Building self discipline can and will transform your entire life. Including how successful you are at work, whether you are self-employed or not. How we approach work actually gives you a perfect place to practice being self disciplined. Not only will you see yourself be much more productive and effective, but these types of habits will carry over into all areas of your life.
Start taking work seriously and you will see serious rewards. These tips will get you off to a fast start.
Always be on Time. Don’t ever be late to work, or if you are self-employed wake up late to work for yourself. This shows a classic lack of discipline. If you are on time, all the time you have immediately separated yourself positively from 95% of the people in the world. And given yourself a positive habit that’s reinforced 5 or 6 days a week.
Don’t Leave Early. There’s a breed of person who makes every excuse to leave work early. They don’t feel good. They have family responsibilities. They have issues with their automobile. And on and on. Building self discipline separates you from this type of person. If you are sick, work through it. Plan your family responsibilities in advance. If you must take public transportation and grin and bear it. All of this adds to your ability to not make excuses and take the easy way out. Watch how your respect for yourself and how much more respect you get from others grows.
Take the Blame. If you are responsible for something work related and it goes wrong take the blame. Don’t waste time and energy looking for scapegoats, even if they do exist. Taking responsibility builds toughness and self discipline. Again, it also sets you apart from the pack.
Do MORE Than Expected. Over deliver rather than under deliver. If you work for others this will build self discipline and show you in a positive light. If you are self employed this type of practice will take your business, your reputation and your sense of self worth very far.
Always, go the extra mile.
Keep Negativity to Yourself. “Water cooler” complaining and griping is the type of thing that undisciplined people specialize in. It’s much easier to bitch and moan than it is to work hard and find solutions to problems. Can you totally prevent negative thoughts from creeping into your mind? Of course not. But what you can do is not express them. Unless voicing negativity is in the interest of immediately working towards a solution, the self disciplined act is to remain silent.
Stay Focused. When you are working, work!
Multitasking can be a huge foe of self discipline since it allows laziness and lack of focus creep into your life under the disguise of being more “productive”. Only a few people are able to effectively multitask. And when your multitasking involves watching television, listening to music or logging on to social media when you are involved in a work project it’s hardly multitasking at all. It’s wasting time, time that could be being spent making you more successful. Work when it’s time to work and play when it’s time to play.
Work is a big part of life. When you are self disciplined at work your entire life can change very, very quickly.