How do you stay disciplined?

Something I’ve been struggling with lately is discipline. I’ve noticed that I have shitty follow through when it comes to doing things I say I will, and arguably spend more time thinking about productivity than actually being productive. I realize that many of you are forced to maintain a certain degree of discipline due to the nature of your job, but how do you personally hold yourself to certain standards? For example, is it something as simple as writing down your goals, having a vision board, etc. or something more complex like an innate fear of mediocrity that keeps you going?

 
kidbrown:
how do you personally hold yourself to certain standards?

Irish Catholic guilt.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, post threads about how to do it on WSO.
 

That has been one of my problems too until I started writing everything down and placing that list wherever that is visible to me at all times.

Try this:

Open up "Notes" app on your iPhone or an app alike in Android --> Put all your goals down -- e.g. what you want to accomplish in 2017 (put numbers behind the goals) --> Take a screenshot --> Use that as your background. Every single time you unlock your phone, you will have your list of goals staring at you, which is a great psychological approach to reinforce the attempt to accomplish them.

There are many ways to boost your motivation and to strengthen your discipline, but I would say this one works for me.

 

Innate fear of mediocrity for sure. And as far as tools, iCal--I make sure I put everything on there--even though I run on a Windows computer, since my phone is with me wherever I go I find that's the best system for me.

 
  1. have a physical calendar for daily to-do lists. can't stress the importance of it.
  2. write down your annual goals.
  3. write down your lifetime goals.
  4. delete facebook or whatever shitty social media platform you are using (applies to instagram, snapchat etc). you don't actually need it unless you have a page dedicated to your photography hobby (unlikely if you work in IBD). let me assure you that you can actually be connected to your friends without using facebook.
  5. if you want to go pro, I suggest ditching your smartphone. ofc it might not be that easy given that it has a few useful functions (mail, maps etc.)

all of the above will massively help you to stay concentrated. good luck.

 
Best Response

Make it a ritual. Sounds weird, but it works. I sleep in running clothes with my shoes next to my bed. When I get up, I roll over, tie my shoes, and go. Takes the decision out of it. When I walk into my office in the morning there are a few things I immediately do. Diet Coke out of the fridge, tv on to Bloomberg or CNBC, and I stand in front of my white board and update my goals and todo list. For goals I have a pretty simple ideology I picked up a few years ago, but it works for me. I have 3 goals for the year. Big, overarching shit. X revenue for the year, certain % growth, X new clients, whatever. Then 3 for the month. Smaller, more manageable. Finding a new property with certain parameters for investing, hiring a new analyst for something, etc. And then 3 for the week. Shit like "have 2 lunch meetings with potential clients"(and SCHEDULE THEM). And then I don't normally because it effectively becomes my todo list, but you can do daily goals also. I just make that daily stuff my todo list, normally longer than 3 items, and get to working. But I do this EVERY. MORNING. So when I walk in I take probably 10 minutes, review everything, it's fresh in my head, where/what can I change or move around or how can I improve, and move forward. I realize, not everyone has a whiteboard in their office and that kind of shit, but you can do your own version of this. It's basically just meditation time in the morning contemplating how you want to get shit done.

 

I found that having a routine helps (as some have already pointed out on this thread).

Getting started is always the toughest part though, so I tried building up my routine gradually. For example, wake up at the same time everyday, then wake up 5 minutes earlier to make a coffee, then 40 minutes earlier so you can squeeze in a gym session.

Have a beer every time you come home from work...(I'm doing pretty well with this one)

 

It sounds obvious, but just do more. Think of how much time is wasted on bs throughout the day. Checking social media, ghost-checking your phone for texts or notifications, browsing YouTube, websites, watching TV, etc. Having goals or writing a task list is great, but it's easy to deviate from. It feels good to write everything down and feel accomplished, but what is missing -- actually doing them! There is no magic formula. Know what you have to do, stop making excuses and do it.

Trust me, I fall victim to not being disciplined all the time, but when I just do more without contemplating or writing stuff down, I get stuff done.

Sent from my iPhone
 

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