Procrastination and Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is about resisting the temptation to indulge in things that may provide some comfort or pleasure in the short term, but can ultimately have a negative impact.

ne way of overcoming the tendency to procrastinate is to develop self-discipline. Cultivating self-discipline will help make you more decisive.

Self-discipline is about resisting the temptation to indulge in things that may provide some comfort or pleasure in the short term, but can ultimately have a negative impact.

Being self-disciplined can give you the ability to sacrifice immediate pleasures so that you achieve something even more satisfying in the future. For example, rather than leaving work a little early, you may use the time to get ahead on an important task.

In addition to helping you overcome procrastination and indecisiveness, learning self-discipline has several other important benefits. It helps you ignore distractions, finish what you start, and have greater confidence in your decisions.

Consider Naheed, a manager at a television news station. He's interviewing candidates for a new role at the station. Naheed learns that one candidate studied in the same program and under the same professor that he did. Though Naheed is tempted to use this familiarity as a shortcut to making his decision, he shows discipline by ignoring the distraction.

Instead he bases his decision on the merits of each candidate and takes the time to thoroughly review their portfolios. Choosing the best candidate takes time that Naheed might rather have spent another way. However, because he's self-disciplined, he's able to remain committed to finishing what he started.

Finally, Naheed's discipline to do what's needed gives him confidence in his decision. He knows he hasn't taken the easy way out, but rather has approached the decision in a thorough way. So he can confidently present his decision to the station's executives.

QUESTION

What are the benefits of self-discipline for decision making?

• You can stay focused on your task more easily
• You'll be able to resist the lure of easy solutions
• You understand that you need to stay focused on the task at hand
• You'll be confident in your decisions
• You'll make decisions more quickly
• You can be certain that you'll make the right decisions

Being disciplined can help you ignore distractions and stay on task so you can make the best possible decision.

Self-discipline can help you resist easy but less effective solutions and do what's needed to make an informed decision.

Self-discipline strengthens your commitment to your objective, which can help you stay on task until you achieve your goal.

To be an effective decision maker, you must have confidence in your decisions. Self-discipline can give you this confidence because you know your decision-making process is rigorous.

Self-discipline can help you overcome procrastination, and that can certainly speed up your decision making. But sometimes discipline can steer you away from the easy option and so require you to commit to a longer process.

Self-discipline is a good way to become more decisive, and it should improve your decision making, but it doesn't necessarily mean that your decisions will always be the right ones.

I have been teaching and training agents, team leaders, supervisors, managers and admins of call centers and other businesses in BPO related fields. This series, comes as a result of that experience. I have more than 4,000 modules that I plan on sharing here. This is # 005-03

---