instant gratification Archives

How Discipline Outweighs Instant Gratification

Discipline is a word that successful people are comfortable with, but for others, it’s a Debbie Downer. Having self-discipline allows you to stay ten steps ahead of those future obstacles and challenges.

It takes discipline to achieve any goal, whether you’re a toddler learning to walk, or an adult getting in shape. It may sound repetitive and boring, but that’s where your achievement lives and if you want it bad enough, you’ll use discipline to get you there.

Instant Gratification

The opposite of being disciplined is indulging in instant gratification. Instant gratification is nothing more than doing what feels good in the moment.

Eating cake feels good in the moment, but if you have too many of those moments, you’ll gain weight, among other things. Once you start noticing the outcome, it’s not so gratifying anymore.

We all want to feel good in every moment, but a lot of times, it doesn’t turn out good in the end. Too much of anything isn’t good for you, so you have to be mindful and consider what’s more beneficial in the long run – eating cake all day and feeling crummy, or replacing it with an apple and feeling vibrant?

Yes, it sounds like a buzz kill, but when you experience the results that you thought were impossible, it feels awesome! Discipline turns some people off because they can’t see an immediate change, but all you need is a strong focus and determination to reach your desired outcome.

The person who decides to save a dollar a day, will benefit more financially down the road, than the one who decides to spend a dollar day. Not only will they be in a better financial position in the future, they will also have developed a mindset of discipline.

Discipline Is A Major Advantage

When your friends want to go out and have a good time every Friday and Saturday night, that’s instant gratification. When you make the choice to stay home and work on your side business, that’s discipline.

Who doesn’t want to have a good time on the weekends? You deserve it, right? Who wants to stay in the house, working on their future all the time?

Spending most of your paycheck as soon as you get it is not the move. It feels good over the weekend, but when Monday comes, you’re back to where you started. Having discipline will take care of that ‘back to rock bottom’ feeling.

Discipline is not sexy. It’s not the fun or hip thing to do. As boring as it seems, it’s the best tool you can use to prepare for the best results of any goal in mind.

Drinking water everyday, or putting money aside for unexpected emergencies can be hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Drinking water for two weeks will show the glow in your skin and the energy in your step. Having money saved for those little emergencies won’t blow your bank account back to zero. Being disciplined is a major advantage.

Discipline Gives The Best Rewards

If you’re not used to making small sacrifices in order to meet your achievements, take it one step at a time. The most important thing to do is start.

You don’t have to save $500 every week – start with $10. You don’t have to start doing cardio an hour a day – start with 10 minutes and build. That’s how you develop discipline and eventually, dominate life.

Discipline gives you the best rewards. No one can be their best without practicing some form of self-control. We all want to live our lives on a beach, not worrying about money or going to a job we hate every morning. In order to do what you want to do, you must do what you have to do. It’s going to take time and a strong, consistent effort, but that’s discipline.

When you master self-discipline, you grant yourself more options and opportunities. Take hold of your future by building your discipline, today.

#BeGoalden

How To Turn Procrastination Into Progress

Procrastination occurs in many ways. Some people put things off at the suggestion of others, while some are stuck being comfortable.

With the internet, most things have become easier to access. Today, you don’t need to wait for anything to happen. Delaying any type of progress is a choice that you consciously make.

With that being said, how can you stop being hesitant? Is it possible to pull yourself out of that negative vortex? When is the best time to go from procrastination to progress?

The Procrastination Trap

Change can be as difficult as you make it. Sometimes, we tend to make things harder than they really are, especially if it’s outside of our confort zone.

Instant gratification is a procrastination trap. You’re so used to having things happen instantly, you begin to think that everything should happen right now.

When you come across something that takes a little more time to come together, you become anxious. Then, you decide to leave it alone, because it’s not happening fast enough.

This leads to you procrastinating on many things, simply because it doesn’t happen right away. Realize that it takes time for some things to fall into place – all you have is time. Prepare yourself with patience and realize that everything doesn’t come about within a moment’s notice.

The Progressive Mindset

In order to make progress, it starts in your mind. Your mind is your first line of defense when it comes to obtaining information and processing it.

Your environment may be bad, your friends may be critical and your luck may not be going good, but you still have a choice. Don’t let the limitations around you affect your way of thinking.

When you think, think of positive things. Think about improving yourself, achieving that goal, having a good day, helping someone in need, or receiving good news. It may not turn out the way you think, but you learn to accept things the way they are and adjust, so you can make changes.

Progress happens when you’re able to shift your thinking and adapt to any outcome that may happen. Procrastination will hold you back from even making that first attempt, but a positive mindset will allow you to follow through and create a solution.

Procrastination Begins With Small Steps

Once you find a solution, you can begin to step into your life. As long as you don’t let procrastination stop you, you will eventually develop a productive habit.

When you get into the practice of actually starting, it’s not as hard as it seems. Begin with something small and easy to accomplish. This will have a snowball effect – the more you do it successfully, the better you can accommodate bigger tasks with confidence.

Taking small steps isn’t frightening. It’s small enough to begin, but big enough to get you going in the right direction, away from procrastination.

Outside factors can have an influence on how you move. Don’t let your environment intimidate you and don’t let small-minded people convince you to stay complacent. Starting small is better than not starting at all.

Beating Procrastination

Overcoming the habit of procrastination won’t be easy. It’s not something you can expect to happen within 24 hours. The best time to start is always NOW.

Like anything else, making progress will take time and effort to establish and maintain. There are many distractions working against you already, but as long as you don’t expect things to happen instantly, have the right mindset and take small steps, it’ll all come together.

Procrastination comes in many different forms, but you can handle it. With the right outlook, you can defeat the battle of putting things off and become more productive and dynamic with your goals.

