I’m thankful to have developed the skill of discipline at a very young age, although many men I know have a hard time staying disciplined across different areas of their lives. While you might think of yourself as ‘disciplined’ or ‘undisciplined’ - those labels are inaccurate and harmful to your mindset. Discipline is not an identity, but a skill. A skill that can be learned, trained, and improved upon if it’s important to you. The skill of discipline can help you reach a new level of results, success, and confidence in knowing that you are sticking to what you say you want to. Here are 5 simple strategies to flexing your discipline muscle and seeing improvement in this skill:

1: Write It Down

Studies have found that you’re 42% more likely to achieve a goal simply by writing it down. While this seems about as simple as it gets, it is effective for several reasons. It forces you to get clear on what you actually want, it allows you to frequently see and remind yourself of your goal (and why it’s important), and it provides extra internal accountability by not just ‘shrugging it off’ and forgetting the goal if you fall short.

2: Phone A Friend

The more people you let into your areas you want to improve, the better your results will be. Whether it’s a specific goal, a habit you want to add (or get rid of), or anything else you’re looking for more discipline on, sharing with a friend will help increase accountability and provide extra support if things get tough. While this works best with people you trust that are close to you, there is also accountability in sharing what you plan on doing on social media or on similar platforms.

3: Play To Your Strengths

Have you ever forced a habit and tried to be discipline for something that went completely against your natural tendencies? For example, I know a lot of people that try and force themselves to work out at 5am before work when they’re hard wired night owls. Or people that choose to eat or workout in a way that they completely can’t stand doing. There are lots of ways you can achieve a goal and improve discipline - while it won’t always be an easy road, it doesn't have to be miserable either.

4: Use Habit Stacking

Habit stacking is creating a habit immediately before or after a habit you are already regularly performing. For example, you can do 15 pushups and 15 squats immediately before or after brushing your teeth (hopefully assuming that’s something you’re doing at least once daily), or journaling for 10 minutes before having your morning coffee. The possibilities are endless with this one, but the goal is to take something you’re already doing on autopilot and attaching something new you want to be doing before or after that to build the habit faster.

5: Hire A Coach

My wife and I have used coaches from everything from business, to finance, to marriage, to leadership, and anywhere we want to see more discipline and more results. While this is the one step that will cost more than other options, I can’t even begin to express how many hours of time and frustration it’s saved us. When you have someone keeping you accountable and guiding you along the way, you reduce the time it takes to see change drastically.

What’s an area you want to see more discipline in? Which of these simple strategies can you get started with today?