Lovely Rose De Guzman

 Book outline #1 Self-Discipline Simplified- how to build self-discipline strategies. Introduction - Outline stories of how self-discipline helps people become more successful and happy Self-discipline is the single most important attribute to becoming successful. The most successful people have a great deal of self-discipline. Success does not come easy nor does it happen overnight; it takes a large amount of determination, grit and self-discipline. Truth be told, successful people experienced failures at some point of their lives. Bill Gates, known as one of the richest man in the world, little do people know that his first product was an epic failure. Bill and a friend named Paul Allen created a device that could read traffic data and interpret it. They called it Traf-O-Data. When they went to market, their device had multiple malfunctions and was a failure. Instead of giving up, the dynamic duo went back to the drawing board and Microsoft was born. The rest is history. What self-discipline tip can we learn from Bill Gates: focusing on one task at a time. To get things done, you must have focus. You must learn to overcome distractions. Where he was curious to study everything in sight, Bill would focus on one task at a time with total discipline. You could see it when he programmed—he’d sit with a marker clenched in his mouth, tapping his feet and rocking, impervious to distraction.” Source: https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2015/01/20/success-lessons-bill-gates/ J.K. Rowling is the author behind the Harry Potter book series and the Hogwarts Universe. Her books have been bought all over the world and have also been adapted into blockbuster movies. Despite her roaring success, J.K. Rowling was once so poor that she had to depend on welfare. She was divorced, dirt poor, depressed and taking care of one child. W hen she took the first manuscript of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', it was rejected a total of 12 times by Bloomsbury London publishers. Eventually, the book was published and it opened the gates of fortune for the author. Today, she is one of the richest women in the world. One self-discipline tip to learn from JK Rowling: (Based on her tweets:) Finish a piece of creative work on which you can truly pride yourself. Source: https://greatperformersacademy.com/motivation/15-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-their-first-try https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/j-k-rowlings-best-advice-for-anyone-determined-to-succeed.html - What can go wrong if you are not self-disciplined Self-discipline is the foundation of success. All great success in life is preceded by long, sustained periods of focused effort on a single, most important goal, with the determination to stay with it until it is complete Your ability to discipline yourself, to master yourself, to control yourself, is the most important single quality that you can develop as a person.  All successful people are highly disciplined in the important work that they do. On the other hand, unsuccessful people are undisciplined and unable to control their behaviors and their appetites. People without a great deal of self-discipline and willpower are doomed to fail! The lack of it breeds aimlessness, indecision, procrastination, disorganization, confusion, and eventually the tendency to give up or quit. Experts agree that willpower and discipline can be learned. The quality of self discipline is something that you can learn by continuous practice until you master it.  With self-discipline there is virtually no goal that you cannot accomplish and no task that you cannot complete. Chapter 1 - Definition of self-discipline What it is Self discipline is an essential life skill that involves the ability to delay gratification, the ability to discipline yourself to keep your attention focused on the most important task in front of you Self-discipline also means self-control, the ability to avoid unhealthy excess of anything that could lead to negative consequences. One of the main characteristics of self-discipline is the ability to forgo instant and immediate gratification and pleasure, in favor of some greater gain or more satisfying results, even if this requires effort and time. Self-discipline arises when you make the decision to improve by taking action. It’s the continued commitment – day in and day out what it isn't Generally, people think that self-discipline is doing what you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do it. In other words, we think of self-discipline as a form of punishment. True self-discipline is not a punitive or restrictive lifestyle  Common misconceptions about self-discipline Self-Discipline is selective. We often think that it’s something that some people have and some people don’t. This belief is self-defeating because it causes people to think that if they struggle with making good choices that they are the victim of somehow being passed over by the self-discipline fairy and they are out of luck. Self-Discipline is hard. The only people who think of self-discipline this way are the ones who don’t understand it. Self-discipline doesn’t create a hard life; being without it does! Self-Discipline isn’t as hard as we think when we know how to think about it the right way. Self-discipline is just different at first, and just like anything that is new it takes a while to adjust. But once the neural pathways are formed in your brain for certain types of choices, self-discipline becomes easy and automatic. Self-Discipline is emotionless. People who think of self-discipline as a matter of brute strength and