5 Ways Lack Of Discipline Affects Your Life

Discipline is the ability to make a decision and follow them through regardless of how hard it gets, without changing your mind. Discipline is an important component necessary for achieving dreams. A person without discipline is practically guaranteed to fail in life. This is particularly true for dreams and life goals that aren't ordinary. 

 

An interview of the top 10 athletes in the world on why they were great all had the same answer. Discipline. We can conclude that discipline is the first step to achieving greatness. However, what happens when one lacks discipline? Here are the ways a lack of discipline can affect your life.

 

It Keeps You From Achieving Your Goals

 

A lack of discipline will keep you from staying focused on your dreams. Without discipline, you wouldn't be able to stay in control of yourself and react appropriately to life's situations. With discipline, you're able to stay in control and focused no matter the situation.

 

Additionally, a lack of discipline is an indicator of poor inner strength. You're likely to give up once an activity becomes difficult even when said activity is necessary to achieve your goal. 

 

According to Psychologists, people without discipline are more comfortable with mediocre performances rather than reaching for more, and engaging in any strenuous activities that will help them grow. Growth requires work and effort. This makes laziness appealing to people who lack discipline.

 

It Keeps You From Making Wise Decisions

 

Sometimes, the right choices necessary to achieve our dream or live a healthy life aren't always easy. From maintaining a healthy diet to exercising regularly, to working even when we do not feel like it. 

 

A person who lacks discipline is not able to make the right choices especially when it will inconvenience them. For example, while the benefits of regular exercise are enormous, it requires discipline to stick to it. A person who lacks discipline is more likely to skip exercising altogether simply because it’s just too hard.

 

Lack Of Lack Inner Strength/Character

 

Dr. Steve Peters in his bestseller ‘The Chimp Paradox,’ remarks that we are already who we want to be. It’s just our minds and the choices we make that are stopping us from behaving in the way we would love to behave. For example, you might desire to be a kind person but easily lose your temper. In such a situation, you do not need to try to be a kind person as you already are kind. What you need to work on is the discipline to keep your temper in check. When you are not disciplined, everyone will see you as a hateful person because of your lack of control over your temper.

 

It Reduces Your Chance Of Succeeding In Life

 

Sadly, most goals/dreams are not easily achieved. To achieve a goal, you need motivation, hard work and considerable effort. These things cannot be done easily and require discipline to accomplish. 

 

When you lack discipline, you are less likely to put in the effort required to achieve your dreams. A person who lacks discipline will always shy away from tough challenges.

When you do not meet the needed requirements, you'll remain stagnant and the quality of your life will not improve.

 

Nothing worthwhile is achieved easily. You will have to face challenges and overcome various obstacles. The difference between success and failure is our ability to persist and persevere when faced with difficult situations.

 

You Will Have Poor Relationships

 

When you lack discipline, it is difficult to build strong relationships. The characteristics highly regarded in a relationship such as honesty, integrity, dependability, and loyalty require a strong mental character. A strong mental character is only developed through discipline. The chances of you exhibiting these characteristics when you lack discipline are low.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Self-discipline is supposed to be taught to us and instilled in childhood by our caregivers. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, but that does not mean we are doomed forever. You can teach yourself self-discipline as an adult. This is a major element of personal development and personal growth, since when we develop our self-discipline, it has a very positive effect on all areas of our selves and our lives. 

7 Tips for Restoring Your Self-Worth After a Toxic Relationship

Well, that didn’t go right.

 

We walk into a relationship with so much enthusiasm. We think what we’ve found is the best thing in the world, which is a heady feeling for while it lasts. Sadly, when a relationship is toxic, we’re frequently the last to know. By the time we escape, our self-worth has already taken a hefty blow. 

 

So, how do you restore positive feelings about yourself after a toxic relationship?

 

Release Your Victimhood

 

The more you focus on what happened, the more you get stuck, so the sooner you can quit revisiting the past and dwelling on perceptions of ill treatment, the sooner you’re going to put all this behind you. This doesn’t mean to say this was your fault, but obsessing about the ‘shoulds’ and going back over every encounter is only going to hurt you regardless of whether you were in the right or not.

 

Drop the Blame

 

Was it your fault? Not. The sooner you can let go of any residual guilt or bad feelings about the relationship, the happier you’ll be. The next step should help.

 

Silence Their Voice 

 

The problem with toxic relationships is you tend to believe what the other person said about you, no matter how outlandish it seemed at the time. Now their voice is there, lurking in your head to remind you of all your so-called shortcomings at every opportunity—time to tell them to shut up once and for all.

