6 Practical Discipline Tips

Hey, I'm Terri Savelle Foy, your cheerleader of dreams. And today we're talking about something that isn't always cute and glittery, but it's the secret weapon behind every big dream. Discipline. Now don't turn it off yet just yet because I'm giving you six super practical tips to help you become more disciplined and finally crush your goals without feeling like a robot or a drill sergeant. Now, these tips have helped me go from procrastinating, people pleasing, messy office Terri to published author, YouTube hosting, dream board building Terri. Discipline is the real secret behind every big breakthrough. The thing that turns vision boards into victory stories. But first let me tell you a story. There's a guy named James Clear, and you've probably heard of him. He's the author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits. But before he wrote this book, before he became a world renowned expert on habits and behavior change, he was just a normal guy recovering from a traumatic brain injury that he suffered in high school. Well, doctors weren't sure if he'd ever be the same. He struggled with focus, memory, even just basic daily routines. But James made a decision to discipline himself with small, consistent habits. He started making his bed every day, lifting weights consistently, studying just a little bit, nothing flashy, nothing dramatic, just small discipline stacked daily. Fast forward. He not only recovered, but became the top scholar in his college, a successful entrepreneur, and he sold over 10 million copies of this book all because he mastered the art of showing up even when he didn't feel like it. See, that's the power of discipline. And the good news is you don't need to be born with it. You just need the right tools to build it. So today I'm going to give you six practical, powerful tips to help you become more disciplined and finally crush those God-given goals. And you're going to love your free download this week because it includes these six practical discipline tips from today's podcast with space to track your progress and some motivational insights to just keep you going. So just click the link in the description so you've got this valuable tool. Okay. Are you ready? Tip number one is make discipline part of your identity. John Maxwell said, you'll never consistently act in a way that's inconsistent with how you see yourself. This is huge. This for me was the game changer. Now let me tell you how this became real for me. Years ago, I would set all these goals every January. I'm going to get up early. I'm going to work out. I'm going to write a book. I'm going to rule the world before lunch. But by February, guess what? I was still hitting the snooze button five times, skipping workouts and saying, I'll start next Monday. Well then one day I heard this in prayer. The Lord said, don't be average and your life won't be average. I realized I was still seeing myself like the average person. I would work out only when summer was coming. I would save money when vacation was coming. I would get the house really clean and organized when company was coming. I didn't read books. I didn't listen to podcast. Everything about my life was average and consequently my habits lined up perfectly with my identity. So I made a change. I started saying out loud every morning, I'm a disciplined person. I do what I need to do. Whether I feel like it or not, I am focused, consistent and committed. And at first it felt like I was lying. But over time my mind started catching up. My habits started changing. I actually became the discipline person that I had been declaring all along and it really didn't take too long before people started noticing and calling me disciplined. See, discipline isn't about trying harder. It's about thinking differently. If you want lasting change, don't just change your habits, change your identity. Start today declaring I am a disciplined person and say it until you believe it and then one day you're going to wake up and realize it's true. You're not trying to be disciplined. You are disciplined. That's just who you are now. So speak who you want to become even before you feel like it. Okay. Tip number two is to schedule your success. So discipline doesn't start with willpower. It starts with a calendar. If it's not scheduled, it's optional and optional things rarely get done. I used to say I wanted to write a book, but I never scheduled time to actually write. I would say things like, I'll do it when I have a free afternoon or maybe this weekend. And do you know how long that book lived in my head? Years. Then one day I heard a quote that changed everything. What gets scheduled gets done. So I grabbed my planner, found a 45 window of time on a Saturday morning before my day got crazy and I blocked it off. I said, write book, not maybe not when I feel inspired. It was a set schedule appointment with my future and I treated it like any other important meeting. I showed up on time, even if I was in sweatpants and I needed more mascara. But that one little time block just repeated consistently. It became the first book I got published that changed my life and helped change other people's lives too. It was called make your dreams bigger than your memories. So whether it's working out, writing your dream or finally learning a new skill, lock it on your calendar, protect it and show up because discipline shows up on the calendar, not in your feelings. Okay. Tip number three, use the five minute rule. Okay. Let me be honest. There are days when I don't feel like working out and I mean my workout clothes are laid out. My sneakers are next to the chair and I'm sitting in the bathroom putting on makeup, trying to convince myself that stretching counts as exercise, right? But this little rule has saved me so many times. Terry, just do it for five minutes. So one morning I told myself, okay, five minutes, that's it just to warm up and then I can quit if I want. I put on a motivational podcast, got started and guess what? Five minutes turned into 15 then 30 and before I knew it, I'd finished a full workout and felt amazing. Now here's why it works. The hardest part of discipline is getting started because your brain sees the whole mountain and says, no thank you. But if you just say, give me five minutes, your brain says, okay, I can handle that. And once you start moving, momentum kicks in and that's where the magic happens. And this works with anything, writing a paper, organizing a drawer, cleaning the kitchen, even prayer and Bible time. Just say I'll do five minutes and most of the time you'll end up doing way more and it's okay if you only do five minutes cause you still did it. So discipline doesn't demand perfection. It just asks for five focused minutes to get the fire started. Start small and momentum will carry you further than motivation. Hey, dreamer, I just want to take a quick pause and say a heartfelt thank you for tuning in today. It's such a joy to share this space with you, especially with people who are passionate about chasing their God given dreams. And