The road to success and ultimately more happiness is paved with self-discipline. Author H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.” If you know you have talent, and you’ve seen a lot of motion—but little concrete results—you may lack self-discipline. The road to small business success, or any success for that matter and happiness is paved with self-discipline.

Self-discipline-Sort Out Your Priorities

What two or three areas of your life are vital to your success? Write them down, along with the disciplines that you must develop to keep growing and improving in those areas. Develop the disciplines and more importantly develop an action plan with concrete steps that you must apply whether it is daily or weekly. Plan how they are going to become part of your life.

Self-discipline-List the Reasons

What are the benefits of practicing the disciplines you just listed? Starting something new is not easy. Without a positive vision of the benefits it is more challenging to follow through. Post these benefits somewhere where you will see them daily. In my personal business coaching practice I have observed the importance of constant visualization of what we want to accomplish and how it gives impetus to making it a reality.

Self-discipline—Get Rid of Excuses

Whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or corporate manager or executive all of us come up with excuses as to why we are not getting things done. To eliminate the roadblocks to developing your new disciplines write down the reasons as to why you may not be able to follow through with them. Read through them. And then dismiss them as the excuses they are.

Here’s the hard part. Even if a reason seems legitimate, find a solution to overcome it. Don’t leave yourself any reasons to quit. Remember that a discipline is the bridge between a thought and an action. Only when you have the discipline to act do you have the power to achieve your dreams.

There is a nursery in Canada that displays this sign on their wall: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty-five years ago…..The second best time is today.” Plant the tree of self-discipline in your life today.