iron will have it all wrong. Self-discipline is the beautiful art of understanding, interpreting and then managing your own emotions Self-discipline isn’t about raw power; it’s about grace, insight, nuance, and subtle strength. Self-discipline also isn’t about self-denial of anything that is good. It’s simply about engaging your heart and your mind in an intentional way to guide the way you live. Self-Discipline is boring. When we first hear the word “self-discipline,” we typically think of salads, weight rooms, being in trouble and self-control. self-discipline equates much more to things like: rich, hot, sexy, influential, peaceful, joyous, and spirit-filled. Chapter 2 - Why people have a tough time with self-discipline People have a tough time with self-discipline due to the following reasons: We develop an erroneous notion that self discipline is something difficult to attain and requires too much denials. We live in an environment where people around us are not self-disciplined themselves Many people don't know how to increase their self-discipline In the 2011 Stress in America Survey, 27% of respondents said the lack of willpower was the biggest barrier to making healthy lifestyle changes. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2011/final-2011.pdf We are often invaded with negative thoughts, ie. fear of failure We lack of enough inner strength to do things that require effort and persistence. We prefer comfortable laziness - which is pleasant and effortless - instead of actions that require effort. We allow ourselves to get distracted. Temptations weaken self discipline. Accepting and following all kinds of pleasures indiscriminately, and without using common sense tend to weaken self discipline. We lack self-esteem. Excessive habits foster low self esteem and lack of self confidence. If you suffer from an obsession and cannot control it you may  blame or punish yourself We lack goals or purpose in life  We tend to procrastinate or put important things off instead of doing them right away. Lack of willpower, motivation and ambition are also causes for lack of self discipline. A weak state of health might also lead to weakness of this important ability. People are not born with self discipline. Self discipline is not an innate skill; we need to develop it, but many of us don’t know how to do so Chapter 3 How to be self-disciplined by using SEVEN TECHNIQUES Overview of the 7 techniques Minimize distractions and overcome temptations Develop a plan of action and commit Create a backup plan plan when self discipline starts to dwindle Regularly flex your will power muscles Take care of yourself through exercise or meditation, adequate sleep and healthy diet Avoid all forms of negativity Motivate yourself daily Chapter 4 Technique 1: Minimize distractions, Overcome Temptations Avoiding temptation is one effective tactic for maintaining self-control. Research shows that “out of sight, out of mind” is one way to avoid temptation. Study 1: A Cornell University study published in the International Journal of Obesity on January 17, 2006 examines how proximity and visibility influence consumption volume and contribute to obesity. The 4-week study involved the chocolate candy consumption of 40 adult secretaries. The study utilized a 2 × 2 within-subject design where candy proximity was crossed with visibility. Proximity was manipulated by placing the chocolates on the desk of the participant or 2 m from the desk. Visibility was manipulated by placing the chocolates in covered bowls that were either clear or opaque. Containers were refilled with chocolates each evening, and were rotated for each participant every Monday. Daily consumption was noted and follow-up questionnaires were distributed and analyzed. Results reveal that office workers who kept candy hidden away in a desk drawer indulged less often than when they kept candy on top of their desk, in plain sight.  Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/- Study 2: Similarly, a field study conducted by Brian Wansink and colleagues of Cornell University, published in Appetite on August 2016, has demonstrated that even minor environmental cues can influence our snacking habits Based on these findings, Baskin and colleagues designed a field experiment to test how the layout of Google breakrooms might be subtly encouraging excessive snacking. In this study, researchers redesigned the kitchen so that one beverage station was located closer to a snack bar than the other. The study was conducted in a high-traffic break room at Google’s New York office. The room contained both hot and cold beverage stations as well as a variety of free snacks including M&Ms, chocolates, nuts, cookies, granola bars, chips and pretzels, and fresh fruit. One of the beverage stations was right next to the snack bar (about 6 feet away) while the other identical beverage station was across the room (17 feet away from the snack bar). The researchers recorded all of the beverage and snack choices made by approximately 400 employees over the course of 7 full work days. Each observation included which beverage station the employee had used, whether they’d nabbed a snack, and time of day. Results showed that Googlers who visited the beverage station closer to the snacks were 69% more likely to grab a snack than those who used the beverage station farther. Of the employees who used the beverage station near the snacks, 20% took a snack, whereas only 12% of those who used the far beverage station did. The study suggests that if you want to stop mindlessly snacking during the day, you may have to reorganize your workspace – this way, you avoid the temptation of