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In a previous article, I wrote about the “lost art” of self-discipline and some key insights about why it’s worth rediscovering in a society where coasting has become the norm… Namely, we discussed research showing that disciplined people are actually MORE happy rather than less, and how you tend to become more “habituated” the more you practice self-regulation, which is one of the main reasons go-getters make it all look so effortless to the rest of us.
All of this was tied into the idea I gleaned from Chase Hughes that self-discipline is really just “delaying gratification for our future self.”
I proposed this is something you can practice and get better at. But how, exactly?
Today, I want to revisit this idea by stepping away from theory and talking about the practicalities of becoming more disciplined. With a “step by step” system you can start using today or tomorrow if you want, and no I’m not selling you some tool or program you need to make it work.
Let’s keep this as low-tech/no-tech as possible.
How to Build More Self-Discipline: The Foundation
While you could say habitual behavior and discipline are two different things, the idea explored in my previous article is this: the best way to become a more disciplined person is to first build routines and habits to “practice” this trait and mental pattern. Thanks to myelination, the routines and habits become easier as you go, but it takes hard work to get to that point, so you’re essentially strengthening the part of your brain that enjoys hard work, making challenge itself more enjoyable.
Meanwhile your life all around becomes more disciplined from the outside looking in, and for what it’s worth, that’s what you want, no? To live a disciplined life and have it feel normal, while developing grit to keep pushing for other hard things too.
You can see how this lends itself to a systematic process.
Step #1:
Identify Core Habits Guaranteed to Radically Transform Your Life
These could be common “keystone habits.”
A keystone habit is a change that instantly seems to affect every other part of your life by some kind of osmosis or natural momentum. For many, a keystone habit could be running or going to the gym. When you successfully start a new running routine, you suddenly find change spilling over into other areas of your life.
You start eating better. You start sleeping and getting up earlier. You start drinking less alcohol. Your energy increases and suddenly you notice changes in your thinking and work.
Change just spills out in all directions, seemingly without intentional effort on your part to get motivated.
These types of keystone habits are a great place to stay because of this global effect.
Or you could start with a solitary habit that’s bound to have drastic consequences on your life simply because of where you’re at right now. A good example here might be a certain work habit, for instance. If you’re a freelancer who constantly struggles with money because you aren’t marketing yourself regularly, spending an hour everyday on your marketing could radically transform your business, your finances, your life, your energy, your mental focus right now.
It might not necessarily be a keystone habit, in this case. you’ll still have to build better work habits to keep up the flow. But it’s a massively important habit for you specifically when it’s the bottleneck in your business and perhaps your life.
Don’t get caught up in the difference here, though.
Just list a few simple changes you know would move the needle for you, guaranteed. This is crucial because the more results you see, and the faster you see them, the more likely you’re going to get hyped up on discipline and want to get more disciplined in other areas of your life.
Step #2:
Pick One Habit or Routine to Attack for 30 Days
Now, don’t get the wrong idea here…
I won’t tell you to wait 30 days before making other changes. In fact, I would rather you didn’t.
I want you to get excited about these changes, and I want you to see massive momentum and life change when things begin to snowball.
But the first habit gets the snowball rolling. For the first week or two, focus on just one.
Step #3:
Create a “30-Day Challenge” for Yourself
Examples:
- I will study Spanish for 30 minutes everyday for 30 days.
- I will jog everyday for 30 days.
- I will go to the gym everyday for 30 days.
- I will do intermittent fasting for 30 days.
Big lofty goals and milestones have their place, but in this instance, our only real goal is building a consistent, ingrained habit.
Notice the low bar we’ve set for these in the beginning. Also key. Make it easy to satisfy your new habit.
So come up with an initial 30-Day Challenge for yourself (I’ll explain how to build on this later).
Step #4:
Leverage Social Media to Stay on Track
I strongly encourage you to choose a habit or routine that’s great for sharing so you can leverage social media.
