A disciplined person is an efficient person, someone you can rely on, he always manages to do everything and achieves good results in many cases in life. He is not confused, he always has order on his desk, in his head, and in his life. He has willpower, and he has everything in order.
Surely, you have met such people among your acquaintances, relatives and friends. People still talk about them - pedants. But what distinguishes them from other people, let's try to figure it out.
What is discipline?
Discipline in its essence is a concept from psychology, which is widely used in all types of life activities and throughout a person’s life.
In kindergarten, we were taught to be in order with our peers: we ate by the hour, slept at a certain time, and even that walk was determined. At school, we especially got punished for bad behavior, and in the worst case, we were given a “failure” in the “discipline” column. At the institute, the daily routine has become even more complicated - everything is on the clock, everything is on time, you missed it - you won’t have time to do anything. And when we came to get a job, we already learned that if you violate labor discipline, you can easily lose it.
It turns out that all this strict adherence to the rules of behavior is accepted into society for a reason. Thus, there is not only a group, a class, a work collective, but also the state as a whole.
Violation of the norms and rules accepted in society entails punishment, and compliance with it leads to rewards.
Thus, discipline (general concept) is the timely and proper execution of rules and implementation of obligations that are established by someone. Discipline is necessary for the normal existence of the human race. Thanks to her, human behavior has its own order. People control their actions and feel the boundaries that prevent them from committing crimes.
Consequences of breaking order
It is also very important to become familiar with the consequences of violation of discipline. If it is an unprepared report for a lesson, an unexamined topic, an unwritten composition or essay, an unlearned summary, an unmade presentation, a table, a diagram or a poster for an event, then, of course, it will not harm anyone. In the worst case scenario, the student may be retained for the second year.
However, there are more dangerous consequences of violation, for example, a person may be fired for unexcused absence from work. This will negatively affect the family budget and marriage as a whole. If we talk about violation of generally compulsory labor discipline, the consequences will be even more serious. That is why every citizen must adhere to general rules and special regulations.
Types of discipline
Behind the principle, who sets the rules, discipline is external and internal. External discipline is a person’s behavior when the rules are observed through outside control. It relies on sanctions that force a person to determine the form of his behavior.
Most people understand discipline only as external order, that is, an external force influences a person’s actions, under the pressure of which character traits are formed and determined. But this view is erroneous, since external discipline will remain only a form of pressure and will cause resistance on the part of the individual, the team, and society.
Why is motivation alone not enough?
Today, the Internet and social networks are literally overflowing with information about motivation: books are written about it, videos are made, online courses are developed, and so on. People are inspired by examples of successful people (even though this is often just a picture), they believe that they can do the same, they are inspired even more and... Nothing happens.
Why? Let's figure out what motivation is - objectively and without emotions.
The term “motivation” was first used by the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who derived the “Law of Motivation”:
“Our volitions precede our actions, and the influence of the motive on the action is not known from the outside in an indirect way, like other causes, but directly and from the inside, therefore motivation is causality, considered from the inside.”
The word “motivation” itself is a derivative of the word “motive”. Soviet psychologist and philosopher Alexei Leontiev called the motive “objectified need.” In other words, a motive is what motivates action and sets the direction of activity; it is the ability to satisfy your needs. What is the difference between a goal and a need? Let's look at it with an example. Let's say you are hungry - this is a need. You want to satisfy your hunger - this is your goal. A plate of soup that you dream about when you are hungry is your motive, your motivation to action.
Motivation can come from both outside and inside. It’s easier and clearer to explain with examples: you read Leo Tolstoy’s books because you like them - internal motivation. You read Leo Tolstoy's books because they were assigned to read at university - external motivation. You go to the gym because you want to feel healthy - intrinsic motivation. You go to the gym because you want to please the opposite sex - external motivation. Most often, external motivators are money, the approval and admiration of others, career growth, and material acquisitions. Various factors are responsible for internal motivation: the desire for growth and self-development, pleasure, and so on.
Motivation can be positive and negative. Let's look at the examples again: you promise yourself that when you finish writing the article, you will go to a cafe for lunch - this is a positive motivation. And if you promised not to go for walks until you finish the article, this is negative motivation. For some, only negative motivation works; for others, it is important to praise themselves or receive praise from others. As in any other case, everything is individual.
Motivation is closely related to emotions. Remember your mood, energy and desire to immediately take action for success after reading an inspiring article or watching a motivating movie. In moments of euphoria, people predictably think only about the good, that their goal has already been accomplished, and they can rest on their laurels - and at this moment they do not think at all about the intermediate path, which often consists of routine and not very interesting tasks. Moreover, it is impossible to always be in an “active mood”; there are days when you want to give up everything and give up on your dreams. And when motivation stops working, it’s time for self-discipline.
Positive aspects of internal discipline
If a person has self-discipline at a high level, then such a person in a team or in society as a whole has an advantage over other people. He succeeds in all areas of life. In the family of such an individual everything goes according to plan, in the team he shows better results than his colleagues, in his career he achieves high results faster than others, and so on. Such a person is characterized by such traits as concentration and organization.
