Let's be honest. All of us have goals, and goals require discipline. Discipline is probably the toughest skill to master.
After all, it requires motivation and consistency of that motivation over a long period of time. Discipline is essential when, even without motivation, you do a certain action or multiple actions. Whether it's working out almost every day even if your body doesn't want to, or studying for a long period of time when you don't feel like it, discipline is really tough to master. However, when pursuing a goal, as said before, discipline will take you places where even motivation can't take you. Outlined below are a few steps to mastering the art of discipline and becoming a goal-oriented individual.
What is your goal?
When trying to pursue a goal, many people forget about the goal itself. After all, we are so caught up in the journey towards to the goal, that we never really think about our goal. What is your goal?
Is it achievable? If it isn't achievable yet, can you achieve it later? How much time does it require? Do you have the skills required to achieve the goal? All these questions and more should be taken into consideration. A goal isn't just an end result but a plethora of all the questions listed above. Knowing what your goal is can enable you to know if you are going in the right direction.
How are you going to achieve your goal?
Is it as simple as learning a skill like knowing how to cook a basic omlette, or is it much tougher, like wanting to learn a language? To have a goal-oriented mindset, you must know that every goal has its own path. While discipline is the common recipe for all goals, you are going to have good days, bad days, amazing days, and ugly days, and it's up to you how you are going to react to that.
As a goal-oriented person, having guidelines and a safe plan for every type of day is important. After all, not working enough on your goal, or over-exerting yourself for one goal is just going to cause regret later down in life. Learning how to make a plan is an important step towards becoming a goal-oriented person.
Don't be afraid of competition.
In a world full of 8 billion people, you are bound to run into competition for your goal. Don't be afraid of competition and back out. Trying something and trying your best is the single most important thing in competition.
One day you might be the best to do something, but another you might be the worst. You must know how to learn from the mistakes you made and from those better than you. Arrogance is something you can not have and you must be open to absolutely every person's skills and outputs. Competition will also hone your skills and backing out of such competition can only hurt your chances of achieving a goal and becoming a goal-oriented person.
Can your goal be achieved faster?
If you give a certain goal, a timeframe of 3 days, think for a second. Can you achieve it in 2 days? Maybe 1 day?
Speed is the most important trait in today's world, as being faster than someone at doing something(with the same quality) makes money. After all, there is the old adage, time is money. As a goal-oriented person, you must always analyze the fastest and most effective route towards success. However, achieving a goal faster shouldn't come at the cost of properly achieving it and if you need to cheat your way towards the end result, then you may need to rethink whether this is even necessary and if your future will be affected(which it will).
Take criticism, but don't be discouraged by negative comments.
Another important factor of a goal-oriented person is that they can take constructive criticism and weed out flat out mean and hurtful comments. For constructive criticism, using the advice given can exponentially increase your chances of reaching a goal, but taking too many negative comments to your head can exponentially set you back. While this is much easier said than done as a lot of comments over time will weigh someone down, it is important not to stay in that position and to rebound back towards your goal.
Surround yourself with equally disciplined and minded people.
Much like how a flower will thrive if other flowers around it are also thriving, you can not grow unless you surround yourself with a few like-minded and positive individuals. After all, humans are social creatures, and without communication with others, you are left at a severe disadvantage in achieving your goal. It is also important to note that maybe some of your friends and even family are negatively-minded individuals and therefore, you might need to distance yourself away from them.
After all, if one plant in a group of plants rots, then eventually all the plants in that group will rot. This can be related to your mindset. Staying with negative people can induce doubt and fear about achieving something. Positivity is the complete opposite and can instill a fear of courage and hope.
Pursue a goal that's yours, not another person's.
This goes mostly for parents, so parents, if you are reading this, listen up. Please don't force your kids to do something that they might not want to do. Whether it be forcing them to play a sport they don't like to pursue a career that they don't want, please don't force them, and listen to your kids. 100% of the time, when kids are placed with these expectations, they burn out so quickly and lose interest in everything in life.
They even lose interest in hanging out with friends, and other important aspects of life. Instead, talk to them about their goals. Foster a good relationship with your kids so that they can talk to you about anything. A goal-oriented person is only going to be affected when the goal is something they can relate to and something they want to do.
Becoming a goal-oriented person is not an easy task, but everyone and anyone can do it. As long as you put in the hard work and try to improve yourself, you are already winning and getting closer towards any goal you may want to achieve.