I truly hope you're loving this episode as much as I love creating it for you. But before we dive back in, can I ask you something real quick? Did you know that a surprising number of people who watch this podcast aren't actually subscribed? Crazy, right? That means you might not be a subscriber either. And if this episode is blessing you, would you just take a second to hit the subscribe button? It helps us spread more encouragement, more purpose driven content and reach even more dreamers like you. So speaking of purpose driven content, I've got something special just for you. I'm hosting a free live your dreams virtual event created specifically for dreamers who are ready to stop wondering and start doing. I know firsthand what it feels like to have a dream burning in your heart, but no clue where to begin. That's why I'm making this virtual event 100% free because I want as many people as possible to get the clarity and the confidence they need to take bold steps forward. So this isn't just another event. This is a breakthrough moment. You'll walk away knowing the exact next steps to start turning your dream into reality. So if you're ready to stop just dreaming and start living those dreams, hit the link below and save your spot now. All right, let's get back into today's message and always remember this. Your dreams are possible and they are so worth fighting for. Tip number four is to clean the clutter, clear the mind, clean the clutter, clear the mind. And I know you hear this a lot from me, but a messy space makes discipline feel harder. Why? Because visual chaos leads to mental chaos. Clean one drawer and watch your focus skyrocket. And you may not think that cleaning your closet is spiritual, but I'm telling you it's one of the fastest ways to activate discipline and clarity. And let me tell you what happened to me. I had this little junk drawer in my office, you know, the one that's full of pens that don't work, paperclips, batteries that may or might be dead, random sticky notes from 2017. Every time I opened the drawer, I felt overwhelmed and I would literally avoid it because it just made me feel out of control. One day I decided to just tackle the drawer. I set a timer for 20 minutes. I dumped everything out of the drawer and I only kept what I actually needed and it didn't even take me 20 minutes to conquer this drawer, but I felt like I conquered Mount Everest. Here's the crazy part. Later that day I sat down to work on a message that I'd been procrastinating on for days and it just flowed out of me. It was like the clutter in that drawer was clogging up my creativity. And that's when I realized a messy space makes discipline feel harder. You don't even realize how much visual clutter is mentally draining you. So clean space, clear mind, clear mind, focused action and focused action leads to big results. So here's your challenge. Pick one small space, a drawer, a nightstand, your purse, anything and clean it today. And I promise it'll spark momentum in other areas of your life because your environment is either fueling your discipline or fighting it. Okay. Tip number five is to track your progress. See what gets measured, gets managed, whether it's saving money, working out, writing, track it because seeing progress will keep you progressing. Now let me tell you a story about a girl, Melissa. She had set a goal to lose 20 pounds and get healthy, not just for a number, but so she had more energy to chase after her kids and chase after her dreams. And she had tried everything, bad diets, gym memberships, buying cute, workout clothes, you name it, but nothing ever stuck. Well, then she did one thing that changed everything. She made herself a little progress tracker. She bought a dollar store notebook and every day she tracked three simple things. Did I drink water? Did I move my body at least 30 minutes? Did I eat pretty clean today? At first it didn't feel like much, but after just one week of checking those little boxes, she started feeling different, more focused, more empowered, more consistent. Fast forward, 90 days, Melissa had lost the weight, gained energy and was more confident than ever. But do you know what she said was the real transformation? She said for the first time in my life, I actually saw proof that I could follow through. She said, that little notebook wasn't just tracking habits. It was building a new identity. See, tracking your progress gives your brain evidence that you are becoming the disciplined person you want to be. So whether it's a fitness goal, a financial goal or finishing a project, track it, use a journal, a wall chart, a sticky note, whatever works for you. Because when you can see your progress, you don't want to break the streak. Okay. Tip number six, tie it to your why. See, discipline gets hard when we forget why we're doing it. Tie your actions to your vision. Connect your habits to your future. Like what are you focused on? In fact, I heard a story about a woman named Stephanie and she had a dream to write a children's book, not for fame, not for money, but because her little boy, Noah had a speech delay and she couldn't find hardly any books that help kids like him feel seen or encouraged or confident. So she set a goal to write one page a day. Easy enough, right? Well, she also had a full time job, two kids, a husband, laundry, dishes, and she said a golden retriever who thought socks were toys, but there were plenty of days she didn't feel like writing. Days where it would have been so easy to just skip a day, but she would walk by Noah's room, see him playing with books and she would remember her why she wasn't just writing a book. She was writing for him for other kids who needed help and that vision was fuel. Well, guess what? She finished the book. It got published and now it's being used in schools and speech therapy programs across the country. She didn't finish the book because she had this superhuman discipline. No, she finished because she stayed connected to her purpose. See, when you're clear on your why, you'll push through any win. So ask yourself, why are you getting healthy? Why are you writing that book? Why are you waking up early? Showing up, stay in the course, tie your actions to your dream, your assignment, and suddenly discipline isn't a chore. It's a calling. So I want to encourage you today. You don't need to be perfect. You just need to be persistent. Discipline is not about denying yourself. It's about designing your future and the more you practice it, the stronger you become. So here's your homework. Pick one of the six tips and start today. Just one habit, one drawer, one check Mark, and you're going to be amazed at how little disciplines lead to major momentum. So if you want your free download to have this reminder, just click the link in the description. Get the six practical discipline tips from today's podcast with space to track your progress. It's going to help you just stay on track, stay pumped all week long, and remember your destiny is too important to leave it up to how you feel. I'm cheering you on to live your dream.