. And that is certainly not helpful in building self-discipline.

A simple strategy to build self-discipline

What to do if you struggle to build self-discipline? Or if you’re completely new to personal development?

Then the idea is simple: start easy and small.

That way, you prove that you can follow through on your goals. And that builds trust and confidence. 

The easiest way to practice self-discipline is through new habits. Because building new ones is much easier than breaking existing ones.

Preferably pick something you can do early in the morning when your willpower is still at its peak level.

Here are some examples:

• Make up your bed 
• 15-minutes of yoga 
• Taking a cold shower
• Making a healthy breakfast
• Practicing a skill for 30-minutes
• Reading a couple of pages of non-fiction

Do you see how tiny these actions are? 

Set small goals that you can achieve. And then gradually work your way up to more challenging goals.

Closing thoughts

Self-discipline leads to more self-confidence, more goal success, and a better quality of life overall.

But developing discipline is not easy.

We discussed the eight steps on how to be more disciplined:

1. Clarify “What”
2. Identify “Why”
3. Shift your identity
4. Make a plan
5. Take action
6. If you fail, try again
7. If you succeed, celebrate,
8. Repeat the action

If you want to dive even deeper into this topic, I recommend these books on discipline and self-control.

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