5 Ways to Ensure Loneliness Doesn’t Turn into Depression

Everyone feels lonely from time to time. It’s a normal part of the human experience. But some people are more vulnerable to slipping from loneliness into depression. Or there can be hard times in your life when feeling lonely is only one step away from isolation and depression. 

 

People who are at risk of depression typically feel isolated and lonely; they have low self-esteem that can easily tip into more extreme feelings of self-blame and guilt, even self-disgust. And these negative thought patterns can lead to full-blown depression. If you’re having bad feelings about yourself, feeling lonely and worthless, here are some things you can do to head off the risk of depression. 

 

1. Boost Your Social Support Network

 

Isolation increases the tendency to self-blame. Connection and social contact can go a long way to helping you alleviate your loneliness and get a different perspective on the world. Reach out to friends, colleagues, and family to increase the positive connections in your life. 

 

2. Practice Mindfulness

 

Mindfulness helps you deal with what is in front of you right now. Developing a mindfulness practice can help you accept your thoughts and feelings without judgment. Simply by observing what is happening around you, focusing on what you can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste will help you break out of your negative thought patterns. 

 

3. Practice Self-Compassion

 

People who are caught up in feelings of negative self-worth are often extremely hard on themselves. Allow yourself a little imperfection. Be kind and change that internal monologue to one less punitive. 

 

4. Change Your Self-Talk

 

Have a look at your internal soundtrack. Are you full of self-recrimination? Do you magnify your flaws and faults? Now, would you talk to a friend like that? Rewrite that script into something more positive and self-affirming. If that is too hard to think about right now, try some of the books, apps, or websites that offer affirmations.

 

5. Use Emotional Reappraisal to Boost Your Self-Esteem

 

With a little practice, you can learn techniques to regulate your feelings and turn your self-esteem around. Depression often manifests in ruminating on the negatives in your life. You can use this focus to your advantage when you practice reappraisal.

 

Reappraisal is a cognitive-behavioral technique that allows you to reframe negative thoughts, flipping them to a more positive view. Instead of feeling paralyzed and crushed by life, you can take back control and develop more resilience. 

 

7 Types of Loneliness According to Psychologists

Loneliness is something you can’t avoid in life. There will be times when you feel lonesome, and you can live a happier life if you learn how to deal with it when it happens. To make that an easier process, psychologists have identified seven different types of loneliness.

 

1. ‘New Kid’ Loneliness

 

Like being the new kid at school, there are times in your life when you’re in a completely new situation. Whether it’s a new job, a new city, or a new school, you’re likely to feel lonely in the beginning.

 

2. Not Fitting in Loneliness

 

This is the loneliness that strikes when you feel different from the people around you. You may be an introvert in a team of extroverts. Maybe your values aren’t shared with the people around you. You feel separate and different. 

 

3. Lack of Romance Loneliness

 

When you don’t have a partner, it can seem like everyone else in the entire world has a significant other. Or maybe you do have a partner, but you feel disconnected. That’s lonely. 

 

4. Missing a Pet Loneliness

 

There’s no company like that of your pet. Maybe you’re missing your dog, cat, or gerbil. Pets can provide a special connection, and when it’s not there, you really miss it. 

 

5. Too Busy for Me Loneliness

 

There are times in your life when it feels like you’re not a priority for anyone. People get busy with their own lives and leave you feeling stranded and alone. 

 

6. Toxic Fringes Loneliness

 

Worse than busy friends are toxic ‘friends’ who get their energy from belittling you or making you feel inadequate. If you don’t feel supported by your friends, or you feel you can't really trust them, they are not good friends to have in your life. 

 

7. Lack of Company Loneliness

 

Sometimes loneliness can come simply from not having anyone to hang out with. Someone just to share space and be with. It doesn’t matter if you’re busy at work or are out partying every night. A lack of a quiet presence can make you feel deeply lonely. 

 

Once you've worked out what type of loneliness you’re feeling right now, you can take steps to address it. For example, if you’re missing having an animal in your life, you can adopt a pet or volunteer at the local animal rescue center. 

 

Make time in your life for meaningful relationships, not the ones that don’t feed your soul. Look for people you share values or interests with, and slowly you will make connections that will banish loneliness. 

