Ajay MalhOtra on Nov 02

Recent research indicates that when you start your day with an act of self-discipline, you are preparing your mind to be more disciplined throughout the day.

Think about small acts of discipline like exercising before work, packing your lunch, or arriving at work early. Choose something that does not take a lot of time, but you feel good about doing it. Do it every single day. This will help you build up positive momentum for self-discipline in other aspects of your life.

Choose one seriously difficult task per week and complete it no matter what. Weather, circumstances, mood swings, and other things do not matter.

Do you do 50 push-ups every day? Start doing 80, 90, or 100 there is no limit. Do you write one article per two days? Write two. Do you spend too much money? Try not to spend anything at all for three days, for example. Treat this important task as your main priority and have no excuses for postponing it.

Just as a solid start date can help you start strong, making the effort to write down the reasons why you want to improve can help give clarity to what you're doing.

List the five top reasons you want to improve your self-discipline and keep that list handy. It will give you strength when you're starting to wonder why you're doing all the hard work.

Self-control is often easiest when abiding by the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind." Removing all temptations and distractions from your environment is a crucial first step when working to improve your self-discipline.

If you are trying to have better control of your eating, toss the junk food. Ask your office intern to leave you off of the daily lunch order email. If you want to improve your focus while working, turn off your cell phone and remove the clutter from your desk.

This change can be awkward and uncomfortable but this is the right step to improving your self-discipline. When your usual behavior becomes a habit, you stop using your decision-making skill. Instead, you function on auto-pilot.

Losing a bad habit and acquiring a useful one requires us to make active decisions. The brain will resist such change for sure. It will take a while for your new regime to feel good and natural. Take some time and you will definitely face the result.

Writing a goal down makes it all the more real. Hang it up somewhere you will see it often and inspire yourself at your work desk, in your bedroom, in your car, etc. Write the goal in your yearly planner. Put it on your kitchen calendar.

You can also set actual calendar reminders on your phone to go off once a week or so. But be nice to yourself. Don't scare or shame yourself into your goals; rather, be happy, positive, and encouraging. Increase self-discipline by adding motivational quotes from people you admire.

Throughout our lives, each decision we make requires consideration and energy. The problem is that our lives are full of superfluous decisions, like what to wear, what to make for dinner, or what to do for the evening.

The more time we spend on these decisions, the more it wears down our executive function. And as a result, it's harder to dedicate willpower to the things that really matter. Set boundaries for yourself and plan ahead of time so you don't waste time and energy deciding at the moment.

This exercise is similar to the previous one, but here you choose a goal, make a plan and calculate the time and resources you will need to accomplish it.

Try to make something in 21 days: create a website, write a book chapter, lose 6 pounds, finish a big project, etc. You will probably notice that people, circumstances, entertainments, the Internet, and many other things stand in your way of coming close to that goal. And that's why you need to focus on that goal, think about it, imagine the results and ignore distracting factors.