Developing Your Discipline Muscle – Five Ways to Make That Muscle Stronger

Why is self-discipline so important? It’s what makes the difference between excuses and accomplishment. Your discipline muscle is one of the keys to success. Here’s what you need to develop it.

After all the havoc brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably want to move the needle in your firm. To do that, you may need to make considerable changes in many aspects of your business.

Perhaps you need a better growth plan. Maybe you could use a better client-selection process. Or you might benefit from redefining your hunting niche. Whatever the case may be, chances are that you aren’t using your full potential.

I hear so many excuses about why things aren’t going as planned in the lives of my clients. More often than not, those excuses are worthless. I think there’s a simple reason most business owners fail to position their brands as VITAL. 

It’s because they haven’t developed their discipline muscle. 

So, what’s the discipline muscle?

It’s the muscle that you flex when you need to get things done. This muscle gets stronger based on your discipline and consistency in how you do things. Like talking to clients, doing marketing, or solving complex problems for your clients.

Discipline and consistency are the two things that matter most. If you have them, you can move the needle in your firm and make an impact. Both for your business – and your clients.

It’s just that developing your discipline muscle can take a bit of work. With that out of the way, I’m going to share with you five exercises to make that muscle stronger.

Why Do You Need Discipline and Consistency?

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Whenever business owners fail to do something they’re supposed to do, they look for excuses. What qualifies as an excuse to pass on your marketing for a day?

Here’s an example of something I went through.

I recently hosted a party for my son’s 18^th birthday. It was a proud moment and we had lots of fun. On top of that, we had a big gathering and many people stayed over. The next morning, a couple of things went through my mind.

To begin with, my fatigue seemed like a good excuse to skip my live video. And I told myself that the setup didn’t feel right. I didn’t have my ideal lighting, microphone, and so on.

I also wasn’t in my preferred environment for making live videos. I thought about posting a message to cancel the video. I had so many things on my mind, more than just fatigue from the party the night before.

As far as excuses go, I think I had plenty. But after thinking about it some more, I reached a different conclusion.

I already knew what I wanted to talk to my audience about. I had made a promise to go live at 8am. 

And, most importantly, I had my discipline.

You see, discipline and consistency go hand in hand. If you commit to something, it shows character and strength if you do it. It also helps to build trust with your audience.

Did I have a full day of sales meetings and calls scheduled? Yes. 

Did that make me not want to do the live? Yes.

But I wanted to be consistent. And I had the discipline to power through.

You won’t always be able to work in ideal conditions. Sometimes we all get tired and don’t want to do things. Regardless, the keys to success are consistency and discipline. These are the two traits that make up your discipline muscle.

And you can tap into its strength whenever you don’t feel up for a task.

Tip #1 – Understand That This Needs Practice

What you have to understand is that this didn’t come naturally to me either. I wasn’t born with a well-developed discipline muscle. For a long time, there was no muscle there for me to flex. It took time, patience, and lots of practice. I won’t lie to you and say that becoming self-disciplined is an effortless transition. It’s not.

It can be really difficult. But it’s worth it.

You can start by taking an honest look at your role as the owner. You want to position your brand as VITAL on the market. So what can you do to make that happen?

What are your strengths and weaknesses? Identify them. And then keep playing to your strengths. This is critical to designing your brand. Which is so important that we consider it a sales and marketing Superpower.

Develop your skills with consistency no matter what. Over time, this helps you flex your discipline muscle and gives you something to work with when you burn out.

Practice doesn’t just build the muscle. It accelerates your productivity. And it eliminates the one thing that’s often holding you back – making excuses.

Tip #2 – Remove Temptations and Distractions

Out of sight, out of mind. 

It’s an old saying that hints at what it takes to achieve self-discipline. It’s important to eliminate distractions from your surroundings. If you want to focus on your work, you can’t have temptations.

A distraction might be something as banal as having junk food in your office. You never know when you might want to grab a snack.

Turn off your personal phone during work hours. Declutter your desk to avoid the temptation to rearrange things.

If you delegate low-value tasks, such as social media scheduling, block access to those websites. When you have people working on this for you, you don’t need to monitor your website activity.

Tip #3 – Figure Out What You Struggle With (And Plan to Strengthen)

Always know your weaknesses. If you know your weak points, you know where you have to improve.

Seek advice from people more qualified than you (at least at this point in time). Make a plan to strengthen those weaknesses and improve yourself. You need every trick in the book to position your firm as VITAL to your clients.

You can’t afford any gaps in your knowledge or behaviours.

Tip #4 – Create a Routine (And Stick to It)

The most important part of developing self-discipline is routine. Practice is great. But practising based on a routine is even better.

Plan a daily routine. Schedule when you talk to clients and when you work on your marketing. Schedule specific tasks, such as video creation and topic research. Try to motivate yourself to stick to your routine.

This means eliminating distractions and avoiding excuses.

Instead of making excuses, try motivating yourself to power through. Learn to get past small interruptions and continue your work. This helps to keep your momentum going. In this way, you can stay in high gear throughout the day.

Tip #5 – Don’t Wait for It to “Feel Right”

Discipline in business means doing something because you have to do it – whether or not you feel like doing it at the time.

In my example, the last thing on my mind was making that video. I’d had a long night and I didn’t have my preferred equipment and studio setting. It felt so easy to come up with a bunch of excuses to skip that live video.

Yet my well-developed discipline muscle helped me to power through. 

Did I make my video under the best conditions? No. But I kept my promise to my audience. I did it, because it benefitted my clients. And it benefitted me.

The lesson here is simple. You don’t always have to wait for the perfect moment to pull the trigger on important actions.

Even if it doesn’t feel right, really evaluate the situation. Is it doable? Can you still make an impact? Will it help your firm? You may find that the answer is often yes.

Do Your Workouts and Take Your Protein for Your Discipline Muscle

Discipline and consistency are parts of the same muscle. Through consistency, you can practice and develop self-discipline. And make no mistake, you’ll need it if you want to succeed as a business owner.

It’s a crucial aspect of marketing and connecting with your audience. It shows your ideal clients that you keep your word when you commit to something.

Practice makes perfect. It takes time and patience, but it will get you to where you want to be.

It’s important to remember that you benefit more from proactivity than inactivity. If you say that you want to do something, then do it. Don’t try to find excuses to skip your obligations. Even if you only do that once in a while, it’s a slippery slope from there.

In my experience, enough practice does make perfect. Now I’m at a point where I can power through fatigue and less-than-ideal environments. I can perform my duties on time, no matter what.

You can reach that point too. And hopefully, these exercises will help you get there faster.