 

7 Ways to Turn Worry into Excitement about Getting Things Done

Everybody worries sometimes. Right now, you’ve probably even got a few worries on your mind. You might be thinking about a relationship or a situation at work, causing you trouble. Maybe you’re worried about your health or whether or not you’re going to have enough money to pay the bills at the end of the month. Whatever the case, worry happens whether we intend for it to or not. This becomes a problem, though, when worry starts to take over your life. 

 

So, what is the goal? Is stopping worrying enough to put you on an even keel, or are you hoping for something…more? What if, instead of worrying, you could become excited, then use this excitement to get more done?

 

Let’s look at seven ways to achieve this:

 

Be Here Now

 

Worry has a way of trapping you anywhere but here. Either you’re worried about something which happened long ago, or you’re caught up in fretting about something still to come. Neither is going to get you anywhere. To stop worrying, you need to focus on the present. What interests you right now?

 

Realize This Gets You Nowhere Fast

 

Worrying stops you cold. In fact, most procrastination is caused by worrying. With this in mind, why are you wasting your time and energy on worrying? Sometimes just recognizing what a waste worry is, will be enough to derail it altogether. Especially when you have better places to be.

 

Throw Yourself into Something Interesting

 

Worry needs your attention to survive. Get busy doing something engaging to your mind, and you’ll find you forget all about worrying.

 

Rewrite the Script

 

If you’re seeing everything blow up around you, maybe you should try focusing on the perceived disaster. Ask yourself how you could do things to handle the situation if it were to happen. Once you have it, practice the scenario in your mind. Picture yourself handling matters.

 

Practice

 

Worried about something you need to do later? Having a dress rehearsal in your head will make things go smoother and keep worry at bay entirely.

 

Ask

 

Challenge your worry. Dig in and get to the roots until you understand your worry intimately. Ask yourself where the negativity came from. Peel back the layers until you get down into the heart of the matter.

 

Try a New Path

 

In the end, worry can become very attached to the familiar. Challenge yourself. Find a different way to do things. Explore where this path takes you.

 

The main point in all of these is to enjoy the journey. This is where you find the excitement and enthusiasm, which leads to getting things done. The rest is all momentum and a whole lot of brand-new accomplishments just waiting to happen.

 

How Can I Stop Avoiding the Tasks I've Been Putting Off?

Everyone puts off tasks now and then, but if you find yourself constantly putting off things you need to do, it's probably time to make some changes in your life. There are several simple ways to help get yourself motivated and stop putting off tasks you've been avoiding.

 

Don't Make It A Big Deal

 

When people put off tasks frequently, it's because they are making the task out to be something much bigger or much more serious in their minds than it is. It's time to put a stop to this practice in your mind. Tell yourself that the task isn't that big, and put it back into proportion. It may help to develop a mantra to remind you that the task isn't so bad and repeat it to motivate yourself.

 

Focus On Long Term Gains

 

When you procrastinate, it's often because you are focusing on the short-term annoyances. Such as that you don't want to get up off the couch right now. Instead, it's time to focus on the long-term gains of what completing that task will do to benefit you. It may also help to visualize how you will feel after you've completed the task and all the benefits you will experience. 

 

Break It Up

 

If you are putting off a massive task, it may be because it just seems too big to handle all at once. Do yourself a favor and break the task up into smaller, more manageable tasks. You'll find that you'll feel less overwhelmed and can conquer the task much easier than you could before. 

 

Set A Deadline

 

If you constantly tell yourself that you will do something "someday" or "when I have free time," you will only continue to put off that task. Now is the time to make a schedule and set a deadline for yourself. Schedule a time to complete each of the tasks you need to get done or each part of the more significant tasks you broke down, as mentioned previously. And if you finish on time, consider rewarding yourself as motivation to keep you on task.

 

Becoming and staying motivated can be very difficult, especially when it is a task you don't necessarily want to do. But with a slight change of mindset and breaking it down into more manageable pieces, you can accomplish anything, so set a deadline for your tasks and get moving today!

 

How Can I Stop Procrastinating?

Everyone procrastinates sometimes, but if you find that procrastination is a constant problem for you, it’s time to make a few changes in your life. Below are several tactics you can use to help yourself stop your procrastination habit. 

