It’s time to tackle an essential but less popular success skill – discipline. Deep down you know that this is an important success skill, but you may also resent working on it. I hope I can change your mind. Discipline is about persistence and seeing things through to the end.

Why Is It Important

It’s easy to get distracted, isn’t it? There are new ideas, diversions, and all sorts of important and unimportant tasks vying for our attention at any given moment. And that doesn’t even include social media. We’re on constant information overload and have to be able to prioritize and focus before we can get anything done. That’s where discipline comes in. It’s nothing more than setting a goal and then persistently working on it until you complete the task.

Without discipline, it’s all too easy to get distracted and find yourself staying busy and “working” all day without any results to show at quitting time. I don’t have to tell you that this isn’t a good formula for success.

How To Get Started

The best way to develop good discipline is through practice. Start by setting yourself one or two tasks each day. They could be something simple and easy like making your bed every morning or something more challenging like finishing a work task each day or spending 30 minutes learning a new language. The task itself doesn’t matter all that much, and it doesn’t have to be the same thing each day. The important part is that you don’t go to bed before you finish the few tasks you’ve set aside for yourself.

This gives you practice and gets you into the habit of persisting until you complete things. As time goes by, make your task harder and start to incorporate things you don’t want to do. The more you practice, the easier it will become to stay disciplined.

Improving Your Skills

To improve your discipline skills give the following a try for a few months. Before you end your workday, or for personal things before you call it a night, sit down and jot down three things you want to get accomplished the next day. They don’t have to be super involved or complicated and make sure they are things you can finish that day. Don’t be afraid to push yourself a little bit though. These are your three “must get done” tasks for the day.

Focus on these items first thing in the morning and no matter what happens, don’t quit for the day until you complete them. Make it a non-negotiable habit. It will strengthen your discipline while greatly increasing your overall productivity. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish with this one little habit.