How to Build Discipline?

Start with something extremely simple. e.g make your bed every day when you wake up. All that is important is to do it consistently every time you wake up.

Then after you feel you're able to do it consistently add more and more things to it. Just don't ever break the simple one you picked as the first one.

Discipline and consistency has also been a challenge for me.

I have found it useful to embrace the humble beauty of boring things. It is easy to get on the hedonic treadmill of seeking ever-greater levels of excitement. Doing this will mean your attention gets jerked around by whatever screams the loudest. This makes consistency and accomplishment increasingly difficult to the point of overwhelm.

Two practices that you might find useful:

1. Print out a page of the sketches that Picasso did of a bull[1]. Notice that it is boring and repetitive to sketch the same bull. Notice that this is how art is made by the masters.

2. When you notice yourself seeking creativity, pick up a leaf and take five minutes just to appreciate the beauty of its curves and veins.

Finding a daily prayer to say to yourself is also good, especially on the evenings when you find yourself looking back with regret at a day you feel you wasted. Disiderata[2] is a good prayer.

I have also found the podcast of Prof. Andrew Huberman to be useful. Here he is talking about habits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcs2PFz5q6g

> I want to make something cool and adds value to the world.

In your class there is a professor who is struggling in a world where the pandemic has made it hard to tell if they are really helping students learn. This makes it a greater struggle to maintain her mental health and sense of purpose in life. You can add value to her corner of the world by writing down what you are grateful to learn.

[1] https://images.app.goo.gl/LhukTaB6khwQLNjh8

[2] https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html

First, set a cue. If you're going to the gym, perhaps it's always right after you wake up. You need to have a cue that consistently happens. After a while (a month), it becomes habit. Simple waking up sets off a whole sequence of habits for me.

Next, for the things you want to improve on, set a goal, measure and track.

For each exercise, how much weight did you lift, how many reps? Write it all down and match or beat yourself last time.

Start small so it's not overwhelming, and improve incrementally from there.

That's it. And even if you don't feel like doing it one day, take the first small step to doing it - like getting dressed for the gym. Then see what happens.

You might find this series of posts on training the will useful: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/104078.html

You have to do it every day; a habit. It may not get easier, but it gets better.

A lot of people get sucked into a trap of reading blogs about doing things instead of actually practicing the doing.

Best of luck

Start with one thing at a time. Do that one thing excellently until it becomes part of your soul, and you could never imagine not doing it. Then move onto the next thing.

try doing things that give a visceral sense of accomplishment afterwards even if unrelated to coding.

creating or fixing physical things is great for that.

j u s t d o i t

when you actually get started on a task, it motivates you to do more.

Also, know what you want to accomplish by the end of the day. Set a concrete goal