Neil Desai

With the rise of the internet and the role of technology in our lives people have become more easily distracted and constantly surrounded by information and entertainment. This is fine, but like most things it isn’t ok in excess. Never before have humans been this surrounded by information. Information is freely available online and we can search for anything we want to know. However, every advancement brings new challenges with it. Everyone is connected and distracted constantly. How are people supposed to adapt to become successful? I believe there is a relatively simple solution: Discipline. I see fellow classmates all the time around me that are on Facebook when they need to be writing a paper due the next day.

One of the biggest problems I find in people my age that have grown up with the internet is that they are increasingly less disciplined than ever before. So of course that leads me to the question “How do you develop discipline?” I wrote out some ways that I think will give you a good head start on how to improve your discipline.

1. Learn to say NO. I learned this from two friends of mine and it has paid off by and large. If someone asks me to do something and I don’t want to I just say no. I’m not rude about but I just explain that I would rather not. You don’t have to say yes to everything. Learn to say no and it’s extremely empowering. 
2. Be organized. Create a system that allows you to manage all of your different responsibilities. I, personally, use the Getting Things Done approach which I’m going to go over in more detail in a future post.
3. Create a plan for each day as soon as you wake up. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
4. Commit to yourself. I hate it when people tell me they plan on doing something but end up bailing. I always believe if you commit to something than you should do it. You know what’s worse? Not keeping commitments with yourself.
5. Build your momentum. Commit to one thing for the next 30 days. Make it small and easy. It could be as simple as flossing every night. Then after one week of starting the first commitment add one more. Eventually, you’ll be able to tack multiple things on that you need to do and you’ll get it done. It’s a great feeling knowing that adding more weight won’t bring you down.
6. Think about your actions. Take a minute before you decide to do something and figure out if it’s really something you want to do. If it is, then do it and make that commitment to yourself. 
7. Delay Short Term Gratification. This is one of the biggest reasons why people aren’t disciplined. They need to satisfy every urge. Think about the long term and decide if the action is one you want to take.