 

Divide Up The Task

 

Often, when you procrastinate, you may feel you are facing a massive task which you don’t believe you will be able to finish. Put a stop to this thinking by breaking up the task into more manageable pieces. For example, if you were supposed to clean your basement, resolve to clean one of the four corners each day instead of trying to tackle it all at once. This tactic can help make any task more manageable and feel less overwhelming. 

 

Make A Deadline

 

Now is not the time to tell yourself you will do something “later.” Instead, set a strict timeline for yourself, with sections of your goal having deadlines. This way, you known when you will be completing something. It may also help to have a small reward for yourself along the way. An example of this would be a student needing to write a four-page paper. And for each page the student completes, they would reward themselves with fifteen minutes of phone time. 

 

Stop Your Common Distractions

 

Usually, when someone procrastinates, it’s for the same reasons each time. Like when you were going to clean the kitchen, but then you just had to watch a new TV show instead. Put a stop to this by eliminating common distractions or procrastination tactics for yourself. If the TV is a distraction for you, maybe it’s time to work in another room. 

 

Spend Time With Motivated People

 

There is nothing quite like hanging out with someone motivated to boost your motivation. Find a friend or colleague whose motivation you admire, and resolve to spend more time with them. Or get a buddy in on your plans and decide to help keep each other motivated regularly. Either way, it’s much easier to stop procrastinating when you’ve got others around you accomplishing remarkable things!

 

Overall, discontinuing your procrastination habit can be extremely difficult, but it can be done just by changing some minor things in your life. Start by dividing up the task, making deadlines, and getting rid of your most common distractions. Then surround yourself with other positive people, and you will soon find you procrastinate tasks less than ever before!

 

3 Steps to Finish What You Start

Do you often struggle to finish the projects you start, even when you have every intention of finishing them? 

 

Believe it or not, this is a common problem that most people face. Luckily, you can follow a few steps to ensure that you can become the type of person who finishes a project once you start it.

 

1. Make A Plan

 

The first step to finishing a task is making sure you have a plan at the beginning. It needs to be a plan which you write down. A mental note isn't worth the piece of paper it is written on. You may want to jump in and start something in your excitement, but you might not realize all the work and challenges you will face. When you take the time to make a plan, this will better prepare you for the task at hand, and you'll be able to spot problems much more easily.

 

2. Take A Break

 

If you find yourself getting overly frustrated or beginning to loathe the project because you've been working on it for so long, it's okay to take a short break. This break will help reset your mind and focus. You might even be able to solve some of the problems you are facing while you take this little breather. Just make sure that when you set an endpoint to your break, this way you can hold yourself to it and not just abandon the project.

 

3. Make Small Goals and Rewards For Yourself

 

As you plan how you will conquer your task or project, break your goal into smaller mini-goals. Then, cross them off and reward yourself as you complete them. It will help keep you on task, and you'll be able to feel as if you are making progress, even if it's small. This progress will do wonders to keep your spirits high while working on the project. The little rewards you are giving yourself will probably help too.

 

So next time you get excited about a new project or goal in your life, slow down a bit and make a plan, complete with smaller goals and rewards for yourself. Then, as you pursue the project, don't be afraid to take small breaks if you need to recuperate. Chances are, thanks to these three steps, you will be much more likely to finish your new goal than leave it abandoned.

 

5 Tips for Keeping Self-Sabotage at Bay

We want to be productive. In fact, you might even wake up in the morning with all kinds of enthusiasm for the projects you’re going to get done during the day. 

 

Now fast forward a few hours, and suddenly you’re dragging yourself home at nightfall wondering where the day went, feeling like you never accomplished anything at all.

 

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Most people feel this way at least sometimes. The trick is to realize that this isn’t something entirely outside of your control. Sure, things are going to happen, which derail you, but more often than not, you’re reaping the fruits of self-sabotage. You’ve derailed yourself, through your own negative self-talk.

 

How to get past this? Simple! Start with these easy tips:

 

Listen to Music

 

It’s hard to get yourself going if your mood is what’s dragging. Thankfully this is a quick fix. Put on some music you love, something fast-paced and catchy for a quick pick-me-up and watch your productivity soar.

