You Need More Than Self Discipline To Achieve Your Goals

Happy New Year!!!!!

Another year and a chance for us to start all over and get the results we want. So you have now set your goals for the year and even started taking some actions on them. Well, you may have heard over and over again that what you need is self-discipline to help you stay on course. The question on my mind now, however, is whether this is the truth.

It is true self-discipline is important in goal setting and achievement for, without it, one may not be able to achieve their full potential. This is because self-discipline is what allows us to keep the commitments we have made to ourselves. However, as I will show in this post, sometimes focusing on self-discipline alone may be counterproductive in our quest to achieve our goals.

Dani Spies in the video How To Have More Self Discipline in life appears in my view to offer one of the best definitions of self-discipline. According to her,

\”self-discipline is all about getting to know who you are as a person and what you want out of life\”.

I entirely agree with this definition. Dani is backed up by Tara Mohr in her book Playing Big who states that

\”where we think we need more self discipline, we usually need more self love instead\”.

Tara goes on to encourage us to set gift goals as opposed to should goals. She defines gift goals as goals which tend to be free from the pressures of society, culture, friends or family. They are also set out of authentic interest. Should goals, on the other hand, come from a sense of should and flow from what other people expect from us. It follows, therefore, that a person who sets should goals may fail at achieving them not because they lacked self-discipline but simply because they set the wrong goals in the first place.

In my view, instead of focusing on self-discipline alone, below are some more tips you can use to ensure you achieve your goals this year.

#1. Maintain Clarity Of What You Want To Achieve

No amount of self-discipline will get you the results you want if you have no idea what those results are in the first place. I have always argued that the starting point is to define clearly what success means to you. In order to do this, clarity is key. It is what Simon Sinek calls starting with a clear why. Not only do you need to know what results you want, but you must also have clear and compelling reasons why you want those results. This in my view is what amounts to having desires as thus becoming a goal achiever.

In my case, for example, one of my goals is to practice more self-care. I have gone ahead and defined what self-care means to me. One of the definitions is I need to lose some more weight so I can be at my ideal weight. I have written down what I will do to ensure I get this done. In addition, I have gone ahead and got a picture of myself when I was at that what is medically my ideal weight. As you can see I have a clear goal with a clear why and clear action steps to get to my goal. This in my view is one of the starting points of success when it comes to goal setting.

#2. Always Keep Your Goals Before You

There are several reasons why people fail to achieve the goals they set and failure to keep them in front of them is one of them. For a long time, I was one of these people. As you can imagine after a while I forgot what I set out to achieve or when I remembered it was too late for me to redeem myself. I like what Maya Angelou told us, \”when you know better do better\”. These days I use my goal setting sheet to capture my focus 5 and word of the year. I also use my 12 Week Year Sheet to break my focus five into manageable goals that I can work on in intervals of 12 weeks at a time.

In addition to setting my goals and keeping them before me, I design a vision board every year which I ensure I look at several times during the day. The other day I noticed that my current kitchen is strikingly similar to a picture I put on my board for 2016.

I now run workshops on vision boards and tell my participants that you have to keep your vision before you. Like Steve Harvey says \”………. if you can see it in your mind, then you will hold it in your hand\”.

#3. Use Routines To Create Good Habits 

I am a firm believer in routines. In my view, they bring structure to our lives and help us do what needs to be done. For example with my goal of self-care, I have a routine of working out at least 30 minutes every day. Sometimes when my alarm goes off I do not want to wake up but because I do this day in day out I often find myself operating in autopilot mode. I also ensure that I have motivation like a good sermon to listen to or an informative video to watch on Youtube.

Currently, I am reading Gretchen Rubin\’s book Better Than Before in it, she has a Habits Manifesto and the first one states that \”what we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while\”. This is why I believe, routines are more powerful and effective than self-discipline. Once you create clear routines you will be able to accomplish the goals you have set. This is because routines are simply habits and once you make use of habits then taking action becomes easy.

Finally,

It is imperative that you give yourself some love on the journey to achieving your goals

Please remember you are your greatest asset in the goal achieving process. There may be bad days where you act contrary to what you want. Instead of beating yourself up, learn to do an audit and discover the underlying problem then start again. Sometimes after an authentic audit, you may discover that you have a should goal instead of a gift goal. Alternatively, circumstances may have changed and there is no motivation for you to keep going after that goal. Please avoid pushing on simply because you set the goal. Similarly, avoid copying other people\’s habits in a bid to achieve the goals you set. Keep in mind that we are all different and what works well for another person may not work for you. Instead, do the work of self-discovery and find out what habits will produce your results.

I wish you all the best as you work towards achieving the goals you have set for this year. Remember we all have it in us to become the people we desire to be. Sometimes when the going gets tough all you need is someone to hold your hand and encourage you to keep going. Please feel free to book a Complimentary 30-minute appointment or drop me an email at fulfilledlifeblog@gmail.com.