The life you want doesn’t come to you from wishful thinking.

It comes to you from:

1. Having a clear picture of what you want.

2. Reverse engineering where you are and where you want to get to.

3. Creating a plan that focuses on the daily actions you need to take.

And the #1 skill that is the foundation of bringing all 3 of these elements together.

Before we get into what this one skill is, see if this scenario sounds familiar to you:

It’s a new week, new month or new year.

You wake up one morning and think, “Today is the day I start. Today is the start of my new life.”

You sit down, write down your goals, maybe create a vision board, get your ducks in a row, set your target date and you are off.

The first two days, you are untouchable!

You’ve gone to the gym, worked on your project for hours with intense focus, stuck to your diet, and went to bed on time.

You are crushing it and you feel invincible.

But the next week comes along with its friend Life.

Life has a habit of throwing a few spanners in the works and getting in the way of your dreams and goals.

You do your best to keep up with your new changes and clear out the spanners.

All your energy slowly goes to making sure things stay afloat, so Life throws more unexpected things in your way.

Slowly, you drop the diet.

You don’t have the time you work on your project and you are too tired to go to the gym.

You go to bed a little later if it means getting a few more things done.

Then it’s the target date you set and as you reflect, you realise: you’re right where you started.

Nothing has changed

What happened?

You were so motivated and ready to improve your life.

So, why hasn’t anything changed?

The problem began with relying on something that wasn’t going to last forever:

motivation.

The Wonder (and Trap) of Motivation

Most people think they need motivation to get started.

And this is true to an extent.

You wouldn’t do anything if you weren’t a little bit motivated.

You wouldn’t eat if you weren’t motivated by hunger.

You wouldn’t go to the gym if you weren’t motivated to have a great body and better health.

You wouldn’t talk to your crush if you weren’t motivated by your attraction and curiosity for them.

Everything we do is done because we are motivated by something.

Motivation is like the spark you need to start a fire.

It’s the spark that gets you started towards your goals. But sparks don’t last, do they?

If you’ve ever relied on motivation, you might have discovered that it’s rather fleeting.

And there’s a reason behind its fleeting nature.

Motivation is closely linked to your emotions.

You are more likely to be motivated if you feel good compared to if you feel bad.

Emotions fluctuate. So if your motivation is linked to your emotions, that means your motivation will always fluctuate.

You’ll only do things when you feel like it and if you rely on motivation for the important things you want to accomplish in life, the likelihood of their success decreases greatly.

The changes in your life won’t ever materialise because they were built on a weak foundation.

Success isn’t about doing the work when you feel like it.

It’s about doing the work, whether you feel like it or not.

Motivation is a feeling, discipline is action.

Discipline is the skill you need.

Discipline: The #1 Skill To Turn Your Dreams into Reality

Discipline is the ability to do what you said you would do, whether you feel like it or not.

Being able to do the things that are important for you to actualise your goals — even when they are hard — puts you in a better position than not doing them at all.

Where motivation is that push that got you started, discipline is what keeps you going.

Your emotions will still come and go, but with discipline, you won’t be at their mercy. You won’t fluctuate in your progress towards your goal, instead, you will keep making incremental progress that will keep you on track.

Being disciplined will teach you to foster a better relationship with your emotions and be more self-aware. You will be aware of how you feel, but you won’t fall victim or be overwhelmed by your emotions.

Have you ever felt good about the days you said you were going to do something and didn’t do it? 

No, of course not.

But how do you feel about the days when it was difficult and you felt awful, and beat down but you still took action, even if it was the absolute minimum?

You felt good about yourself.

Discipline builds self-trust and self-confidence. Because you showed up for yourself, for your dream and for the life you want.

You kept your word and did what you said you would do.

Discipline is the foundation for anything great you want to accomplish in your life.

Every small or big step you take towards your dream life even when you don’t feel like doing it is increasing the chances of getting what you want.

And what most people get wrong about discipline is thinking that they are either born with it or not.

They think it’s something innate.

This is wrong.

Discipline is a skill you can learn, develop and strengthen.

Just like building muscle at the gym, you build the muscle of discipline every time you do something that you don’t feel like doing but you know will benefit you in the future.

Discipline asks you to focus on your future instead of your present.

It asks you to make the hard decisions and experience some discomfort now because if you can do that, later on, things will be easier. Life will be better.

No one is born with self-discipline.

It’s a practice that requires you to do it every day.

Each day you do it, you get better at it, and it becomes a habit.

You build the skill of being able to do hard things, which makes each day more effortless.

The more disciplined you can be and take the right actions, the closer you will get to your goals.

Action Step

• Identify 1 goal you want to achieve in the next 6 - 12 months.

• Identify 1 - 2 things you need to do to achieve your goals.

• Commit to doing those actions daily.

• Every time you are disciplined about doing them — reward and celebrate yourself.

As you reward yourself for your efforts, being disciplined will become automatic and a sort of superpower you have.

P.S.

If you want help to build your self-discipline and get clear on the life you want, book a free call with me:

https://calendly.com/shanamdluli/claritycall