 

Get Up and Move

 

Like listening to music, putting your body in motion will build your energy levels (so long as you’re not trying to run a marathon). Dance around the room, take a brisk walk or try a few jumping jacks to get the blood flowing. Then tackle your task again, wide-awake and energized.

 

Look Inward 

 

Conversely, sometimes what you need is some quiet time. If you find your mind racing and yourself unable to concentrate on what you’re going, try meditation to slow things down. Find a quiet place, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Take deep breaths, nice and slow, and focus yourself on the present until you feel calm again.

 

Reassess What’s Important

 

It might be you’re not getting things done because you no longer find the value in your goal. If this seems to be the case, take some time to ask yourself some very crucial questions about why you’re on this journey. It might be you either need to shift your goal to something else entirely or, at the very least, adjust the outcome to serve your present needs.

 

Contribute

 

When all else fails, if you do not feel your work has value, offer to help someone else. Mentoring is one of those win-win situations where you bring your life skills and experience to help someone else who truly needs it. At the same time, you rediscover your passion through the act of teaching others what you know.

 

Do all this, and it’s good-bye self-sabotage, hello accomplishment. Soon you’ll be more productive than ever! 

7 Tips for Squelching Negative Self-Talk

You’re caught up in a cycle. You know the one. You’ve been talking down to yourself for a while. Every word in your mind points out your flaws and mistakes to where you think you’re going to go crazy from listening to it if you haven’t already.

 

Negative self-talk can be just this insidious. It gets in your head, courtesy of previous experiences, and negative input from people who don’t always mean well. Once there, it plays the same song on repeat, growing somehow worse with every retelling until you quit trying. Your dreams stall out, and you find yourself doing very little at all.

 

Finally, you need to take your life back and put an end to the negative self-talk once and for all. 

 

Easier said than done? Not necessarily. Try these things:

 

Find the Calm

 

First of all, you can’t combat anything when you’re overly emotional and overwhelmed mentally. Find a quiet place and sit down to take a few deep breaths. If you can, meditate or try a mindfulness exercise until you can reach a peaceful place internally.

 

Take Note of What You’re Thinking

 

Don’t avoid the negative thought. Listen to it. What is it saying? Whose voice does it sound like?

 

Dig into the Roots

 

Now ask yourself what the thought represents. Where did this come from? Is this from an expectation you put on yourself at some point, or does it come from someone else entirely?

 

Drop the Unreasonable Expectation

 

Are you trying too hard to be perfect in some regard? Is there a more reasonable expectation you can put on yourself in the place of this thought?

 

Turn It Around

 

What is the positive counterpoint to this thought? For example, if you’re worried about how bad you are with money, remind yourself of a time when you saved up for something you wanted, or think about a time when you paid off a debt and how good it felt afterward.

 

Create a Habit

 

If this thought is one which comes around often, what is the new thought you want to replace it with? How can you make this thought a habit? Consider this: the more you react in a new way to an old stimulus, the quicker a new habit is formed, and the old reaction disappears.

 

Just Stop

 

In the end, the only way to get rid of a negative thought is to consciously put a halt to it. Once you’ve gone through these steps, tell yourself to stop when the idea comes up again, and keep telling it to stop until it goes away completely.

 

Please note: You don’t have to listen to negativity but sometimes it becomes so firmly entrenched you might have trouble dislodging it by yourself. When this happens, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Talking to a trusted friend or counselor can help you lay this negative chatter to rest once and for all.

5 Beliefs That Keep You from Attacking Your Goals

Everyone has dreams, but not everyone makes their dreams into goals. You may have a few of these too. What are the reasons you tell yourself late at night to put the shutdown on making them a reality? These reasons are beliefs that you have, but that doesn’t mean they are valid reasons.

 

1. Not Enough Time

 

Everyone is busy these days. When someone asks how you are doing, you probably respond with “Busy.” But that might not be the truth. Everyone has the same twenty-four hours in the day. For a week or maybe two, keep a time ladder of how you spent your time. This includes sleeping, preparing and eating meals, social media, getting ready for work, cleaning your house. Take a good look at how your time is spent, and you might realize you have more time than you realize.

