3 Ways I Exercise My Discipline Muscle 💪🏾

In 2019, I decided to get serious about being creating will power and discipline. As a true Taurus, I like to indulge in all the things. Every single one of them. The only thing I love more than making money is spending it and the only thing I love more than making yummy meals is eating them.

It got to a point where I realized that all of my problems and challenges came down to one recurring issue. My lack of discipline.

Although a lot of people, even my close friends, consider me to be super disciplined, it has not always been this way and I still struggle. But I struggle a lot less than I used to and most importantly, I don’t let my mistakes keep my stagnant.

If you’re struggling to focus, stay consistent with your goals or your over-indulgent tendencies are hindering your progress, here are 3 ways that I strengthen my discipline muscle. Try one out and let me know how it goes!

1. I DELAY GRATIFICATION.

Tech, social media, endless content and fast food have maed us accustomed to expect instant gratification. We don’t even have to go to a bookstore for a new read, we can have it in our hands in seconds with a quick tap on our Kindles.

As a former fat kid, I’ve spent a lot of time redefining my relationship with food. I’m not sure if this is controversial or not, but it works for me: if I’m at a restaurant and my food is placed down in front of me, I take a breath and wait a few minutes before diving in.

Same if I cook a meal for myself. Rather than just throwing my food on a plate, turning on the TV and scarfing down my food like I’ve been deprived my entire Black life, now I take a few minutes to tidy the kitchen, wash some dishes and set the mood for my meal.

This has helped me to stop creating a life where I’m literally living for my next meal. My whole life felt like a countdown to my next opportunity to indulge. Now food is for nourishment and I use it for healing rather than comfort.

2. POWER HOURS

Power Hours have changed my productivity for the better. Here’s how they work for me: I create a realistic to do list before I even sit down to work. (I spend 15 minutes in the morning outlining my to do’s and categorizing them into Power Hours in Notion.)

Once your to do list is ready, set the damn mood! I have a whole ritual for sitting down to do work and often encourage my clients to create rituals for the tasks that they hate the most.

I clean up my space, light some incense, choose a fire playlist or a scammy podcast and then I dive in.

Put your phone on Do Not Disturb, set a timer for 60 minutes and work your way down the list. There is to be NO CHECKING INSTAGRAM REAL QUICK, no texts to your mom, no hopping on WhatsApp, none of that shit. No one’s gonna die if you’re unreachable for an hour.

Bonus: Do your Power Hours with someone else. This is why Power Hours have worked so well for me. I get to beast through my to do lists with a group of like-minded women from all over the world.

And now you can too. Power Hour registration is now open if you want to join me in strengthening your discipline and holding down Future You.

3. EVERY GOAL GETS A REWARD.

If you already follow me on IG, YKTMFV! (And if you don’t follow me, why not? Slide in my DMs and let me know what your reward of the day is.)

Almost everything that I do includes a reward, but especially the shit that I don’t feel like doing.

Sidenote: food is NEVER a reward. This is a very strict rule for me. No “complete this task and get a pizza” and no “eat clean for a week and then go on a bender of junk food for a month”.

That’s not a healthy mindset for me and it doesn’t help me create a positive relationship with food.

Instead, try something like: “once I create this project plan, my reward is going offline and cooking a healthy meal for myself”.

The true key to rewards is:

1. redefining your definition of a reward (for me it’s anything the benefits Present or Future Mae)
2. having the discipline to not reward yourself if you don’t actually get your shit done

So…which of these will you try first? Do you already incorporate any of these methods into your daily life? LMK in the comments.

And if you’re ready to strengthen your discipline muscle, drop a 💪🏾 in the comments below.

Stay disciplined,
Maegan