#BeGoalden

Your Competition Isn’t Who You Think It Is

Competition can make you or break you. Either you’re competing directly with someone, or you’re competing with the idea of someone.

Whomever you are competing against, it’s great. It keeps you on your toes and it holds you accountable for your actions. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you expected, you’ve done more than you ever thought you could do in the first place.

Having competition can offer awesome benefits. Most people that are competitive, tend to learn and bounce back quicker than the average person.

Have you ever thought about who your biggest competitor is? It’s someone you know very well – you see them on a daily basis and you probably don’t acknowledge them like you should.

You are your biggest competitor.

The Competition With Your Mind

Every morning, you wake up and instantly decide if you are going to roll over and get an extra 5 minutes of sleep, or get out of bed and move on with your day. That’s you competing against your mind.

The choices you make on a daily basis are a constant battle. Your ego, distractions or your negative behavior – if you don’t have the right mindset to handle it, you simply lose.

We don’t look at our choices that way, but it’s the truth. Should you keep working, even when no one notices? Or, maybe you can get away with not doing any work for 1 more day. These may seem like insignificant actions, but they have a great impact on your life.

These small decisions add up and become major in the end. Sleeping in everyday and being lazy will eventually grant you a lazy life. Everyone else around you may be making progress, but that’s not your competition. Focus on yourself and do better at those small things.

The Competition With Your Health

At some point, we’ve all struggled with that second piece of cake or taking a day off from running. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make.

No one else can make you be healthy. Those everyday choices you make will show up on the scale or your waistline, sooner or later. That is another type of competition that you deal with regularly.

Again, we don’t think of these things as competing against ourselves. We keep comparing ourselves to pro athletes and their diets. They are not coming to save you – you must save yourself through good decisions and following up with consistent action.

Health is very important, so challenge yourself to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis. You are competing against yourself and your fitness. Win that game first, before you test someone else.

The Competition With Your Money

The competition isn’t with Oprah or Bill Gates – it’s with you.

They already have their wealth. They’ve worked on this personal competition for many years and they’ve come out on top. You are not competing against them.

Save your money. Make investments. Play the long game and say no to instant gratification. Anyone can spend their paycheck in one weekend, but how much of it do they actually keep?

Make an attempt to do better with your money. Create wealth by setting financial goals and sticking to them. If you get off track, simply get back on, or start over. You are your competition.

Building Longevity

Competing with the person in the mirror should be your primary intention. This is how you form a great foundation for your future.

Building longevity starts with small, productive habits. How you do one thing is how you do everything. In the end, the only person that has control over the outcome is you, so make it happen.

Let’s not look at other people and mindlessly make them our competition. You may be able to beat someone else, but can you beat yourself?Challenging others is good, but the major competitor is you. Look in the mirror and take control of your intended, successful results.

#BeGoalden

You Have a Choice: Discipline Or Disaster?

Consider how productive your life would be if you had to choose between discipline or disaster. Everyday, we make the decision to create good habits, or to take the easy road.

Your daily habits lead to the outcome of your life. If you choose to be intentional with what you practice, success is very attainable.

If you decide to let life lead you and go with the flow, it can be disastrous. It’s your choice: live with discipline or suffer the consequences of potential disaster.

Life’s Path

Understand that you are in control of your life. Whether you were born with certain advantages or not, your life is still your’s to create.

You can only do what you can manage. Things happen out of the blue that aren’t within our control – those are the situations we have to adjust to.

The things you can control will drive you towards your achievements, but only if you make the right choice. You are able to control many situations like when you sleep, what you eat, when you study, and making good and bad choices.

The outcome is the result of those habits that you can control. Let’s see how building the habit of discipline can guide you toward accomplishing your goals.

The Discipline Habit

Discipline is the foundation of becoming successful. It takes focus, consistency and other characteristics to get there, too, but they all fall under discipline.

Your mindset plays a big part in being disciplined. Being disciplined requires you to do things that are not easy – it’s when you make the difficult choice, instead of the easy choice. When you want to eat that piece of cake, but you choose the apple, or when your friends go out to party, but you choose to stay home and work on your craft.

Doing the thing that will lead to long term, positive benefits is definitely a challenge, but it can be done. When you have to make the conscious decision to do what you’re not used to doing, even when you don’t feel like it, you’re building the habit of discipline.

What happens when you don’t have the habit of discipline?

Unconscious Disaster

When you aren’t disciplined, you’re allowing life to happen to you. If you don’t control your daily habits, it can potentially lead to a disaster.

What happens when you don’t pay your bills on time? You have to pay late fees and ultimately, it will affect your credit score and then you’ll have to pay more interest for a loan. See how that breaks down in the long run?

What happens if you don’t exercise and eat right? You may gain weight and have less energy. When your kids want to play with you, you easily give out of breath and have to sit down. A heart attack may surprise you one day and after staying in the hospital, you’re hit with a huge medical bill.

Think ahead – your decisions and actions have consequences. Some of these can end up being disasters that can last a lifetime. Make sure the results you want will benefit you in the future.

Choose Your Discipline

Being disciplined is hard, but so is dealing with a potential disaster. If you can direct your life away from misfortunes, it should be an easy decision to make.

Choose your hard. There are habits we can control, to the point where we can influence the results that we want. It may not turn out in our favor sometimes, but adjustments have to be made in order for things to grow and work out.

Don’t settle for instant gratification – think long term. The more disciplined you are now, the less disaster you will face in the future.

We aren’t able to control every aspect of our lives, but let’s make the best of the parts that we can control. Life does happen, but we do have the ability to lead our lives in a more positive and disciplined direction.

#BeGoalden