 

2. I Don’t Have ‘X’ Talent

 

It doesn’t matter if you want to write a book or paint a picture, you have as much talent as you are willing to work for. You may not have been born with the natural ability to paint, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn and practice. 

 

3. After ‘X’ I Will Do It

 

“Once I get through this (insert tough project at work), I will start training for that marathon.” “After I lose twenty pounds, I will take a salsa dancing class.” Why are you waiting? Maybe that marathon training will help you work through the stress of that project at work. Perhaps salsa dancing lessons will allow you realize that no matter your weight, your body is worthy of fun and sexy movement. If you have a goal, go for it now.

 

4. I’m Not Good Enough

 

What ruler are you using to measure your “good enough”? You are always good enough to go after your own dreams and goals. If this is an internal dialogue, then you need to work on liking and loving yourself first. If this belief is coming from external sources, then consider those sources and if they are holding you back.

 

5. ‘X’ Person Has it Easier

 

The grass is greener where you water it. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. There are many sayings that sum up that you really don’t know what someone else is going through. So do not assume that someone has it easier, and therefore can achieve their goals while you cannot. That person may think you have it easier or better.

 

Self-limiting beliefs can be a slippery slope. They can also keep you from even trying to reach your goals. Take time to examine your reasoning and come up with better beliefs to counter the negative ones.

How Accountability Can Help You with Self-Discipline

Many people think self-discipline means doing it all on your own, but it does not mean that at all. In fact, having a coach, or a group, or an accountability partner can really help you to develop more discipline. 

 

An example would be when someone puts off housework until they know someone is coming over, and they race around to get the house all tidy before their visitor arrives. It is far easier to give in and be less disciplined when you just have yourself in the picture. When you have a person or people hold you accountable though, you are far more likely to make sure it happens. 

 

An accountability partner is someone you set up a contract with to hold each other accountable for reaching goals. This is a mutual pact and is probably the easiest to set up. The goals do not have to be the same ones, the point is to connect on a regular basis, often once a week, and share with each other how much you have accomplished. The best way to do this is to break up the task into daily chunks and do each one each day so that you are not trying to finish up the project the night before you meet with your accountability partner. 

 

It is often easier to schedule a meeting with one other person than a group of people. You also usually do not have to pay for this method, and most masterminds and coaches are paid programs. You also have more flexibility in how you meet with an accountability partner. You can just call them on the phone, or use an instant messaging program, You could meet for lunch once a week at a restaurant, or at your house. 

 

You may prefer joining a group like a mastermind instead of just a one on one accountability partner. The advantage to having a group is additional pressure on you not to let the whole group down, and the fact when you run across an obstacle, the group can help brainstorm ideas to help you out. Two heads may be better than one, but sometimes multiple heads are much better than just two. 

 

You may find that you want some one on one coaching, or small group coaching instead, to keep you accountable. Maybe you are trying something new and need teaching as well as the connection. One on one coaching tends to be the most expensive option since you are taking up a lot of the time of your coach. Group coaching is becoming far more available because it allows the coach to help more people at the same time, plus gives the advantage of having other people that can help you out with specific issues, like a mastermind. They also usually cost a lot less than one on one coaching so may be more in your budget. Whatever method or methods you use, remember you still have to be disciplined for them to work.

 

Benefits of Developing Discipline

 

When you develop self-discipline, you have many beneficial results. These include a sense of accomplishment, more self-respect, and a better understanding of what you can do. 

 

Discipline is not always easy, but it is well worth it. When you set goals and work on them every day until you accomplish the goal, you feel proud of yourself. Not only because you accomplished the goal, but because you did not quit. You stuck with your goals and made them happen. Think back to when you had a goal and worked on it every day until it was done. How did you feel? 

 

When you discipline yourself to accomplish a goal, you also increase your self-respect. Think of the people you have the most respect for, and why you respect them. Chances are one of those reasons is that they have self-discipline. They set out to do something and they accomplish it. 

 

By doing the same for yourself, you can have more respect for who you are as a person. When you do not use self-discipline, you will feel less respect for yourself. You will find that you have lower self-esteem as well, and are more likely to fall into negativity. 

 

You learn more of what you can do. When you set goals and challenge yourself to meet them, you need to follow through with discipline, When you do that, you will find out that you can overcome obstacles that you might have thought were too difficult, You learn more about who you are and what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it. 

