When you think about self discipline what are the images that spring to your mind? The different images you might think of may include your not being able to eat a delicious cake because you are afraid of gaining more weight.
Or you might see a table full of paperwork preventing you from enjoying the sunny weather (because you are chained to the table).
These images are negative ideas which are preventing you from truly enjoying the benefits that come from controlling your tendency to dawdle and procrastinate.
To help you overcome this type of negative thinking, you need to combat it with some positive thinking instead.
For instance, in the scene where you are mourning not being able to eat a piece of cake, what you should be doing is to think you will eat only a small piece of cake.
This way you can have your cake but still maintain your goal of losing weight.
Another way to imagine this would be to consider the cake slice as a reward for having completed a week of maintaining your self-control.
Let's take the image of paperwork versus being unable to go outside because you are chained to your work.
The only way to accomplish this and free yourself from this at the same time, is to first envision placing the work into small stacks.
As you complete each stack allow yourself time to enjoy looking outside and getting fresh air.
By separating the paper work into smaller piles you make the work seem less overwhelming and doable.
As each pile is finished you will feel a sense of triumph and you are one step closer to achieving your final goal.
As you can see the key to self discipline lies with visualizing the positive results which can occur when you complete a task on time.
In other words by finishing a task on time you have more free time or you can give yourself a small treat which will not make you feel bad about yourself.
To better help you with this endeavor it is best to take everything and turn it into a series of steps you need to get through, to complete each task.
This way you can begin to control your twin urges of letting things slide, and procrastination.
As you can no doubt see for yourself, these steps are not that difficult to keep, nor are they ones that will leave you feeling lost and defeated at the end of the day.
The key item towards keeping track of your self control is to make a list of the tasks you need to complete each day.
These should include projects you want to do.
For each job or project set aside some time to do the job.
At the end of the list, write down a reward you will give yourself for keeping on track.
This list is your guide to achieving the goals you have set for yourself.
Ultimately it will help you maintain an internal self discipline and as time goes by you will no longer need to write down a list.
In the end your own self control will do the job for you.