 

Embrace the New You

 

Find joy in being single. Spoil yourself. Do that thing you always wanted to do. Take lessons, build your skill set as you build yourself up. Become your own best friend in a way that doesn’t require validation from any outside source.

 

Believe Your Friends 

 

You hear the compliments, but they’re going in one ear and out the other. Rather than brush off the nice things, people around you are saying, start listening. Listening until these words become a part of who you are.

 

Create Goals You Love

 

What would you like to do with your life? Too often, our goals reflect the needs and desires around us. Now is the time to reverse this. Accepting you are capable, and your goals are worth fighting for, what do YOU want to do? 

 

Affirmations

 

Work through the worst offenders of negative self-talk through positive affirmations. Take note of what you’re telling yourself. Rewrite the script and turn these statements around into affirmations that you read to yourself every day.

 

Remember, this is a process and is likely to take time. By reminding yourself of just how amazing you are, and focusing hard on these steps, eventually, you will start feeling the difference even if you don’t see it yet. Hang in there!

 

Why You Should Start a Business Rather than Have a Job

 

For most of us, there are two ways in which we can earn a living. We can either take up a job at some company where we get paid a regular salary with perks and incentives, or we can start a business of our own and earn the profits of whatever we sell. The former option is considered to be the more stable option, the more traditional one. That is why when most people think about what they would want to do in their lives, they think of nice cushy jobs that could pay them a large amount of money.

 

However, you should not completely denounce the second option either—starting a business of your own. Today, most of the people who are highly successful are those who have control over their lives in a professional manner of speaking. And this is only possible if you have a business. If you have your own company, however small, then you are your own boss. That even gives you more satisfaction from what you do.

 

It might have been true that businesses were difficult to start and manage once upon a time, but that is definitely not applicable in today’s world. Today, a lot of people are carrying out their business pursuits from the comforts of their home. The Internet has made it possible for all of us to be able to pursue our profession from our home itself—several people are managing entire virtual offices with dozens of employees from all over the world, just through their laptops.

 

But, the benefits of even these Internet based businesses are the same. You still get to be your own boss, you control your life, you have the option to work as much or as little as you want, which means you can decide on the size of the paycheck you get.

 

There is actually no point being in a job if you don’t want to. Why would you work for someone else when you could work for yourself so easily? If you have entrepreneurial skills, then it is certainly not a good idea to get into a job and work for mere wages.

 

So, plan your professional life well. Maybe you could consider a job if you are sure of growth and if the job is really good and from a very well-established company that pays handsomely, but if that is not the case, then a business is also not out of the realms of possibility either.

Why Regular Exercise Is Such an Important Aspect of Personal Development

If you are on a quest to try and improve yourself, then you certainly cannot ignore one of the chief aspects of personal development—exercise. You must have already heard the adage A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body. If you want to be really fit and become a successful person, your body has to be just as fit as your mind is. Undermining any of these aspects takes you away from developing your body fruitfully.

 

There are several benefits of regular exercise that are specific to personal development, as you shall see…

 

1. When your body is fitter, you look more attractive. A lot of people still equate good personality with an attractive body. Hence, you are pandering to one of the basest definitions of personal development. And, who’s complaining actually? Who doesn’t want to have an attractive body anyway?

 

2. A healthier body means that you have more energy to accomplish things. You are able to work faster and produce better results. You can go ahead of your competitors. This you won’t be able to do if you lack stamina and get breathless on your way to the top. A modicum of exercise is needed to keep you moving on.

 

3. Another very important benefit of regular exercise is that it keeps diseases away if not completely avoids them. You don’t need to call in sick as much as a person who doesn’t exercise would. You are healthier not only in body but also in mind, and that’s the reason why you can think better. Your plans and suggestions have a better chance of being accepted because you have formulated them in good health, something that your exercise-shirking rivals have not done.

 

4. Exercise helps free up your mind. If you haven’t exercised already, try it now. Exercise early in the mornings, which is the best time. Even if you just work out on the treadmill for 15 minutes in the morning, you will feel rejuvenated. You will feel as though you can just run out and grab what you want to achieve. Also, it gives you time to think, to plan out things, which is very important. While the blood is pumping in the body, it is pumping in the brain as well. It is filling up those little gray cells and ideas are generated.

 

These are just four of the many benefits that regular exercise has. Invest your time wisely in exercise—if you are looking for personal development, you cannot afford to downplay its importance in your life.

 

The 7 Keys for Improving Relationships

 

Human life is full of moments with people. These are people we build relationships with. And relationships aren’t just confined to people who are actually related to us—we can have a relationship with anyone we interact with. And it is because of this ubiquitous nature of human relationships that we constantly strive to improve them. In fact, when we are improving our relationships with people, we are actually improving ourselves. If we are looking for personal development, this is one of the most concrete ways to go about it.