 

A lot of times people put limitations on themselves that are not really accurate. Think about something you think is not possible. Is it really impossible or are you setting a limitation that is artificial? One way to find out is to set a goal and make it happen. Obviously, if you are a couch potato, you cannot immediately run a marathon, but over time as you build up your body with increasingly more intense exercise, you can. 

 

Now it is your turn. Figure out a goal that you want to do, and set up milestones along the way. Then each day do something to make those milestones happen. It does not have to be anything major, just one more small step on the way to your final goal. When you reach that final goal, take stock of how you feel about yourself and what you are capable of doing. 

 

Using Challenges to Develop More Discipline

One way you can develop more discipline is to use challenges. This makes it more like a game and less like a chore. Also, there can be the element of competition with others and having others help hold you accountable which improves your odds of success. 

 

Challenges are very popular and you can find them in many places. Or you can make up your own and share it with a group of people. You also can make your own challenge or use one from someone else to just challenge yourself. However, you end up doing it is up to you. 

 

When looking to see if a challenge will be useful to you, there are some factors to look for, so you can best benefit. Is the challenge realistic? You want to stretch yourself, but not to the point where you have no chance of success. For example, you could challenge yourself to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but that is not very realistic. You also want the challenge to not be too easy. You need to see if you have the time to devote to it. Be sure to include time for learning new things. For example, if you challenge yourself to build a new blogging website in 30 days, remember that if you have never done one before, you will have to learn some things and that will be extra time above just writing the blog posts, 

 

If the challenge is a large one over a longer period of time, are there clear-cut milestones along the way to help you have a sense of accomplishment? If your challenge, for example, is losing 60 pounds in a year, you need to set up smaller weight goals along the way so you can keep up the momentum. Milestones also help you see if you need to tweak the challenge, either lower or higher. If you lose 10 pounds in about 2 months, you are right on schedule. If you have only lost 5 pounds in that same time period, though, you may need to lower the amount you plan on losing in a year. Now if you lose 15 pounds in 2 months, you may want to raise the amount you plan on losing in a year or cut the time down to say 10 months. 

 

When you do a group challenge, you have some added benefits. There is a sense of camaraderie when working together on a goal that you do not get just competing with yourself. Other people can give you ideas, too. For example, if you are in a group losing weight, people can share healthy recipes and support. Just remember that the primary person you are in competition with is not the others, but yourself and you can really enjoy doing a group challenge.

 

Create Habits to Stay Motivated

It should come as no surprise that the habits we form will determine our success or failure. After all, habits already dictate a lot about our lives. If we, for example, eat large amounts of food regularly and don’t exercise, we can expect to have physical consequences for our actions. That’s why it’s so important to form good habits so that we can reach our fullest potential.

 

What’s even more interesting is the fact that these same good habits can help us to stay motivated when it comes to realizing our goals. 

 

Let’s look at some examples:

 

1. Take care of yourself. If you’ve ever been sick then you know it’s impossible to be productive, or even to have a positive attitude when you’re not feeling good. That’s why it’s so important to take charge of your health. Carrying extra weight not only drags you down but affects energy levels which in turn affects productivity. Setting up some healthy habits such as going to the gym more often, or making changes in your meal plan then will help you to stay motivated longer just because you’re feeling better when your body is in sync. Your improved health makes this a win-win all the way around.

 

2. Revisit the reason you’re doing what you do. When you make goals, you tend to feel that initial surge of enthusiasm for the project. Sadly, this motivation tends to wane over time. Build a habit that forces you to revisit the goal to bring that motivation level back up. For example, if you’re doing something that will benefit a specific group of people somehow, then plan to spend time each month with that group to remind yourself of why you’re doing this. 

 

3. Be proactive. Getting the jump on things is a habit that not only keeps your boss happy but also gives you a rush of dopamine to the brain. Build habits of being early, or do things that help you to think ahead. For example, make lists that keep you not only on task but ahead of the game. 

 

4. Focus on the small stuff. If you’re dealing with a big goal, such as some serious weight loss, it’s easy to lose your motivation when it feels like you’re not making progress. Having small goals gives you milestones to celebrate and builds motivation back. These kinds of goals come from small changes, like planning to eat a little differently (cutting carbs for example), or in taking the stairs instead of using the elevator.