First off, it’s just a convenient way to track your challenge. Go out on your run, snap a quick video in the middle of it, post it as Day #13, etc – your day is logged. You can look back at any time and SEE your progress.
It’s also great for some public accountability. If you make a commitment to post a video from the gym everyday, and it’s obvious you’ve set a challenge for yourself, you will feel ashamed and guilty to miss a day. In the back of your mind, you know people you care about are watching.
This has saved me more than once; I’ll tell you that.
Which brings up another point… social media has a visceral impact on your emotions. As pointed out by James Clear in the best-selling book, “Atomic Habits,” your emotions are one of the most powerful drivers for change, which is one reason visualization, affirmations, and vision boards can be so effective.
Most of the time you don’t get to tap into that emotion until you start seeing results. Dollars in your bank account. Or here’s a powerful one – someone telling you that you lost weight or pinching your bicep.
Well, real results take time.
By posting something about your new habit everyday of the challenge, you can create those emotional sparks right out of the gate. Finally you can use those dopamine hits (the likes, the views, the comments) for something positive! In the case of exercise, it could be a daily video from your run or a pic from the gym.
This doesn’t have to be some huge proclamation about what you’re doing.
Just put Day #1 of 30 on a pic or video and blast it out there. It’ll be clear what it is about to anyone actually paying attention to your life.
Step #5:
Slowly Increase The Difficulty
You want to habituate harder and harder versions of the habit. Go slow, incrementally working towards where you want to be.
Let’s stick with jogging as our main example for the rest of this article.
You start by setting the bar to your obligation as low as possible, at least for the first three to five days. You can always make it harder after a week of acclimation.
“Jogging” might just mean lacing up your shoes and stepping outside at first. It might mean going out for a long walk but at least injecting a jogging pace in at some point or another. An interval training session of sorts.
No set times or pace. No required distance.
It’s still hard because it’s new. You’re still increasing your ability to do hard things. But you’re not overdoing it, which so often backfires.
Eventually you can start adding in distance.
What I suggest is tracking this in a simple note in your phone.
Let’s say you start out with a daily walk. And then start adding in the jogging intervals. Record that, “Okay, I went this far jogging today before walking again.” You can just jot the number down if you want.
Now do half that for every session moving forward.
Do you see how genius this is? You now have a minimum milestone to hit, but it’s not very demanding. You could probably break through to the next milestone anytime you want, but your minimum viable dose is set by half of your maximum. You keep increasing without demanding too much of yourself.
One day you’ll wake up full of extra energy and decide to push for another best distance without stopping.
Now your daily minimum has increased.
You don’t have to do this forever (unless you’re planning to become an elite marathon runner), of course. You can have an endpoint where you settle in and coast. I suggest choosing how far you want to run on a regular basis, say four miles, and build up until that routine becomes normal for you.
The idea is to:
- Increase your ability to be disciplined in general
- Get into the habit of running every single day
- Increase running tolerance
- Not burn yourself out along the way
Step #6:
Add In a Second Habit When You’re Ready
I suggest waiting until after about a week to 10 days, when you really start to build momentum with Habit #1.
Make it another challenge. Something social media friendly would be great, but that’s not completely necessary because your momentum is building now, and you’re already getting those juicy brownie points from your first habit.
Willpower should be taking over for your other habit.
It’s becoming easier to get up and just do it.
Be careful not to take on too much too soon, though.
Step #7:
Continue Adding More Habits Every 7-10 Days
Go at your own pace, but remember, you’re not just trying to build one new routine.
You’re trying to become a more overall disciplined person.
You can track your various new habits and routines in the Habitica gamification app and check them off everyday, or just make a checklist in a simple smartphone notepad with your goals at the top.
Even a physical notepad or whiteboard would work.
Step #8:
Review Your First Challenge at the 30-Day Point
First, brag on social media! Soak it up, Baby.
