I am going to tell you something that might shock you, or maybe not: They key to success if fitness is the same as success in any other endeavor. That key is discipline, and specifically, self-discipline. For many, this is one of the hardest things to master. It's easy to be disciplined in some cases where you have to be accountable to someone else. For example, in school, a lack of discipline will get you a failing grade, and there for provides an external source of discipline. But what if there were no grades, and no teachers to apply that pressure? How many people would hold themselves to account to learn a particular topic, on their own? Fitness is something similar to the latter example. You are trying to accomplish something, and unless you are an athlete with a coach or someone working with a trainer, you have no one to hold you to account. This is one of the main reasons that people have such a hard time with things like weight loss; it's not that they are unaware of what is healthy, or whether they know that they are eating too much. Everyone knows that if you eat cake and fried food all th time, eventually you will get fat, or if a person is out with there friends and they are eating the same amount of food as three people combined, they know or should know that will make them obese unless they are extremely athletic.
If you are a person who has an issue with self-discipline, as many people do in one way or another, you may be asking how to become more self-disciplined? There are a couple of helpful tips that can help anyone increase their self-discipline levels and ultimately lead not only to success in fitness, but other areas as well.
I would start with this one bit of information first, because it is the big picutre idea. As humans, we are creatures of habit. If we establish a particular way of life, such as exercising or eating healthy, over a certain period of time we eventually become used to this behavior, which then becomes natural to us. That is why people who are fit and healthy typically remain that way for a long time, because they are living an overall healthy lifestyle.
Let's start:
Step 1: Positive Self-Talk - Always think and speak in a positive manner. Instead of saying "I want to lose weight," or "I will try to lose weight," try saying things like "I am in the process of losing weight," or "I am living a healthier life." So for example, you are on a diet, and a friend asks you to go to McDonalds and eat a hamburger with them. If you say "I am trying to lose weight" it is going to set you up for failure, so instead tell your friend "I am living a healthy lifestyle and won't eat fast food, but thank you for the offer." You may alternatively offer to go and eat somewhere healthy or cook at home. Be firm in what you are doing, and if your friends care about you, they will support you.
Step 2: Small Changes - You will not wake up one day and magically transform into some new creature with new habits. Discipline has to be formed step-by-step over time. Start out with things that you may not even think have anything to do with your goal. For instance, start going to bed at the same time every night. Next, try to wake up at the same time every morning. Brush your teeth exactly before going to bed, this way even when you might not feel sleep, you give yourself a psychological cue that bed time is approaching by brushing your teeth. You don't have to use these exact examples, but it should give you and idea that you should build a routine.
Step 3: Maintain the Routine - This is one of the important things to remember: physical ritual creates discipline. This is why monks in a temple sweep the grounds, or people in the military constantly clean their spaces. The routine, continued performance of routine will create discipline beyond the original action. It makes your mind function in a way that you know you have to do something, and you have a certain time to do it, and it puts you into a rhythm with a structure.
With that knowledge, for a given behavior to become a set behavior, according to psychological models, takes approximately 6 months. If you make your bed every day for 6 months right when you wake up, this will become part of your life. If you go for a run or go to the gym for 6 months, this will become your routine and will be much harder to break. This is called maintenance mode. The same can be applied to dietary choices, etc.
Step 4: Hold Yourself to Account - As I mentioned, when regular descipline that comes from the outside world, there is someone that holds you to account, whether it is your parents, teacher, or employer. With self-discipline, you hold yourself to account, therefore you must have a reinforcement mechanism in place so that if you stray from your goals, you provide yourself with the consequences. I would recommend to make the reinforcement somethin related to your goal. For example, you are trying to lose weight, so you set a rule that you will not consume food after 8PM. Perhaps one day you get very hungry and decide you want to eat anyway, how do you deal with this situation? Make a rule that if you eat outside of your scheduled eating time, you must do 20 push-ups before eating additional food. You will either benefit from doing the additional exercise before eating, or you will stop yourself from eating because you do not want the punishment of doing 20 pushups. In time your brain will recognize that eating extra is associated with extra work and will likely avoid it.
Those are 4 basic things you can do to start your journy to being more self-disciplined. My advice for anyone that wants to start today is very simple: start by making your bed every morning right after you wake up, every day. It is one of the easiest things you'll ever do and may set you on a path to bigger and better things.