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Making Good Choices and Self-Discipline; Goal Setting

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Warmup !

On a piece of paper, rate your abilities on a scale of 1-10:

How well do you make decisions?
How well do you stick to your goals?
Justify your ratings!

What is a real-life example of when you had to make a difficult decision or when you committed (or failed to commit) to your goals?

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The Marshmallow Test

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What is Self-Discipline?

Self discipline is the ability to manage and motivate yourself, stay on track and do what is right.

Habits of being disciplined include:

Removing distractions
Setting Goals & rewarding progress
Making a schedule that works best for them
Creating routine/Making good habits
Taking care of themselves

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Effective strategies for improving self-discipline

Try focusing on achieving one goal at a time, which will bring you incrementally closer to achieving a larger goal!
Plan for situations that may break your resolve
Prioritize your highest value tasks and activities
Eliminate distractions
Know your own inclinations
Reward yourself for achieving your goals
Create a routine

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More Strategies

Habit Trackers

Eisenhower Matrix

Ivy Lee Method

Templates

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Good Choices

Self-discipline includes making good choices, whether we like them or not. Good choices can be anything from eating healthy for breakfast to taking the weekend to give yourself a mental break rather than go out with friends. They may not always be the easiest choices to make, but they end up being the most beneficial.

One way to ensure we make good choices is through Goal Setting. Goal setting means identifying what you want to accomplish, and making a plan to get there. Goal setting will keep you accountable and ultimately help you make the right choices to reach those goals.

When setting goals, one of the biggest mistake is being too ambitious with your goals. Understanding your limits and create a realistic plan will help out in the long run. If you do have a large goal, establishing mini-goals or checkpoints will guide you in achieving your larger goal. Reaching these mini-goals can help give a sense of progress and direction if the larger goal seems overwhelming.

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Activity

Using the definition of self-discipline, write down one goal or thing you would like to accomplish using this skill.

Name a situation or event that is going to happen this week and tell us about the situation, how you can apply what you have learned about self discipline/goal-setting and how it can help you in this situation.

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Activity 2

“The Average Perfect Day”

On a piece of paper, write down your “Average Perfect Day”. Focus on what your perfect day looks like without any added extras or surprises (so no winning lottery tickets or surprise romantic getaways). The idea here is to create a detailed list of what an average day looks like, step by step.

Try to highlight instances where you’d make good choices, stay disciplined, or accomplished goals you set.

Create a day you will never get bored of, that you could happily repeat five or seven days a week. Create an ‘Average Perfect Day’ for your work day and your downtime days. With or without your partner or kids. Really think about the individual behaviors that go into that day. What you’ll begin to see clearly are little habits you can start actioning straight away to get you closer to your idea of a perfectly average day.

1. The ‘Average Perfect Day’ Exercise

You can do this exercise in a journal, blank notebook or on your computer, and as the title suggests it’s pretty straight forward – you write about what your average perfect day looks like.

Focus on what your perfect day looks like without any added extras or surprises (so no winning lottery tickets or surprise romantic getaways). The idea here is to create a detailed list of what an average day looks like, step by step. This could include:

The perfect time for waking up and what that looks like – do you read for 20 minutes before getting up? Cuddle with your partner? Do a sun salutation or mindfulness to start the day?

What do you do once you’re out of bed? Do you make coffee and breakfast first, or shower first? Do you pick out your outfit for the day or did you do that the night before? Is there music, the radio, morning TV in the background? Are the curtains or window blinds open fully or do you prefer them closed while you get ready?

What happens next? Do you go to work – what does that look like? Whom do you engage with? What does your desk look like?

Are you at home with the kids? What do you get up to? What activities or adventures do you do together?

What does a nutritious lunch look like and include?

And so on. Create a day you will never get bored of, that you could happily repeat five or seven days a week. Create an ‘Average Perfect Day’ for your work day and your downtime days. With or without your partner or kids. Really think about the individual behaviors that go into that day. What you’ll begin to see clearly are little habits you can start actioning straight away to get you closer to your idea of a perfectly average day.

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Post Activity

What is one goal that you’d like to achieve by the end of summer?

Establish 3 mini-goals that you can do to accomplish the main goal.

What are some possible distractions that can hinder your self-discipline towards that goal?

Figure out some ways to limit these distractions.

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Resources

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Credits

Tri

Reece

Sara

Miguel