 

Whatever the type of relationship may be, however simple or however complex, its enhancement basically boils down to the following simple keys.

 

Commitment

 

For your relationship to blossom, commitment is an important prerequisite. You have to commit to the other person in terms of your thoughts, your words, your expressions and you have to show it to them by investing time in them and putting in the right efforts to grow your relationship.

 

Freedom

 

You shouldn’t bind the people you are in a relationship with. Just as you want your freedom, the other person wants their freedom too. Respect that and you will find the relationship going forward.

 

Respect

 

You need to respect the other person’s feelings and emotions, likes and dislikes, wants and desires and so on. Respect them for what they are, for what they stand for and do not expect them to change for you.

 

Support

 

Being in a relationship means supporting each other. You have to help them in their aspirations and in their joys and sorrows. This will only get back to you—if you support the person you have a relationship with, they are going to support you too.

 

Equality

 

No one is higher than the other when they have a relationship. At least, you shouldn’t harbor such feelings in your mind. If you are connected with a person for some reason, then you need to think of them as equal to you. You need them just as much as they need you.

 

Resolving Conflicts

 

It is not that everything will be hunky-dory always in your relationship. There will be conflicts. You will argue; you will have alterations. But, when you are fostering a relationship with someone, it is essential that you resolve all these conflicts with them in a constructive manner, without demeaning each other and through fruitful discussion.

 

Trust

 

If you want the people you are in a relationship with to trust you, then you need to trust them first. Trust is the foundation on which a relationship is built.

 

Top 5 Relationship Killers that You Must Avoid

 

Relationships are made and broken all around us. At such times, we become apprehensive about our own relationships. We try to protect what we cherish the most. We try to look at ways and means how we can keep our relationship flame burning. However, at the same time, we don’t realize that there are things we may do that can destroy a beautiful relationship. Actually speaking, it is these things—which are mostly behavioral traits—that we need to avoid.

 

Possessiveness

 

It is good to be a little possessive about your partner, but if you are too possessive, then it can only backfire. You shouldn’t, for example, hog all of their free time. You shouldn’t be jealous of the other people they move around with. Give them their life to live; if you are confident about them, you will always remain the most important person in their life.

 

Restrictions

 

Too often, in a relationship, we tend to make people act in the way we want them to act. We tell them to avoid doing certain things they like and do certain things they detest. This is restrictive behavior. If you put yourself in their place, you will find that this kind of behavior can be stifling. A time may come when your partner eventually snaps and walks out.

 

Asking for Change

 

You need to realize that your partner is a different person. They have been brought up in a different way from you and they have a personality that is different from yours. You shouldn’t want them to become like you; it is best if they remain the person they were when you first decided to have a relationship with them. Even if your partner is willing to change, it will be unacceptable to them as well as you.

 

Complacency

 

When you are in a relationship, you have certain obligations. You need to do a few special things keeping your partner in mind. It is not just about remembering their birthday and showering them with gifts, but you also have to give them a good ear when they want it, a shoulder to cry on when they are looking for one and a motivational word when they need it. You cannot let your relationship grow all by itself; it won’t.

 

Competition

 

Even within the staunchest of relationships, there is always an element of skepticism. You shouldn’t do anything to aggravate that feeling. For example, it is best not to be too friendly to other people if your partner is feeling threatened by them. Casual banter is all right, but you need to draw the line with your other people when you are in a relationship with someone.

Tips To Study Better (Infographic)

6 Tips To Make Fear Your Friend

What makes you afraid? Is it losing someone you love? Or is it having to see your dentist? Maybe you fear thunderstorms or heights or elevators.

 

Whatever it is, fear is normal. It’s how our body warns us of dangerous situations and that we should be careful.

 

Yet, sometimes, our fears can become so great that they hold us back from living up to our full potential. They fill us with dread and uncertainty that we soon become constantly stressed and anxious over the smallest things.

 

Although surprisingly, fear, in its positive form, can actually be good for us. It can inspire innovative ideas and motivate us to reach new heights.

 

So, we’re here today to help you make fear your friend. Follow the six tips below, and you’ll know how to turn what was once your foe into an ally.

 

Let’s get started.

 

Identify the Source

 

This is probably the hardest step, but it’s absolutely worth it. But first, you need to come to terms with the source of your fear in order to overcome it.

 

Being aware of the root cause will be difficult in the beginning, but it’ll make you stronger. You’ll no longer live in the shadow of that big, insurmountable fear.

 

Embrace It

 

You’ve come face-to-face with your fear. Now, it’s time to embrace it.