If you look closely at such an employee or employee, they always have a weekly journal with them. They are never ashamed to make entries in their diary, but they know for sure that the task they set themselves will be completed on time.
Such an “action plan” is a small result of self-discipline; it is internal self-organization that helps to cope with the assigned tasks.
Thus, self-discipline is self-control and complete responsibility over oneself. External discipline, unlike internal discipline, will never help a person overcome his fears and self-doubt. It will only aggravate these qualities, which will ultimately have a negative impact on the formation of personality. Thanks to self-discipline, a person will be able to put his complexes in order and develop willpower.
About the manifestation of quality
A disciplined person is easy to recognize. This is a good quality of personality. People who are characterized by it live according to moral laws, look responsible, purposeful, maintain harmonious relationships with others, show respect, caring and selflessness. Discipline has many facets. It can even appear “under fire”, on orders. For example, in the work sphere - simply because it is necessary, the boss ordered it. But discipline can become a personal quality only in conjunction with a sense of duty, consciousness and awareness.
Disadvantages of Self-Discipline
Those who do not have willpower believe that the formation of personality and the development of internal discipline will not lead to anything good. From this point of view, you can often hear the phrase that self-discipline is violence against oneself, because a person sets limits for himself that he should not go beyond.
The second negative quality of this type of discipline is considered to be the excess of motivation over self-discipline. Like, if there is a good incentive, then why do you need discipline within yourself at all?
Third, discipline is boring. Constantly keeping yourself within limits and giving up your own desires means missing out on everything interesting.
About the rules
Now you can pay attention to examples of discipline. Or rather, on the rules that are aimed at nurturing this quality.
They must be expedient. A person is obliged not to obey them blindly, but to follow them wisely, understanding the benefits. But you need to follow the rules - that’s what they were created for. Otherwise, these provisions will lose their essential quality. And of course, they must be brief, clear and clearly formulated - so that the possibility of conflicting interpretations is completely excluded.
How to develop discipline within yourself
In order to develop self-discipline, psychologists strongly recommend starting with the little things. For example, get up at the same time every day. It doesn't matter whether the day is a work day or a day off. The most important task is to learn to adhere to the principle. After about three weeks, such an awakening will become a habit.
According to this principle, a person develops any useful habit: if you do something the same thing over and over for a certain time, then it becomes a subconscious action that does not force a person to do something, but rather brings self-satisfaction from the result obtained.
It is also very important to find the meaning of life, to determine for yourself what comes first for you and what comes second. You can even do something stupid: watch TV all day! Only after such a pastime does one realize the meaninglessness of some actions.
In addition, there are a lot of unnecessary factors in life; understanding of their unnecessaryness comes in the process of establishing the meaning of life.
So don't let them distract you from important things. Moreover, the goals that you set for yourself must be achievable.
And, of course, discipline yourself gradually, not forgetting that the external environment already has some kind of formed image about you. And finally, remember that internal discipline, as well as external organization of yourself, should not become a goal for you, it is just a means by which you can achieve your goals.
Examples
Many people want to achieve the quality that so much has been said about. And some examples of discipline really inspire respect and admiration. Well, it’s quite possible to cultivate this in yourself.
There are several rules, following which, you can develop personal discipline. First, you need to keep your promises. Secondly, be honest. You can start small. Don't have enough time, have to stay late? You shouldn't keep others in the dark - you need to warn them.
Thirdly, you need to learn to speak and write correctly. Fourthly, you need to correct your mistakes, but this will require you to master the ability to admit them.
Fifthly, any idea that comes to mind that seems promising needs to be written down.
You also need to wean yourself from complaining about failures and problems to others, since they have their own troubles, which they will always consider more important. And yet, you shouldn’t get hung up on the same thing. You always have to move forward.
You also need to develop the habit of doing what you least want to do first. The ability to cope with difficulties can save you more than once in this life.
How to fight the urge to quit everything and do nothing
What to do when no amount of persuasion works and you can’t get down to business? Most likely, you are tired, and if not physically, then emotionally. We are people, not robots, and from time to time you can allow yourself to be lazy or do something useless, but very pleasant. This will allow you to take a break and restore strength, as well as truly miss what you love. It’s an amazing fact, but sometimes when you choose to rest or “do nothing,” a great desire to get to work or just boredom appears from somewhere, which you want to replace with something useful.
If putting things off until later (or until the last moment) is your habit, you are most likely caught up in procrastination. We talked about how to deal with procrastination in order to finally start tasks on time here.
When you don’t want to return to your habit at all, or the volume of upcoming tasks is very scary, try to “agree with yourself” that you will work on the task for 15 minutes, and that’s all. Once you start, you may not even notice how you get the hang of it.
Here it is appropriate to return to motivation - after all, this is a useful skill. Today you can find a large amount of literature devoted to inspiration, motivation and, most importantly, the development of discipline and willpower. For example, “Developing Willpower” by Walter Mischel, “Self-Discipline. Personal Development by Michael Wilson, The Book of Challenges by Roseanne Kasper, Willpower by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
Discipline and willpower are qualities that are needed in any task, from getting up in the morning to writing scientific articles. Set yourself a goal that inspires you, believe in yourself and use our tips to always finish what you start!
