Today we're going to learn about how to build the discipline you need to achieve your fitness goals and make it your biggest asset to achieve anything you want in life .Discipline is the the base of any habit you want to create or get rid of. Everything requires discipline: Eating right, working out, studying, working hard, avoiding trouble, etc.

People nowadays talk about motivation, but truth be told, motivation comes and goes. You cannot rely only on motivation because that is a recipe for failure. You need to set yourself up for success, thus, building your ability to be as disciplined as a marine or a monk could be the building blocks of your success.

How to Build Discipline

1. Go against the norm

While you know the importance of developing self-discipline, other people won't always understand. They might think you're strange for waking up before sunrise. Maybe they make fun of you for forcing yourself to be productive. They might laugh every time you substitute junk food for a healthy meal. And while you're trying hard to get rid of bad habits, they'll tell you that you're making life harder for no reason. However, you know its benefits and you are trying not to be like everyone else, because the vast majority of people have no self-discipline. They struggle with motivation and find themselves wasting more time than they use.

As a result, most people are unsatisfied with how their life pans out. They'll sit around years later and wonder about everything they could have done differently to accomplish their goals. So you might be strange, but you're doing something most people are not willing to do. You're building the confidence and motivation to pursue your dreams instead of waiting for them to pass you by. You're looking into the future and taking concrete steps to achieve success. None of that would be possible without self-discipline because all those good habits hone your work ethic and teach you how to use delayed gratification.

Unlike most people, you can make sacrifices in the present and earn the successful future you envisioned for yourself. So, let them tease you about your to-do lists or routines. You know that you're doing this for a reason. You're setting aside short term rewards to improve the quality of your life. The truth is, in order to get better, you have to be different. Now, that might mean skipping a party to grind another couple of hours of work. Either way, ignoring the norm is an essential part of the process. So, don't be afraid to embrace it.

2. Plan for success

Clear and concise goals is a critical part of building self-discipline, but after you've established those manageable goals for yourself... What do you do next?

Think about goals like check points on your ultimate journey towards success. You have to stop at each one to get where you need to go, but sometimes the road from point A to point B has some twists and turns. 

Setting a goal doesn't tell you how to overcome the roadblocks standing in your way, that's where a detailed plan comes into the picture. After you've set your new goal, take some time to figure out the strategies that you'll use to get there. Think about what information have you learned that might help you. Can you anticipate any problems and find ways to work around them without an execution plan?

Even the most diligent goal setters may find themselves stagnating and with a lack of progress that can really take a toll on motivation and self-discipline. So create a detailed execution plan to make sure you never stop moving forward.

3. Snowballing habits

It takes one to two months for your brain to register a new habit or routine. Of course that fluctuates depending on the type of behaviour you're trying to learn. But, for the sake of this article, let's take a bad habit like eating junk food as an example. For most people it takes a few days for the body to start craving unhealthy snacks because habits with powerful short term rewards are easier for your brain to latch on to a good habit.

You must shrink your ultimate goal down into something smaller and easier. Therefore, instead of working out for a complete hour you just try going for a 15-minute walk each day. That sounds easy enough, so it won't take as long for your body and brain to get on board. And once exercise becomes a part of your routine, you can turn those walks into a visit to the gym and you'll find the transition a lot easier.

When your brain has a similar behaviour to build off of, it's already used to setting aside time to workout. So going to the gym no longer feels like a major change, eventually it will feel like a regular part of your routine and, when that happens, you can increase the difficulty and slowly build towards your goal. While snowballing takes longer than jumping right in, there's a higher chance that those habits will actually stick around.

 4. Food is fuel 

Hunger and self-discipline are a terrible combination. Nothing's more destructive to your productivity than an empty stomach. The lack of energy leaves you fatigued and lazy. 

Low blood sugar triggers pessimism and ruins concentration. Many people try to lose weight by cutting down their total food, especially those who diet by counting calories. If they are not educated in nutrition, they tend to miss meals and starve just to decrease their daily consumption. However, that kind of dieting is terrible for your body and it takes a toll on your mental state.

If you want to promote self-discipline, you shouldn't let yourself go hungry. Whenever you hear your stomach growling don't wait to refuel, as long as you're eating the right kinds of food. You should be regularly consuming foods rich in protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins. 

Not only do they foster a healthy body, but they also supply you with enough energy to keep performing at your best. So feel free to enjoy all three meals and don't skip snacks. Sometimes a piece of fruit or some nuts is all you need to stay disciplined and productive throughout the day.

5. Gather Information and learn

If you're having trouble avoiding bad habits, try to learn more about them and why they're bad for you. For example, you notice you are eating too much fast food. You've been trying to shake this unhealthy habit, but you keep craving pizza and cookies. So, what's the best way to retrain your brain?

You might start by watching a documentary on how processed food is made, what ingredients do they use, where does it come from, etc. The goal is to discover why it's so terrible and your brain will have a hard time focusing on anything else when you come across junk food, it is called negative association or priming.

This trick takes advantage of a psychological phenomenon called priming. When your brain is predisposed to a certain kind of stimulus, that first stimulus affects the way you respond to a second stimulus. For example, imagine you're shown a picture of some gross food and then another picture of a beautiful beach.

The negative emotions from the first picture will carry over into the second. In other words, the beach won't seem as appealing because you associated it with bad food. You can do the same thing with any bad habit! All you have to do is create an aversive stimulus. This is a great tool, especially for bad eating habits and smoking.

6. Time management for the win! 

If the answer is yes to both questions, then make those tasks your top priorities. Spend as much time as you need, even if it means sacrificing other important tasks. If it's urgent, but not important, then reserve it for your free time. Try to commit as little time to these as possible, because quality isn't all that crucial. 

Make sure you also leave room for important, but not urgent tasks, like long-term goal setting. You can tackle these at any time, so don't be afraid to work slowly and carefully. Finally when it's not urgent or important, it's probably just another time waster.

When you organize your schedule by importance and urgency, you spend less time wondering what you're supposed to be doing next. This gives you a sense of direction, which ultimately helps you stay on track.

The Punch Line

So, as you can see there are literally dozens of ways to build self discipline. We do not need to name all the great benefits that self-discipline has for you and your potential to achieve anything you want to. Thanks to neuroscience, behavioural psychology, and cognitive psychology we have learned so many great tools Such as tricks and hacks to understand how our brains work. If we know how to use this. This is an amazing opportunity for our self-development.

I am deeply obsessed with neuroscience because even if it is quite new, yet, it has a lot more to offer than we think. And if you know how to apply all of this, you can change your life forever. I hope this article has helped you in any way shape or form and don't forget that's my approach To Fitness and Nutrition goes hand-in-hand with these principles because they are the foundation of a successful fitness journey and weight loss Journey.