Self discipline is one of the corner stones of success. It can be defined as the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state. Therefore it is self-discipline that drives you to do something when enthusiasm or motivation has faded away.

How can you develop your discipline skill?

Just as everyone has different muscular strength, we all possess different levels of self-discipline. Everyone has some — if you can hold your breath a few seconds, you have some self-discipline. But not everyone has developed their discipline to the same degree. An effective method for developing and improving these abilities is to perform certain actions or activities, which you would rather avoid doing due to laziness, procrastination, weakeness, shyness, etc. By doing something that you do not like doing or are too lazy to do, you overcome your subconscious resistance, train your mind to obey you, strengthen your inner powers and gain inner strength.

Here are some exercises to train your own discipline:

• Sometimes, when you want to say something that is not important, decide not to say it.
• Don't read some unimportant gossip in the newspaper, even if you want to
• When you feel lazy or tired after your work, take a shower
• If you find yourself thinking unimportant, unnecessary, negative thoughts, try to develop lack of interest in them, by thinking about their futility

Discipline and leadership

And if you ask yourself what discipline has to do with leadership, read this great quote from Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA International:

"Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time leading yourself—your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and 15% leading your peers. If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny."

Coaching

A life coach can be useful to work on discipline. They will encourage you and instruct you. And much better, they will show you that your past is irrelevant to what you can accomplish today. They will help you keep the focus on your objectives and your discipline. They also will help you identify your negative thoughts and fight those off. A life coach can also identify with you the schedule that will best fits your life style.