Hacks for becoming more disciplined

Discipline is directly correlated to our quality of life and the choices that we make. Become more disciplined for a better life!

Discipline is necessary to achieve the goals you set for yourself and enjoy a good quality of life. Often, what is good for your health involves discomfort, but I assure you that the pain of discipline is less than the pain of regret. That's why today we bring you practical tips to become a more disciplined person.

 1. Befriend discipline

Discipline has had a bad reputation ever since we grumbled about doing homework at school. However being disciplined is actually acting in favour of our interests and goals; it means not leaving our life at the mercy of our emotions but acting according to our convictions. Your disciplined version is what will help you achieve what you want, even if now it may seem too distant and difficult to reach.

 2. Use the power of accountability

My favourite method and the most effective for me is to have an someone to be accountable to. Sharing your goals with someone and having to be accountable regularly significantly increases your commitment. Choose them well so they push you to take responsibility for those changes, and you will see how your level of discipline increases. An accountability partner can be used for fitness or anything else.

 3. Make good habits easier with daily organization

Use organization to make the tasks you want to incorporate into your life more accessible and to make it harder to engage in behaviours you want to avoid. If your goal is to eat healthily, create a system that allows you to eat well and limits your access to junk food. Daily organization is simple to improve. Make a plan, write it down, detail it to the maximum, anticipate any difficulties that may arise, and how to solve each one of them. For example find at window where you may be able to meal prep for several days, this help with your food choices.

 4. Take care of yourself as you would of others

We often find it easier to attend to the needs of others than our own. Mentally consider yourself as a person for whom you are responsible. From now on, you have to take care of the health and well-being of the person you see in the mirror every morning when you wake up.

 5. Turn beneficial actions into habits

All actions or tasks we do daily have the potential to become a habit, either good or bad, through repetition. But the reality is that it takes much longer to form difficult habits like exercising every morning than to form simple habits like turning off the alarm clock and going back to sleep. The more difficult the action is to perform and the more willpower it requires, the harder it is for it to become a habit. That's why, to change a bad habit or build a new one, it is crucial to start with actions that do not require excessive effort.

What separates the repetition of the action from the successful formation of the habit? Having discipline. Despite the difficulty, building good habits is essential not only for health or productivity. If we can automate beneficial tasks for our health and quality of life, we save willpower to use in other areas of life, such as spending quality time with family and friends, professional development, or engaging in hobbies that make us feel fulfilled.

 6. Prioritize your priorities

It is much easier to be more disciplined if we meet our basic biological needs first. It is much easier to improve our discipline and make good decisions if you have had the proper rest and a good level of deep sleep at night, and if you exercise enough to stimulate your brain. To be more disciplined, improve your sleep quality, your nutrition, and your exercise habits.

Read the last paragraph again 😊.

 7. Meditate to improve your emotional management

The practice of meditation can help you manage your emotions better, increasing your ability to deal with stress. When you improve stress and emotional management, you will find improvements in your daily tasks. You can start with my basic instructional video on how to meditate, both in the simplest meditation scheme and with a focus on gratitude.

 8. Incorporate stoicism

Stoicism is the ancient philosophy based on self-control, wisdom, and resilience in the face of adversity. It teaches us to focus on what is within our control, accepting and adapting to what we cannot change. From this perspective, challenging and uncomfortable situations are an opportunity to strengthen our character. To increase your levels of discipline, you need to learn to enjoy the challenging and uncomfortable. If we dedicate ourselves to learning to enjoy the things we don't love, sooner or later we will be living without tasks we detest and we will be able to enjoy the day-to-day much more. I recommend reading from Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.

 9. Reframe your identity according to your goal

How you see yourself influences your actions. There is a big difference between considering yourself "someone who should exercise" or an athlete, or seeing yourself as "someone trying to quit smoking" versus considering yourself a non-smoker. Seeing yourself as an athlete or a non-smoker can make healthy practices feel less forced, more natural, part of who you are or want to be. Start with a change in mindset and identity that drives you to meet your goals.

 10. Motivate yourself with reminders

Any kind of reminder aimed at meeting your goals plays a key role, whether it's photos, notes, or your phone's wallpaper. The important thing is to frequently reconnect with the reasons why you strive and use the emotional state that the memory generates as motivation to keep going.

The discipline you build to take charge of your health will allow you to cultivate good relationships with others, have better job prospects, and reach goals that you currently think are unattainable. It will always be worth the effort to become more disciplined.

Remember, it's better to choose one or two tips and apply them than to try everything at once and get frustrated. You have the reasons and know what to do. It's time to take the step. ______________________________________________________________________________

Hi, I’m a mechanical engineer that 5 years ago shifted into the fitness space. Longevity is a field I’m very interested in, and I share my thoughts and findings with my community.  My team and I coach primarily men in the 40s, 50s and 60s on how to live healthy, build muscle, sleep great and reduce stress by creating great habits. I’m a 4:15 marathon runner who loves to lift weights. I follow the hybrid lifestyle; who said that running and lifting can’t go well together? At 57 I believe age is just a number. My coaching is based “My Six Pillars of Fitness & Longevity”. Mentors such as Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia are world-class scientists who I follow to ensure that my advice and coaching is science-based.