angel 's Key Ideas from 365 Days With Self-Discipline
by Martin Meadows

Your choices are made in a moment, but there consequences will last a lifetime.

Each time you're faced with a decision between exerting self-discipline and taking it easy, remind yourself that the choice you're making today doesn't affect the present moment alone. A momentary decision can (and often will) reverberate for many years or even decades into the future.

Humans have the capacity to act against their urges in exchange for a better future.

Caving in to your temptations whenever you feel them emerge is like relinquishing your humanity, in a way. As an intelligent human being, you have an ability — and I daresay an obligation to make decisions that are based on rational thinking, not on your instincts alone.

Your most primal instincts may provide temporary comfort, but seldom are good for the long term, except when there is a direct threat to your survival.

Your chances of sleeping in are lower if you set three different alarms and place them away from your bed.

You'll be less likely to waste time at work when you block the most distracting websites instead of relying on your willpower to stop you before loading those funny cat pictures.

Prepare yourself for difficult situations by putting up roadblocks ahead of time, when your resolve isn't being tested. Your self-control system will do some of the heavy lifting for you, leaving your reserves of self-discipline to be used for the unplanned situations, when they arise.

While external circumstances can affect you, in the end, whether or not they control your life depends on you. When you achieve self-mastery, no one (and no thing) will have the power to enslave you.

The next time you blame an external factor for your lack of self-discipline, think again. Was it the person eating chocolate next to you who controlled what you put in your mouth, or was it you?

People whom you consider to be extremely successful aren't that different from you. Many of them in the past had less willpower than you exhibit now, and many of them might be more disciplined than you in one aspect, but less disciplined in another.

Becoming a self-disciplined person is within everybody's grasp. You don't need to have won the genetic lottery or get introduced to a country club to develop self-control— and neither you nor anybody else will ever achieve permanent, flawless self-mastery over every aspect of life. Accept that and accept yourself, as well.

No matter what they say about money not bringing happiness, at least several months' worth of income kept as savings in the bank means the difference between a relatively stress-free life and the soul-crushing fear when you can't cover an urgent, important expense.

In addition to improving your financial health, it will dramatically reduce stress and strengthen your ability to delay gratification and make more optimal choices favouring your future.

In many cases, we work hard to obtain something because we are convinced that we would be miserable without it. The problem is that we can live perfectly well without some of these things, but we won't know which they are if we don't try living without them.

The person you'll become in ten years will most likely not be the same person you are today, but it will still be you — and it's in your hands whether, ten years from now you'll look back and feel glad you extended self-empathy well into the future, or find that you decided to be selfish and steal from your future for some fleeting pleasure today.

Whenever you get discouraged, or feel tired by how far you still have to go to accomplish your goals, remind yourself that everybody who has built self-discipline had to go through the same process - starting with little changes which then turned into habits, which then led to big lifestyle changes and identity shifts, and eventually, into successes.

Self-discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self-discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure.

Next time, before you complain that you don't have a talent for something or weren't "born this way," remind yourself that self-discipline, in many situations, can more than make up for a lack of inborn traits.

The key to developing everyday calmness is focusing your attention on the present moment or on a single activity that you're performing. Engaging in a high-focus sport like yoga, rock climbing, or boxing can be a good way to tap into this state — and so can be something as mundane as gardening, dancing, or knitting.

Cultivating calmness will lead to even more self-control, and that will lead to an ever-heightening ability to control your state of mind and prevent emotions from clouding your judgment.

Each time you make a choice that favors instant gratification, your behavior signals that you have weak motivators. If your "reasons why" were strong enough, you'd be less likely to go with what you want now.

To achieve your long-term goals, make sure that the satisfaction you get from what you want most is always much stronger than the satisfaction you can get from what you want now.

Analyse your goals and how you approach them.

Replace short-term-oriented behaviors with those that show that you're in it for the long haul. Self-discipline isn't limited to rejecting a cake or sticking to an exercise habit; you also need self-discipline to maintain a long-term focus in all of your endeavours.