 

5. Surround yourself with people who motivate you. That is an easy habit for you to build, in that it involves choosing a little more carefully what company you keep. Building a habit of meeting with this group on a regular basis not only keeps you motivated but has the added benefit of cementing relationships with those around you.

 

Building good habits is an awesome way to stay on track to reach your goals. The best part? As with any habit, if you do it enough, you’ll wind up acting without thinking, making motivation an automatic part of your life. How cool is that?

 

Discipline in Bite Sized Steps

One of the ways that people struggle with developing self-discipline, is trying to make too many changes at once. Not just by doing more than one goal at a time, but by making those goals way too large. Either of these approaches tend to lead to failure. 

 

An example of too many goals at once might be someone choosing to quit smoking, go on a diet, exercise regularly, build a successful business, and get out of debt. All of these are good goals that can be done. If you try to do them all at once, though, you will probably find it to be too much and quit. This is one of the reasons why resolutions rarely work out. Instead, focus on one or two of these for at least 1 to 2 months and make them consistently a new habit first, before tackling new goals.

 

For example, take quitting smoking, you might start with that one since it has the most negative impact both on health and finances. So you might start with just quitting smoking. You could spend a couple of months getting rid of the cigarettes and using aids like the nicotine patch to help. Then once you have completely quit smoking and no longer need the patch, you can move on to the next goal or goals on your list. 

 

You may find changing your diet and exercising more to be really overwhelming goals because they are huge ones. So, another tactic to help you with discipline is to break them down into smaller goals. Instead of just quitting overeating, maybe you break it down into this week you cut your soda intake in half, then week two you cut it out completely. If you do this week by week making one SMALL change, you may find it easier to stay in control. 

 

Another way you can break it down is by intensity. So say you want to exercise more, but you have not exercised in years. If you start with something like a full workout, you may give up or get injured and then be unable to exercise at all. So instead of going full tilt, you can start by doing mini workouts at a lower intensity for a few days, and over time add more minutes to your workout until you reach at least 20 to 30 minutes of activity. You can also over time increase the intensity of your workout as you get stronger and in better shape. 

 

By breaking down the goals into bite-sized steps, you can make it easier to develop the discipline you need to accomplish them. You will also improve the chances of success in changing your habits.

 

Discipline is Empowering

You may think that developing discipline is about limitations. This thought has probably been reinforced by previous attempts at changing your bad habits. Actually, it can be very empowering to develop discipline. Think back to when you managed to make a change in behavior that was successful, how did you feel? When you overcome obstacles in your path, and accomplish something with consistent work, you feel like you can do anything. 

 

When you are not self-disciplined, you often do not accomplish your goals and feel like you are not worthwhile. You tend to put yourself down more and in general have a more negative outlook on life. You may set yourself up for health issues, in particular those related to obesity, or have trouble in your relationships with friends and family. 

 

Successful people do not get there just because of luck. They make goals, plan how to achieve them, and then develop the discipline to accomplish those goals and plans. They do fail, they do have obstacles, they may even modify the goals or go in a different direction based on working on those original plans. 

 

If you want to succeed, you need self-discipline. You may want to get rid of bad habits like smoking, gambling, and overeating. You may want to form good habits such as exercising, reducing clutter, reading more books, watching less television, or saving money. You can accomplish these habit changes if you focus on one or two at a time, and consistently act on those goals over time. One is best, though if you are trying to lose weight, you may find it better to combine dietary changes with exercise. 

 

The biggest obstacle to discipline is not lack of willpower, but a desire for instant gratification. Especially in modern society, everything seems to be focused on having things done quickly. People eat instant oatmeal or cold cereal instead of having a cooked breakfast. You grab a burger at a fast-food restaurant instead of bringing a healthy lunch to work. Television commercials tell you that you can have this or that right now, if you pay by credit card. The problem with that of course is the interest you later have to pay on those purchases. 

 

You can improve things where you are not in debt, are healthy and fit, and have stable relationships, but it will require giving up instant gratification, and adopting self-discipline. It will not always be easy, but you will find it quite empowering to achieve your goals for a better life.