Signs You Lack Discipline

Here are signs you lack discipline.

Self-discipline is one of the most important character traits a person can develop. It is the ability to control one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions to achieve the desired goal.

People who are self-disciplined resist temptation and stay focused on their goals. They stick to their plans and see them through to completion.

10 Signs You Lack Discipline

Here are ten signs you lack self-discipline. But don’t worry – if any of this is true for you, you can improve.

1. You Don’t Follow Through – If you don’t get things done that you said you would, it’s likely because you’re not organized, aren’t setting goals effectively, and have not set up your environment correctly.

• You Don’t Have a Plan or Schedule – If you make plans or think you have a schedule, but you never stick to it, it’s probably because you lack self-discipline. Self-discipline embodies the ability to stick to your plans and schedule despite any distractions or disruptions that come your way.

• You Often Procrastinate – Many folks try to put things off until the last moment, insisting that they work best under a strict last-minute deadline. Unfortunately, this often leads to sub-par work, as well as extra stress and anxiety. If you’re frequently putting things off until the last minute, it may be time to start working on your self-discipline.

• You Frequently Give In to Temptations – Many people who lack self-discipline also give in to temptation or impulses because they have difficulty saying no to themselves. This can be a significant problem if it leads to overeating, spending too much money, or engaging in other harmful behaviors. These are self-care mistakes and traps you can easily fall into if you are not careful!

• You Struggle to Say “No” to Things – There may be things you don’t need to do that you are now doing. If so, you are unlikely to get those things done promptly or well. If you say yes too fast without looking at your schedule for a myriad of reasons, look to your self-discipline.

• You Have Trouble Staying Focused – When you work on self-improvement but ignore your self-discipline, you set yourself up for disappointment. You can make significant progress toward your goals but if you lack self-discipline, it won’t be easy to maintain that progress.

• You Frequently Make Rash Decisions – If you don’t think about your choices, you may regret them later. It’s always best to make decisions when you have all the information and have had time to think things through. Otherwise, you may make decisions that are not in your best interest.

• You Often Find Yourself in Stressful, Difficult Situations – When you avoid planning ahead or preparing for difficult situations, you set yourself up for failure. As a result, you end up feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, which can lead to poor decision-making.

• You Tend to Be Disorganized and Chaotic – People who lack self-discipline are sometimes chaotically messy because they don’t have any system to follow or set of rules to guide them. Studies show that clutter leads to a lot of stress and anxiety, as well as problems personally and professionally.
• You Frequently Feel Overwhelmed or Out of Control – This happens if you often take on more than you can handle, or you allow yourself to get caught up in activities that are not productive. Focusing on what is truly important can be difficult when this happens, and you may feel scattered and stressed.

How To Improve Your Self-Discipline

If you have identified from the above 10 signs you lack discipline, then it is time to learn how to improve on it. Improving on your self-discipline is all about learning to be disciplined and following through. Here are 10 ways to improve self-discipline.

Research on creating/forming new habits that serves purposes in our lives have shown that It can take from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic, according to a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology

• Set Achievable Goals – Often times, we tend to set unattainable, unrealistic and bogus goals. This makes achieving the goals an herculean task. The result here is that there will be no zeal, no motivation, in fact, no idea as to how to achieve the goals, so we dilly dally, become undisciplined and just literally “list” around. If you lack discipline, learn to set small realistic goals. This will make them easier to achieve.
• Have a Plan/Schedule – I always plan/schedule whatever I want to do, be it work, blogging or even my social media posts (yes!). Make use of readily available planning tools/apps to boost your productivity. When you have a plan in place to carry out a task, it is most likely you would follow through. Remember what they say about not planning means planning to fail! So have a plan and schedule for your tasks and this will improve your self-discipline.
• Don’t Procrastinate! – Do things when you ought to do them! This is how you instill self-discipline. Procrastination is the thief of joy! Don’t keep putting away to the last minute before doing them. Here is a guide on how to overcome procrastination if you find yourself procrastinating a lot.
• Learn To Stand Up For Yourself – If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. This is a fact of life. Learn to stop saying “Yes” to things you ought to say “No” to. This is one of the way to improve on your self-discipline if you already identified any of the signs you lack discipline.
• Learn To Be Focused – If you lack focus, you lack discipline. It is simple mathematics. No great science here. So, to improve your self-discipline, you have to learn the tenements of focus. The easiest way to be focused is to remove all forms of distractions from your “path”. Mindfulness is another way to maintain focus.
• Avoid Stress – Yes, I know you are wondering what stress has to do with self-discipline. It has everything to do with it. When you procrastinate and always in the habit of putting things off to the last minute, you set yourself up for failure and at the end, you become stressed. This makes you not to achieve anything so it makes sense to avoid stress so you can be disciplined enough to follow up on your plans.
• Do Away With The Clutter! – One reason you lack discipline is because you are not organized. To be more organized, do away with unnecessary clutter. Have a place for everything for everything and let everything be in its place. This is the hallmark of organization. A good read of what is known as 5S will give you an idea on how to be more organized and become disciplined in the process.

Final Thoughts On Signs You Lack Discipline

If you recognize these signs in yourself, it’s likely because you lack self-discipline. The good news is this is something anyone can work on and improve with time and effort. In addition, making a concerted effort to control your thoughts, words, and actions will lead to positive changes.

Remember, it takes about 10 to 254 days to form a habit so learning self-discipline is not going to happen overnight.

Give it time. The signs you lack discipline didn’t happen overnight also so you are in the process of unlearning and learning and it will take time also.

Cheers to a more disciplined you. Don’t forget to share on your social media.