Set goals. If you Google "goal setting," you get 952 million hits. Setting goals is a much talked about topic. How can setting goals help you break the cycle of lack of self-discipline? By setting goals, you introduce something external to keep you motivated and accountable. Having an articulated set of goals keeps you on track because you no longer have to convince yourself, "I can do this." Instead, you can say to yourself, "I just need to achieve my goal." The former is easier to let slide, while the latter is more effective because it is tied to a consequence, whether positive or negative. Another way setting goals can help you break the cycle is by decreasing your discomfort. When your unhelpful assumptions have you feeling uncomfortable, having a clear goal with specific steps may help you put aside some of these feelings and remind you that you everything is proceeding just fine and you don't need to stress or become fearful.Finally, being able to actively track your progress toward your goal is helpful for adherence. It's motivating. Perhaps you have a log where you document how much water you drink each day. Maybe you mark the length of your run each day on your calendar. Whatever your goal, decide how you are going to monitor your progress toward achieving that goal, because it is going to keep you on track and let you know that your efforts are not in vain. Even just a visual reminder can often be a powerful tool. When we struggle with self-discipline, we often make the mistake that however we feel is how reality actually is. For instance, because you feel discouraged, you feel that you're destined to fail. Sometimes we need a reminder about what we've accomplished and how far we have come. All the above benefits of goals are especially true if you attempt to abide by the SMART goal methodology. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and with a time frame. Instead of saying that you want to lose weight (too ambiguous and easily shrugged off), you set specific parameters for your goal that help you achieve the goal.Specific. The goals you set should be precise and unambiguous, otherwise you won't have a clear definition of what you need to accomplish and won't be strongly driven to achieve your aims. The more detail the better. Let's use a common and popular behavioral change as an example of the SMART goals track: establishing a workout routine. * Why? Because you want to live healthier.* Who's involved? You, for one. Maybe a personal trainer, too.* What do you need to accomplish? Building strength and/or losing or gaining weight.* Which requirements or obstacles do you deal with? You need to establish a routine and use gymnasium equipment. Your obstacles could be personal - self-consciousness in a workout environment or living a bit far from a useful gym facility.* Where do you need to go to do this? If the gym's too far, maybe there's a space in your house you can clear for working out - or you could just focus on activities you can do anywhere, like running or biking.These answers don't have to go too far "into the weeds," but they should be clear enough to serve as a statement of purpose and mission. Measurable. Keeping track of your advancement through your goal is a huge part of remaining motivated. Recording your progress step by step will keep you fully aware of how much you've accomplished and how far you have to go, especially when you're in the latter stages and trying to keep momentum.For instance, exercise, in particular, thrives on keeping records of your progress: how many reps you do, how many miles you run or bike, by how much you increase your effort over a period of time, how much weight or size you're losing or gaining on a weekly basis, and how far away you are from your targets. If you don't measure it, you won't know it, and you won't do it.Achievable. Be pragmatic about setting your expectations. Although it's important to stretch your capabilities to grow, your goal should be something you can actually complete. You probably won't rise into a senior executive position if you've only been with a company for six weeks or even six months. Careful estimation of what's realistically possible for you in a modest time frame will help you build your resources gradually and chart your success more surely. If your goal is too easy, you will be bored and unmotivated. If your goal is too difficult, you will become discouraged and quit.For a workout regimen, results should be achievable according to several factors. Your body build may not support dramatic weight loss or gain, so know what you can expect to achieve, perhaps working from the perspective of getting healthier and changing dietary habits. You're probably going to need to set a workout regimen that fits into your daily schedule and moderate your expectations according to what you can accomplish in that timetable. Relevant. Do you feel like your goal actually matters? Is it a useful or worthwhile pursuit? Does it fill an established need? Is now the best time to be following this track, or might it be too soon? Is it something that will be valuable in the current personal climate? And are you the best person to bring it to reality?For the workout example, this isn't a terribly difficult dilemma. Getting healthy is obviously a worthy quest and fills a need. You're of course the best person to make it happen. You could conceivably have a few time-related fixes to think about - there might be a practical reason for you to wait a couple of weeks. Or none at all.Time-bound. This is a deadline. This could be an additional "when" question in the "specific" category but deserves its own mention. (Plus, we need a "T" section to finish the acronym anyway.) You need to set a due date or deadline to measure your milestones and keep your focus on the finish line. Of course, this is critical to avoiding procrastination. Set your expectations along a certain time frame. When should you finish the job? What can you do right now, in six months, and in six weeks?In terms of your workout routine, what size or weight can you expect to be after a certain amount of time (two weeks, six months, a year)? Base your expectations on the other factors in your SMART goal assessment - but once you make a deadline or numeric goal, stick to it.Olympic athletes only have the opportunity to compete every four years. How can you remain self-disciplined and motivated for so long? The first year might be doable as you are running on enthusiasm, and the fourth year might also be fine as you can run on anticipation. But what about the middle two years? Those are tough times, and setting goals can drastically help your powers of self-discipline.Time management. Yet another way to help break the cycle of lack of self-discipline is to manage your time better. In general, time management is the ability to get specified things done within the allotted time you have available. It's simple - the worse you are at this skill, the more negativity and discomfort you feel, which leads you down a path of darkness. A good way to start with time management is to keep a time log. Essentially, you document how you spend each minute of your day for at least a week. This can be done on paper, on a calendar or e-calendar, in a spreadsheet, or whatever way works best for you. Whatever method you choose, be brutally honest about your time. This will provide the most information and help you on your quest to become a better time manager.At the end of the week, you can look back and see not only what you accomplished, but you can also look for trends. Look for the time of day that you are most productive. Moving forward, you may want to schedule your most important tasks of the day in that time frame. Maybe your time log is an eye-opening look at just how much time you waste. How much time do you spend on social media, surfing the Internet, etc.? If you've really been authentic in recording how you spend your time, it can be a truly valuable tool.Time management can actually help break the cycle at almost any point. If your unhelpful assumption is fear of the unknown, time management can help by creating routines and systems that allow you to have a better handle on what's coming next in your day, month, etc.If you are feeling uncomfortable - say, anxious or frustrated - a good time management system can help you stay or get back on track and alleviate some of those feelings of discomfort by giving you a framework in which to operate.Time management also helps when you are making excuses. It's harder to make an excuse when you have something scheduled on your calendar. By having an appointment on your calendar, you know there's a deadline, and that creates a sense of urgency, thereby spurring you into action rather than encouraging you to come up with excuses. After all, many of us claim to work better under a time constraint, so you can test this theory on yourself through better time management.If you are in avoidance mode? When you are avoiding a task, you are typically replacing it with something of low or lower priority. By honing your time management skills, you can better schedule time for your priority tasks, but you can also schedule your "time killers" or down times. By scheduling both, it helps keep you on task for the more important things since you know you have time scheduled to do other things.Finally, time management can be beneficial when it comes to consequences. You may be able to avoid some of the negative consequences by being an effective time manager. By scheduling your time, you will be less likely to fall behind, which can create stressful demands on you and your time. You are also likely to avoid failing at a task because you've planned things out ahead of time.