 

But before you do that, you have to actually admit that such-and-such scares you. There are several ways to do this. First, you can either say it aloud, preferably to someone else in a natural setting.

 

You can also write it down in a journal or diary. The point is to get it out of your head and into real life. That’s when your fear loses its control over you.

 

It also feels better to get it off your chest and share it with the world. You’ll be surprised to know just how many people are just as afraid as you are.

 

Think Rationally

 

Fear makes us panic, and panic makes us do stupid things. In fact, studies show that when we panic, our prefrontal cortex shuts down. This is the region of our brain responsible for rational thinking.

 

So, case in point, learn how to think rationally despite your worries and panic. Make fear your friend, and you’ll be able to go a lot farther in life.

 

Take Stock

 

People deal with fear, stress, and anxiety in different ways. Some people like to be challenged and are great under pressure. Others find it better to work at their own pace without any tight deadlines looming overhead.

 

Whichever way you prefer, the important thing is not to let fear get the better of you. For example, say you’re afraid to speak in public. But then a colleague suddenly got sick and asked you to take over the presentation you’ve been preparing for weeks.

 

In this scenario, you have to pick whether you’ll let your fear overpower you or whether you’ll rise to the challenge.

 

The latter won’t be easy, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the long run. Be objective and tell yourself that others have held presentations before and have lived to tell about it. So, what’s the big deal?

 

Remember, your mind tends to blow things out of proportion. So, find a way to deal with the stress and take stock. It’s the only way you’ll be able to harness your fear and get the job done.

 

Find Support

 

No one ever failed by having a strong support system. Surround yourself with people who encourage you to do better. These are the people who listen to you when you’re venting about your fears and anxiety, and they still choose to love you unconditionally.

 

A lot of research has been carried out on the benefits of having a support system. It empowers you with good coping skills while boosting your self-esteem and overall well-being.

 

Moreover, a sound support system can lower stress, anxiety, and depression rates. 

 

Be Positive

 

Whenever you’re afraid, you’ll tend to focus on negative thoughts and emotions. But then, they fester in your mind and transform into this big, ugly thing that you can no longer control.

 

Why not try some positivity for a change? Remember, the mind is quite powerful; it just needs a small push in the right direction.

 

By thinking positively, you can overcome your fears and actually live to tell the tale! All you have to do is believe it, and everything else will fall into place.

 

Top 8 Tips for Delivering Your Elevator Pitch at Networking Events

You probably know how important networking is for maximizing your career. But it’s not always enjoyable. You can make networking a whole lot less painful by being prepared and by having your personal elevator pitch rehearsed and ready to go. 

 

Here are eight tips to help you polish your pitch for your next networking event. 

 

1.    Keep it punchy

 

A good elevator pitch should be no more than 45 seconds (yes, the average length of an elevator ride). It should be interesting, memorable, and brief, and you should feel comfortable delivering it. It should sound natural and not like an elevator pitch!

 

2.    Keep it focused

 

You can tailor your elevator pitch to the event. Are you there representing your organization or there to get your next sale or your next job? Keep your two- or three-line pitch focused on that objective. If the person you’re talking to is from the same sector or went to your college, include that to get their attention. If you have an existing connection, you can start to build the relationship there. 

 

3.    Mention your career experience or goals 

 

Be clear about your experience or your business goals. Tell them you’ve worked in 3D printing or horse-breaking for however many years, or that you’re an entrepreneur or a human right advocate. Mention any specializations without falling into jargon and make sure to steer away from too much detail.

 

4.    Mention your qualifications

 

If you have a diploma of jurisprudence or an MBA, mention them. If you’ve just graduated, you can specify your college major. You might want to include any significant achievements, leadership skills, or standout strengths. 

 

5.    Highlight what makes you unique

 

Think of what makes you stand out. Do you speak other languages? Have you worked or volunteered overseas? What unique qualities or experiences make you memorable?

 

6.    Include a question

 

Your elevator pitch isn’t a party piece that just finishes, and that’s it. It’s an invitation to continue the conversation. You should consider including an open-ended question, perhaps asking about the other person’s company or an opportunity to speak again. 

 

7.    Slow down!

 

In your eagerness to get your elevator pitch across, it’s easy to speak too fast or even appear desperate to impress. Remember to breathe, slow down, and smile! Make eye contact and allow the other person to respond. 

 

8.    Practice!

 

Above all, once you’ve written your elevator pitch, you should rehearse and refine until it’s second nature. Practice repeatedly with your partners, a friend, or even your dog. Practice in front of the mirror and observe your expression and body language. What image are you projecting? You want to look calm, confident and engaging.