By this point, you’ve probably solidified Habit #1 after doing it for 30 days straight.
And maybe you’re starting to round the hump on two or three more habits too. You’re already starting to see what it is like to live a more disciplined life!
But now you’ve got a little experience and discipline in this one core area, so where do you want to go with it next?
- You may not want to do this particular habit daily forever. Maybe you want to run three days a week.
- Maybe now that you’ve got some endurance you’ll want to set your sights higher with a challenge to run two, three, four miles everyday for 30 days.
- Maybe you want to run most days but not obligate yourself.
- Or maybe after some experience, you’ve realized the benefits aren’t worth making it a part of your life, and you choose to drop this one.
It’s up to you. There aren’t any “rules” to what your version of a disciplined life should include.
Step #9:
Layer On New Habits As You See Fit (For As Long As You See Fit)
Your list might start to look something like this:
- Run 4 miles
- Study french 30 minutes
- Strength training routine
- Wake up before 7
- 1 hour of client outreach
- 30 minutes of meditation
Of course these will be at different stages of becoming disciplines, so if you’re still doing other 30-day challenges, you’ll need to track the progress on those habits somewhere. Again, Habitica is good for this because it logs a running streak so you know how many days you’ve checked off the daily habits.
We’re not affiliated with them. I just like the app.
Bonus Self-Discipline Tips:
- If needed, tie each new habit to something else (known as habit stacking). If you already go to the gym everyday, for instance, you can walk/ jog there instead. If it’s too far, park a couple blocks away or do a jog around the neighborhood right before you get in your car to go. If your first task every morning tends to be brushing your teeth, leave your running shoes in front of the sink.
- I also advocate making liberal use of alarms in your phone for the first week or two of your 30 day challenge. Anything to keep putting your habit and the associated steps towards the outcome in front of you on a regular basis.
Just continue checking things off one by one as you go through your day.
You’re probably starting to become more disciplined now not by willpower but by default.
It’s becoming part of who you are, your personality and your lifestyle.
Continue like this for a year and people won’t even recognize you anymore…
Is Staying Focused Online One Of Your Biggest Weak Spots?
Sometimes even the best work habits and routines in the world can fall apart in seconds when you’re constantly bombarded by distractions and temptations online.
After all, many online platforms are designed to keep sucking you in and getting you borderline addicted.
Whether you’re on a push to become a more methodical, disciplined person or just want to get more hours of your life back, FocusMe’s powerful productivity app can help block or limit online distractions and save your mental energy for improving your life and business.
Got Questions About Getting Disciplined? Read This First.
While each step builds on the last to create real momentum, you don’t have to be perfect. The goal is progress, not perfection. Start with the first few steps, get some wins under your belt, and layer on more when you feel ready.
That’s normal, and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Just restart where you left off. Consistency over time is what matters most — not perfection. Use the setback as feedback and adjust your strategy if needed.
No, but it’s a powerful tool for accountability and motivation. If you’re not comfortable posting publicly, you can share updates with a close friend or a small group instead.
Start with micro-habits. Even five minutes a day can make a difference. Many people find that building discipline actually creates more time in their lives because they waste less of it.
Pick something that would create a ripple effect across other areas of your life. Ask yourself: What habit, if consistently applied, would make everything else easier or unnecessary?
Absolutely. Apps like Habitica, Streaks, or even a simple calendar or note app can help. Choose a method you’ll actually stick with.
That’s up to you. You can continue the habit, adjust the frequency, or replace it with a new one. The point of the challenge is to make consistency your new default.
Scale back. This system is about sustainable change, not burning out. There’s no rush — the goal is to become a more disciplined person over time, not overnight.
Many people with focus issues have found success using structured habit systems like this one. Pairing it with tools like FocusMe can help minimize digital distractions and improve follow-through.
This system focuses on building identity and habits rather than chasing one-off goals. It’s less about outcomes and more about becoming the type of person who naturally follows through.