excessive snacking with food just within your reach Source: Baskin, E., Gorlin, M., Chance, Z., Novemsky, N., Dhar, R., Huskey, K., & Hatzis, M. (2016). Proximity of snacks to beverages increases food consumption in the workplace: A field study. Appetite, 103, 244-248. doi:10.1016/j.appet- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Study 3: In another experiment, reported in The Harvard Business Review, researchers promoted relatively unpopular vegetables as the "vegetable of the day" with photos and trivia facts next to a dish featuring that vegetable. The number of employees who tried the dish increased by 74%. Source: https://hbr.org/2016/03/how-google-uses-behavioral-economics-to-make-its-employees-healthier The principle “out of sight, out of mind” applies not only in terms of healthy eating habits, but also in all aspects of our life. For instance, to improve productivity at work, turn off social media notifications and silence your cell phone. You can download the free app SelfControl, which shuts off especially distracting websites such as social media or news pages for a set period of time. The fewer distractions you have, the more focused you will be on accomplishing your goals. Step by Step Guide: 1. Build a distraction-free environment 2. Schedule focused time 3. Build in your distractions as a reward through taking regular breaks 4. Make the task more ‘fun’ by turning it into a game or challenge 5. If you’re still struggling to keep your distractions at bay, then it could be time to hold a threat over your head to keep you motivated and focused. Chapter 5 Technique 2:  Develop a plan of action and commit If you want to achieve self discipline, you must have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish A clear plan outlines each step you must take in order to reach Start your day with a list of tasks that you need to accomplish. This enables you to focus on one task at a time Psychologists have found that it is more effective to focus on a single, clear goal rather than taking on a list of goals at once. When you prioritize your goals one at a time, you are more likely to succeed at practicing and improving your willpower Succeeding in the first goal will free up will power so it can then be devoted to the next goal Just like multitasking, exerting will power on multiple things at once makes you less effective.  Study 1: In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research on October, researchers found that people who tried to accomplish multiple goals were less committed and less likely to succeed than those who focused on a single goal. In this study, 68 business school staff members and MBA students at a small, private university in the United States were recruited to participate in a study about “everyday goals They were informed that the purpose of the research is to help people do a better job at accomplishing everyday goals. They were required to report on their goal pursuits or to-do lists for 5 consecutive days. After consenting, participants were randomly assigned a to-do list containing either one or six goals. The six goals included: “read a book for pleasure,” “eat an especially healthy meal,” “call someone I haven’t had a chance to call,” “treat myself to something special,” “organize or tidy up,” and “start a conversation about a difficult to discuss personal issue.” After participants received a to-do list, half furnished their goal(s) with implementation intentions and the other half did not. Results suggest that implementation intentions benefit a single target goal only, not a set of target goals. This means that we are more likely to implement actions if we have a specific goal to achieve, but hardly if we have so many things to accomplish at the same time. Thus, it is important to make a plan before doing your tasks, but its is equally important to focus on one task at a time, rather than trying to do multiple tasks all at the same time. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/-_Too_Much_of_a_Good_Thing_The_Benefits_of_Implementation_Intentions_Depend_on_the_Number_of_Goals In any goal-setting, writing down your action plan is a great strategy to help you organize and be mindful of your goals. Study 2: A 2006 study published in The Science and Engineering Workforce identified a structured plan as one of the few factors that significantly improved the postdoc participants’ training experience. Postdocs who had a structured plan and discussed it with their mentors were more satisfied with their postdoctoral experience, more satisfied with their relationships with their PIs, and more productive (30% more first-author papers and 25% more grant proposals) than those without a plan. Source: G. Davis, "Improving the Postdoctoral Experience: An Empirical Approach", in The Science and Engineering Workforce in the United States, R. Freeman, D. Goroff, Eds. (NBER/Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2006). http://users.nber.org/~sewp/Davis_SurveyAnalysis-.pdf Similarly, people who write down their goals or plan of action fair better in achieving them Study 3: In one study, Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor, studied 267 people from all over the world and all walks of life, dividing them into two groups based on people who wrote down their goals and those who didn't. Participants in Group 1 were simply asked to think about their goals (what they wanted to accomplish over the next 4 weeks) and then asked to rate that goal on the following dimensions: Difficulty, Importance, the extent to which they had the Skills & Resources to accomplish the goal, their Commitment and Motivation to the goal, whether or not they had Pursued this goal before and if so their Prior Success. Participants in Groups 2-5 were asked to write (type into the online survey) their goals and then to rate their goals on the same dimensions. Group 3 was also asked to formulate action commitments. Group 4 was asked to formulate action commitments and send their goals and action commitments to a supportive friend. Group 5 was asked to formulate action commitments and send their goals, action commitments and weekly progress reports to a supportive friend. She found that the people who wrote down their goals on a regular basis were 42 percent likelier to achieve them. Source: https://www.dominican.edu/academics/lae/undergraduate-programs/psych/faculty/assets-gail-matthews/researchsummary2.pdf Step by Step Guide 1. Define the Problem(s) 2. Collect and Analyze the Data 3. Clarify and Prioritize the Problem(s) 4. Write a Goal Statement for Each Solution 5. Implement Solutions: The Action Plan 6. Monitor and Evaluate 7. Restart with a New Problem, or Refine the Old Problem Source: https://extension.psu.edu/the-seven-steps-of-action-planning Chapter 6 Technique 3: Create a Contigency Plan When Self Discipline Starts to Dwindle Another helpful tactic for improving self-control is a technique that psychologists call an “implementation intention.” The concept of implementation intentions was introduced in 1999 by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer Studies conducted by Gollwitzer in 1997 and earlier show that the use of implementation intentions can result in a higher probability of successful goal attainment, by predetermining a specific and desired goal-directed behavior in response to a particular future event or cue. These intentions take the form of “if-then” statements that help people plan for situations that are likely to thwart their resolve Having a plan in place ahead of time may allow you to make decisions in the moment without having to draw on your willpower Research among adolescents and adults has found that “implementation intentions” improve self-control, even among people whose willpower is low from a recent temptation. Study 1: A study conducted at the University of Albany, and published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin on July 1, 2003, hypothesizes that one’s willpower is not necessarily completely exhausted; rather, people appear to hold some willpower in reserve, conserved for future demands. The right motivation allows us to tap into those reserves and persevere even when our self-control has been depleted In this study, 43 undergraduate students at the University at Albany took part in the first experiment where they were instructed to perform a cognitive task (a thought suppression task or a memory task) and a creativity task that would involve working on two puzzles. some of the participants were told that the experimental procedures might help answer important questions about memory that could eventually lead to better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The other participants were given the same instructions except that the experimenter made no mention of Alzheimer’s disease or the potential benefits of the experiment. Researchers found that willpower-depleted individuals persisted on a self-control task when they were told that their efforts would benefit others (in this case, helping to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease). High motivation, as concluded, might help overcome weakened willpower — at least to a point. Study 2 – In another study which was published Psychology and Health on July 26, 2007, researchers investigated the effect of implementation intentions on weight loss. In this study, 55 overweight or obese women (ages 18 to 76 years; body mass index from 25.28 to 48.33) enrolled in a commercial weight reduction program were randomly assigned to either an implementation intention prompt or a control condition. Data were collected twice, with a time gap of 2 months. The primary outcome was participants' change in weight and body mass index from preintervention to follow-up. The women that were asked to create specific implementation intentions lost on average 4.2 kg, compared to those who only attended weekly group meetings, who on average lost only 2.1 kg over the 2-month period Among obese or overweight women participating in a commercial weight loss program, those who learn to form implementation intentions can achieve greater weight reduction.  Source: Luszczynska, A., Sobczyk, A., Abraham, C.(2007), Health Psychology, 26, 507-512 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Study 3 – A more recent study published in Psychology and Health on March 24, 2009,  examines whether the effectiveness of implementation intention-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable intake in a young adult population can be improved using an 'if-then' implementation intention versus a more general, 'global' plan that does not explicitly link a situational cue with a goal-directed response Participants were instructed to complete pre-test measures of planning, motivation and behaviour with respect to increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables. before being randomised to a 3 (intervention format: control vs. 'if-then' vs. 'global' implementation intentions) x 2 (pre-intervention instruction vs. no pre-intervention instruction) between-participants design.  