Developing good habits can, overtime, greatly improve our quality of life. Yet for many people the word discipline is a dirty word that conjures up images of drill instructors screaming at raw recruits. Not an endearing picture of something to strive towards.

Discipline is more than punishment or being forced to do something we don’t want to do. The root is the Latin disciplina which means to ‘instruct’ so let’s take a look at how we can instruct ourselves and change our behavior to become happier and healthier.

Let’s use exercise for our example - but you can substitute just about anything that you want to adopt & adapt to be a part of your life.

The idea is simple, make a goal and then break it in to manageable pieces. Remember the goal is where you end up, not where you start. If you can’t run more than 10 minutes without getting winded, obviously you’ll just be setting yourself up for failure if you try to run for 30 minutes from the start.

1. Write your goal down (e.g. running 30 to 40 minutes, 4 times a week)
2. Break this goal down or in half (walk/run for 20 minutes, 3 times a week)
3. Do this for several weeks or months - depending on the goal - until you’re ready to move forward.
4. Repeat until it becomes second nature - like brushing your teeth. By this time you’ve reached your goal. Pat yourself on your back and keep it up.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 6:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized.