On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, let’s talk about what Lord Ganesh represents: Success. He is the first god we pray to before starting a new endeavor so that we may attain maximum success. Success cannot be attained without discipline.

In my previous post on this topic, I wrote about Why Motivation fails (and discipline wins).

Hard work trumps talent. This is something so many of us know and understand. But hard work is literally impossible without discipline!

I define discipline as ‘The ability to do what is right, even though you are tempted not to’.

That means studying when you want to play games and working out even though you want to stay home and take a nap. Master discipline and you will see other areas of your life fall into place. Let’s get started!

How to build discipline:

Meditation: Meditation is basically a way to train your brain to stop thinking and relax. Live in the moment. Breathe.

Journaling: Just putting your thoughts down on paper and deliberately choosing to cherish the good and learn from the bad teaches you discipline. You have to write a few lines. Why write about what made you feel negative and relive it when you can write what gave you a feeling of elation!?

Scheduling: Make schedules. Start small – the first two hours after waking up and the last two hours before falling asleep. Write these down in your journal or Google calendar and do your best to follow them.

Stop rewarding yourself for doing absolutely nothing: Use small rewards for small wins. Balance out rewards with work. If you keep rewarding yourself for little to no work, you will fall behind on your dreams and actually feel worse!

Track your habits and don’t break the streak: Motivate yourself to keep going by tracking whether or not you did your work by a simple tick or cross. Do it on a physical calendar or use apps like Loop Habit Tracker.

Baby steps: Take it slow. Don’t expect to follow a full day schedule from day one. It will take a long time to achieve personal mastery. It’s gonna be worth it!