Participants who created "if-then" implementation intentions significantly increased reported fruit and vegetable intake by portions of 50% per day (over the course of one week), as compared to participants who made more global and less specific implementation intentions, reportedly consuming 31% more portions per day Source: Chapman, J., Armitage, C. J., Norman, P. (2009), Psychology & Health, 24, 317-332 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Step by step guide  When setting implementation intentions, you need to identify: the action that you’re going to take to achieve your goal, and how you’ll know when to take it; and possible obstacles to goal-achievement, and how you’ll deal with them. First, you need to identify the goal directed behavior that you want to take, and the situational cue that will let you know that it’s time to take said behavior. For example, suppose that your goal is to lose weight. You could decide that you’re going to start taking forty minute walks. Your implementation intention would then look as follows: “If it’s 5:30 p.m. on a weekday, then I’ll go out for a forty-minute walk”. The situation–it’s a weekday and it’s 5:30 p.m.–activates the action that will allow you to achieve your weight loss goal: going for a forty minute walk. Second, you need to identify the obstacles that could push you off track and interfere with your goal follow-through Once you’ve identified these obstacles, you create an if-then statement in order to deal with each one. Example: If I’m feeling sluggish in the afternoon, then I’ll drink a glass of water and eat a handful of almonds. If I’m feeling stressed, then I’ll do some yoga. If it’s time for lunch, then I’ll walk over to the salad shop around the corner. Make sure that your implementation intentions are specific With implementation intentions you’re planning ahead of time the specific action that you’re going to take in order to achieve your goals, and when and where you’re going to carry out said action Chapter 7 Technique 4:  Regularly Flex Your Will Power Muscles We aren’t born with self-discipline--it’s a learned behavior. Just like any other skill you want to master, self-discipline requires daily practice and repetition. Research shows that regularly exerting self-control may improve willpower strength over time. Discipline and willpower are like muscles, when you exercise them it can be painful in the short term. But the more regularly use them, the easier, and stronger, they get in the long term Study 1: A Case Western Reserve University study, published in The Journal of Social Psychology on August 1999, examines the results of repeated exercises of self-control in relation to self-regulatory strength over time. A sample of 69 U.S. college students spent 2 weeks doing 1 of 3 self-control exercises: monitoring and improving posture, regulating mood, or monitoring and recording eating. Compared with a no-exercise control group, the participants who had exerted self-control by performing the assigned exercises were less vulnerable to willpower depletion in follow-up lab tests. Study 2: A more recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology on March 1, 2010 suggests that self-control performance may be improved by the regular practice of small acts of self-control. Ninety two subjects from the Albany, New York metropolitan area were recruited through newspaper ads, flyers hung in meeting places, and radio spots as part of a larger study on smoking cessation. At the initial laboratory meeting, participants were randomly assigned to practice one of four tasks for two weeks: avoiding sweets, handgrip, math, and diary. Participants in all groups were led to believe that practicing regularly should build their self-control capacity. Participants assigned to the building strength conditions (avoid sweets and handgrip) had to inhibit their urges, feelings, and behaviors Participants in the avoid sweets group were told to eat as little cake, cookies, pies, candy, and other dessert foods as possible for two weeks. Participants in the handgrip group were given commercially available handgrips (purchased in a sporting goods store) and instructed to hold the handgrip for as long as possible twice a day. Participants in the math group condition performed simple math problems that were gradated to become harder over the two weeks. Finally, participants assigned to the diary group maintained a diary of any acts of self-control they engaged in (e.g., want a sweet but do not have one, not yell despite being mad). Again, maintaining a diary should require a minimal amount of self-control Results revealed that participants who had to resist eating sweets or who had to hold a handgrip twice a day exhibited a significant improvement in inhibiting their responses. On the other hand, participants who worked on difficult math problems that did not require inhibition did not exhibit a significant improvement in self-control, despite working just as hard. Similarly, participants who maintained a diary of their self-control undertakings (without increasing their efforts) did not improve their stop signal performance. The diary increased their awareness of self-control and indeed they thought they were building strength, yet their performance did not improve. In short, only practicing self-control builds capacity; explanations that rely on self-awareness or enhanced expectations are not a good fit to the data. Practicing small acts of self-control for two weeks led to a significant improvement on a laboratory measure of self-control. This improvement was apparently not due to self-fulfilling prophecy, increased awareness of self-control or increases in self-efficacy. Instead, it appears that the effects are due to the active practice of self-control. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC-/ Study 3: A study was conducted by Australian scientists Megan Oaten, PhD, and Ken Cheng, PhD, of Macquarie University in Sydney, which was published in the British Journal of Health Psychology on November 11, 2006. The purpose of the study was to test whether the repeated practice of self-regulation could improve regulatory strength over time Participants were assigned to a two-month program of physical exercise — a routine that required willpower. At the end of two months, participants who had stuck with the program did better on a lab measure of self-control than participants who were not assigned to the exercise regimen. The subjects also reported smoking less and drinking less alcohol, eating healthier food, monitoring their spending more carefully and improving their study habits. Regularly exercising their willpower with physical exercise, it seemed, led to stronger willpower in nearly all areas of their lives. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/-   Chapter 8 Technique 5:  Nurture Yourself Through Exercise or Meditation, Adequate Sleep and Healthy Diet A lot of research shows a strong correlation between mental state and the physical state Poor physical health can lead to an increased risk of developing mental health problems. Similarly, poor mental health can negatively impact on physical health, leading to an increased risk of some conditions. Sleep deprivation makes you cranky and can even change your personality, hence, a lack of sleep also has an effect on your self-control. Similarly, when you’re hungry, your ability to concentrate suffers and your brain doesn’t function as well. This can have a substantial impact on your willpower Thus, eating regularly to maintain blood-sugar levels in the brain may help refuel run-down willpower stores Also, working out or meditating, whichever you prefer, can have significant impact on improving self-discipline Taking care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating healthy food, exercising and meditating can, to some extent, help improve your self-discipline and willpower Study 1: (about exercising) An experimental study conducted at the University of Exeter, which was published in the journal Appetite on February 2009 sought to  investigate the effects of brisk walking on urges to eat chocolate, affect, and psychological and physiological responses to stress and a chocolate cue. Participants were 25 regular chocolate eaters, who, after abstaining from eating chocolates for 3 days, took part in two randomly ordered conditions: a 15-min brisk semi-self-paced brisk walk or a passive control. Following each, participants completed two tasks: the Stroop colour-word interference task, and unwrapping and handling a chocolate bar Participants’ systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) were assessed throughout. Results reveal that subjects who did briskwalking on a treadmill at a slow pace for 15 minutes, were far less likely to suffer cravings, and even showed lower blood pressure when handling the chocolate bars. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Study 2: (about eating) A research conducted at the University of Colorado Denver shows that having a low blood sugar or developing an insulin reaction may result in, among others, drowsiness, confusion, and behaviour changes such as being angry, weak or anxious, thereby affecting one’s capacity to think clearly and to strengthen willpower This research has proven that low blood sugar often weakens a person’s resolve, making such person grumpy and pessimistic In this case, your self-control is likely weakened in all areas, including diet, exercise, work and relationships. Eating regularly to maintain blood-sugar levels in the brain may help refuel deped willpower stores. Dieters, who are aiming to maintain willpower and cut calories, might do better eating frequent small, healthy meals rather than skipping breakfast or lunch. Source: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/centers/BarbaraDavis/Documents/book-understandingdiabetes/ud06.pdf https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower-self-control.pdf Study 3: (About eating) A study from Clemson University published in the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience on May 11, 2015 , shows the relation between chronic sleep loss and impaired self-control, indicating that people who aren’t getting enough sleep are more susceptible to impulsive decisions and distractions. Sleep deprivation, the researchers said, has a negative effect on your brain’s levels of glucose — a key component to the strength of your willpower. This means that a loss of sleep drains the fuel and energy that your brain needs in order to exert self-control. Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum-/full Study 4: (about meditation): A 2003 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine July- August 2003 issue, showed that 8 weeks of meditation practice changed the pattern of electrical activity in the brain of 25 healthy employees. There was greater activation in the left hemisphere among meditators than people assessed at the same time who did not have meditation training (control group). The researchers also looked at the immune response to an influenza vaccine and found that the meditator group had more antibody titers to the vaccine than the control group, indicating better immune functioning. These findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Step by step guide 1. Eat well-balanced meals. Ensure that you have between 3 tom5 small meals a day that include a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and other healthy meals. 2. Drink plentry of water to stay hydrated 3. Get regular exercise 4. Get enough sleep 5. Perform relaxation techniques like meditation or yoga   Chapter 9 Technique 6:  Get Rid of All Negativity Negative thinking could impact your ability to lead a normal life Negativism won’t help you achieve your goals Without optimism you are unlikely to stick to adapting the behaviors and changes needed to create a discipline Study 1: In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on February 1985, researchers investigated the effects associated with tendencies to focus one's thinking on positive versus negative outcomes of concluded stressful events, A group of 173 college students to complete an event-outcome appraisal questionnaire designed to make salient positive and negative thoughts about the outcomes of recent stressful events. Their well-being was assessed both immediately after the salience manipulation and again 8 weeks later.  Those who focused mainly on the negative outcomes reported having lower self-esteem, lower self-satisfaction and higher instances of psychological trauma, both immediately after the event happened and eight weeks later when they were tested once again. Negative thinking about prior stressor outcomes appeared to increase vulnerability to the impact of later ones on several aspects of well-being. In other words, if you focus mainly on the negative aspects of a life event, you're more likely to replay those negative thoughts and images in your head for longer periods of time. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/- Getting rid of negative thoughts may also be done by training your brain to discipline itself Study 2: In a 2013 study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers claim that working memory training might also enhance executive control and that inappropriate or maladaptive behaviors might be reduced by effective working memory training based on emotion-laded stimuli. In this study, 34 participants in their early 20s were assessed for affective control before and after 20 training days of 20-30 minute sessions. The experimental groups received dual n-back training with a simultaneously presented face and a word that was either emotionally negative or neutral. After each picture-word pair, subjects were to press a button to indicate if either or both members of the pair matched the stimulus presented n-positions back. Tests began with n = 1 and increased as subjects gain proficiency. The errors in both trained and untrained subjects decreased at levels beyond n = 1, and the error rate was comparable for both groups. Results indicated that those in the emotional working memory training group reported less distress when they consciously willed to suppress it compared with the null state of just attending to negative stimuli. No change in activity levels was indicated in fMRI scans as a result of placebo training, but significant increases occurred as a result of emotional working memory training irrespective of the level of n-back achievement in the executive control regions of interest. The study also compared emotional responsiveness before and after training. Subjects were asked to just pay attention or to pay attention and cognitively suppress their emotional reaction. Subjects rated their emotions on a numerical scale from negative to positive while viewing films that were emotionally neutral (such as weather forecasts) or that were emotionally disturbing (such as war scenes, accidents, etc.). Training caused no change in the group that viewed only neutral images, but in the groups viewing disturbing scenes, training decreased the perceived distress in a group told just to attend to the scenes. It was even more effective in the group told to suppress emotional reaction. Source: http://www.academia.edu/-/Training_the_emotional_brain_improving_affective_control_through_emotional_working_memory_training Positive thoughts can boost your willpower to do the more important things in life. Study 3: In a University of Michigan study which was published in Cognition and Emotion on May 2005, researchers tested the impact of positive emotions on the brain Two experiments with 104 college students tested these hypotheses. During this experiment, she divided her research subjects into five groups In each, participants viewed a short film clips that elicited (a) amusement, (b) contentment, (c) neutrality, (d) anger, or (e) anxiety. The first two groups were shown clips that created positive emotions. Group 1 saw images that created feelings of joy. Group 2 saw images that created feelings of contentment. Group 3 was the control group. They saw images that were neutral and produced no significant emotion. The last two groups were shown clips that created negative emotions. Group 4 saw images that created feelings of fear. Group 5 saw images that created feelings of anger. Afterward, each participant was asked to imagine themselves in a situation where similar feelings would arise and to write down what they would do. Each participant was handed a piece of paper with 20 blank lines that started with the phrase, "I would like to..." Participants who saw images of fear and anger wrote down the fewest responses. Meanwhile, the participants who saw images of joy and contentment, wrote down a significantly higher number of actions that they would take, even when compared to the neutral group. In other words, when you are experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment, and love, you will see more possibilities in your life.  Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC-/ Step by step guide  1. Avoid negative self-talk 2. Banish thoughts that bring you down 3. Change negative thoughts into more positive ones. 4. Avoid particular people, places, situations, media, and other elements of your life that tend to cause you to have negative thoughts. Chapter 10 Technique 7:  Motivate Yourself Daily Motivating yourself to practice self-discipline day-by-day When you motivate yourself to exercise discipline everyday, the easier it becomes to discipline yourself, and little by little discipline will become your new habit In order for self-discipline to stick as a new habit, you need to visualize the “process” of using discipline everyday. Study 1: A UCLA study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin on February 1, 1999 shows that mental simulations facilitate the link between thought and action, The authors also distinguish between between outcome simulations and process simulations: Outcome simulations involve envisioning the desired outcome – i.e. someone wanting to lose weight might imagine how they would look having achieved the desired weight loss. In contrast, process simulations involve mentally simulating the process of achieving the goal – i.e. for the person trying to lose weight, this might involve imagining signing up to exercise classes, imagining removing fatty snacks from the diet and/or imagining increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. The study reveals that students who used process simulations scored significantly higher on exams than did students using outcome simulations, and also showed that the process manipulation worked by increasing planning and reducing anxiety This means that people who visualize the process of what needed to be done in order to change their habits were more likely to build that habit than their peers who just visualized the end result Thus, rather than simply visualizing self-discipline (outcome stimulation), those who visualized going through the work and applying discipline every day (process stimulation) were more likely to make the habits stick. Sources: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/- http://shura.shu.ac.uk/5075/3/Reidy_Mental_Simulations_%26_State_Anxiety_Manuscript.pdf According to Harvard University psychology professor Ron Siegel, one of the most critical aspects of sustainable self-motivation is pleasure and joy, and a reward system is a fantastic way to help accomplish this. Study 2: A Vanderbilt University study published in the Journal of Neuroscience on May 2, 2012 mapped the brains of “go-getters” and “slackers.” Participants were 25 healthy volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 29. To determine their willingness to work for a monetary reward, the participants performed a button-pushing task. First, they were asked to select either an easy or difficult task. Easy tasks earned $1 while the reward for hard tasks ranged up to $4. Once they made their selection, they were told they had a high, medium or low probability of getting the reward. Individual tasks lasted for about 30 seconds and participants were asked to perform them repeatedly for about 20 minutes. Researchers found that people willing to work hard had higher dopamine levels in the striatum and prefrontal cortex — two areas known to impact motivation and reward. On the other hand, “slackers” who are less willing to work hard for a reward had high dopamine levels in another brain area that plays a role in emotion and risk perception, the anterior insula. Turns out dopamine is released in anticipation of a reward, and rewarding yourself for accomplishments can help you stay on track. Source: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/18/6170 While self-discipline and self-motivation are two distinct concepts, self-discipline is vital to maintaining self-motivation. It’s not enough to simply be self-motivated; to achieve your goals, you need to couple self-motivation with self-discipline. Study 3: A study published in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciencesotiber 2016 aims to prove that self-discipline in daily routine knowledge acquisition process could be considered as a key parameter to improve learning outcomes in e-learning environments. The study showed that even though online learners might all be considered self-motivated (since they are all taking a voluntary course with the goal of learning), those with self-discipline were the most likely to succeed. Those who were highly self-disciplined displayed higher competence at the end of the course, fulfilled more external tasks, and were more effective in achieving their goals Source:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/-_Self-discipline_as_a_Key_Indicator_to_Improve_Learning_Outcomes_in_e-learning_Environment\ Step by step guide 1. Think about the achievements in your life. 2. Examine your strengths to understand what you can build on. 3. Determine what other people see as your strengths and key capabilities. 4. Set achievable goals for yourself, work to achieve them, and enjoy that achievement. 5. Seek out mentors and other people who model the competencies, skills, and attributes you desire. 6. Read inspirational quotes or books, watch uplifting podcasts or Ted Talks, and talk to a person who inspires you. Conclusion Building self discipline can help in all areas of your life It helps you stay focused on reaching your goals, Gives you the initiative to stick with difficult tasks, Allows you to overcome obstacles and discomfort as you push yourself to new heights. Self discipline requires that you take action by adopting any strategy or technique that works well for you While it takes hard work to truly discipline yourself, if you are able to work on it consistently, you will lead a better, happier and a more successful life.