Self-Discipline

Self-Discipline:

“Training and control of oneself and one's conduct, usually for personal improvement”
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I have been thinking about self-discipline a lot lately. I think we all know that in this journey, self-discipline is a major factor. Are we disciplined enough to not buy the bag of potato chips, to not stop at our favorite fast food restaurant? Are we disciplined enough to stay on our meal plan and to follow a regular exercise plan? I think we are faced with scenarios like this each and every day. I for one, am. I have found many non-scale victories in the moments I have practiced self-discipline. For example, I can take pride in:

• Knowing that the kids still have bags of candy from their Christmas stockings in the cupboard and I have not touched them. Yes, in the past I have been known to steal candy from my children.
• My husband wanted me to go buy him a shake from a local malt shop on Saturday. I told him I would not do it, if he wanted one he would have to go get it himself. So he did. And I enjoyed my 140 cal Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich instead.
• I have exercised the past couple of weeks even when I didn't want to.

Of course, there are times when I have not practiced very good self-discipline. For example, I told myself I would only have one chicken enchilada at dinner last week, and had two instead. Or one day I weighed myself in the morning, to find that I was not on track to lose much weight that week, being disappointed I did not push it as hard as I should have on the treadmill.

I'm glad to know each day is a new day. Each day we can re-commit ourselves to being disciplined. Practicing self-discipline feels great, it raises my sense of self-worth. Knowing I care about myself enough to control my appetites, helps me keep going. I must say, that I'm only a couple of weeks into my journey, but I have found that practicing self-discipline in a fitness/healthy eating manner has helped me to be more disciplined in other aspects of my life, too.

Here are some great quotes I found about self-discipline:

• "If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self"-Napolean Hill

• "In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first."- Harry S. Truman

• "Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power." -Clint Eastwood

• "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Zigler

• "Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way,ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future." Deepak Chopra