The Science of Self-Discipline: The Willpower, Mental Toughness, and Self-Control to Resist Temptation and Achieve Your Goals (Live a Disciplined Life Book 1)

by Peter Hollins

“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” Throughout your life, you can make a choice as to how you suffer. Would you rather struggle through the discomfort of shaping your willpower and behavior toward worthwhile ends, or endure the sting of dreams left unrealized because you chose self-indulgence over restraint? Discipline is usually what keeps you from what you truly want. Practicing it entails having to bear a certain level of pain, but so does suffering the consequences of a life without it. Having self-discipline and willpower requires the ability to do difficult or unpleasant things because those things are better for your well-being in the long run.

It’s estimated that the average human brain has some 100 billion neurons—the tiny cells that make up our brain circuitry to produce our thoughts and behaviors.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to constantly form and reorganize synaptic connections, which are the linkages between individual neurons.

Focus is one of the main pillars of self-discipline; a person who lacks the ability to focus is almost certainly one who will also lack discipline. Focus itself is dependent on something that neuroscientists call executive functions.

The three executive functions we are most concerned with when it comes to being disciplined are working memory, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility and adaptability.

One of the techniques which may help do this is meditation. For many years, meditation has been touted as a panacea for all sorts of problems, including a lack of focus and discipline. Somewhat surprisingly to the skeptics out there, studies have confirmed that the practice of meditation does indeed have a real effect on the brain. MRI scans of volunteers before and after they participated in an eight-week mindfulness course depict results which make a strong case for meditation being a useful tool for “strengthening” the areas of the brain that are responsible for executive functions, and thus for improving self-discipline.

Moreover, meditation was shown to impact the amygdala, which is generally responsible for the primal emotions, instincts, and drives

that keep us...

Meditation is associated with a shrinking of the amygdala, which means that participants who meditated tend to be less susceptible to fear, strong emotional impulses, and stress. Self-discipline is often sabotaged by emotional impulses and stress, so keeping these under control is helpful to setting the conditions for strong willpower.

On top of that, the scans showed that the gray matter in the prefrontal cortex had become noticeably denser with meditation.

If meditation isn’t already a part of your daily routine, consider adding it in. It’s common to hear people say that they don’t have time for meditation, possibly even seeing this as scheduling a time to be unproductive.

But if meditating for a few minutes a day can make you better at carrying out executive functions, the increased focus and discipline while you are active will more than make up for the pause offered by meditation.

You can plan for the future and delay starting all you want, but the best thing you can do is to just begin. It doesn’t matter if that’s getting healthy, writing a book, or starting a business—the best time to start is now.

There is almost no perfect timing you should be waiting for. Waiting to have more money, resources, or experience very rarely increases your odds of accomplishing the goal in the future.

You

only have the chance to succeed once you’ve started, and you can always figure out t...

If you can successfully change your attitude about urges and temptations to one of curiosity instead of fear, resistance or resignation, you’ll also be able to change your behavior.

What’s important to take away from this experience is that everything you think and feel is temporary, including desires. When you forget that fact, cravings and urges can feel overwhelming. But if you are patient and confident in your ability to ride out a temporary urge until it passes, you will find that doing so is far more effective than trying to distract yourself or battle the urges head-on.

The “exercise” that most effectively increases your baseline level of willpower is leaving your comfort zone.

That involves pushing yourself to regularly do things that you aren’t completely secure with doing so that you become familiar with the feeling of discomfort itself.

Leaving your comfort zone is important because it teaches you that the things you fear aren’t...

Each...

you learn that lesson in some small way, your tolerance for discomfort and your ...

You don’t need to be uncomfortable in your daily life, but being familiar with the feeling sure helps you i...

You can even create anxiety and uncertainty yourself—so that they are controlled and manageable—to show yourself that you are...

Even just doing something spontaneous or out of character can get you out of your comfort zone enough to see that your uncomfortable zone isn’t that bad.

Discipline is inherently uncomfortable, so strengthening your relationship with discomfort is one of the best ways to improve self-discipline.

Discomfort and struggle are what make you who you are.

That can be a good thing for healthy habits that induce dopamine releases, such as exercising, meditating, or reducing sugar intake.

If you reduce distractions from your environment, you’ll clear your mind, which in turn increases focus, efficiency, and productivity.

Furthermore, you can use your dopamine reward system to your advantage by reinforcing your own good habits while also cutting back on mindless pursuits of small pleasures.

Finally, you can make it so the path with the least effort leads to the choices you...

Your mindset profoundly affects how positively or negatively you perceive your life and the world around you to be, how you make decisions in the face of multiple options, and in turn how self-disciplined you are. There is a good deal of scientific evidence supporting the benefits of a positive approach as it relates to motivation and discipline—not to mention advantages in other areas of life.