OG Tuesday Issue #122

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Accelerate your job search, crack the self-discipline code, and remember the Holocaust.

You quit your job on a whim. You got laid off. You suspect you’re about to get laid off. You got passed over for a promotion. You just can’t take another day at your current job.

No matter what led you here, you all have one thing in common: You want a new job, and you want it fast.

Career Strategist Sonal Bahl has a golden rule for speeding up your job search process:

“By crystal clear on what you want.”

It might be tempting, when you want a job fast, to cast a wide net, but Bahl says a willingness to do anything and everything may make you seem lost and confused. Instead, you should be focused on your destination and stick to your path. Bahl says it’s a lot like driving.

If you want to end up at Target, meandering down a bunch of side streets instead of sticking to the most direct route will only add time to your journey.

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A lot of people lament their lack of self discipline. They want it and feel they have it in them but can’t seem to harness it.

Let’s break down the mysterious and elusive practice of self discipline.

What is self discipline anyway?

Before we begin, let’s establish a standard definition. The American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology defines self discipline as follows:

1. The control of one’s impulses and desires, forgoing immediate satisfaction in favor of long-term goals.
2. Resolute adherence to a regimen or course of action in order to achieve one’s goals.

What are the keys to self discipline?

Use these clues to see if you can guess some common threads shared by people with strong self discipline.

Clue 1: If people don’t already say this day-to-day pattern is the route to success, they should.

Clue 2: Saying “c’est la vie” is a way of practicing this so you can move on with your day.

Clue 3: In her ode to this powerhouse word (both a noun and a verb), Janet Jacket said:
I don’t wanna rule the world, just wanna run my life

Clue 4: The Marshmallow Experiment put this characteristic to the test.

Clue 5: If hindsight is 20/20 then this is basically telepathy.

Clue 6: Many of these fail because they’re not backed up by solid tactics.

Answer 1: Routine 

“The easiest way to practice self-discipline is to avoid making on-the-fly decisions. We can do this by building routines,” say the experts at Headspace. “Say we’re trying to save money by not eating out. We could consider making meal prep a weekly routine. Then, after a long day, when the thought comes — ‘I’m craving take out.’ — we don’t need to act on it because our meal is already prepared.”

Answer 2: Acceptance 

Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, says a key aspect of self discipline is accepting — and not denying, suppressing, or fighting — the tendencies, compulsions, and desires that test our self discipline.

“Find it. Address it. And most importantly: accept it. Find that deep, dark ugly part of yourself. Confront it, head on, allowing yourself to feel all the awful, icky emotions that come with it,” he writes. “Then accept that this is a part of you and it’s never going away. And that’s fine. You can work with this, rather than against it.”

Answer 3: Control 

Author Peter Hollins says acknowledging that WE (and not other people, events, or magic) are fully responsible for what we do and do not do is the foundation for self discipline.

In the introduction to The Power of Self-Discipline: 5-Minute Exercises to Build Self-Control, Good Habits, and Keep Going When You Want to Give Up, he writes:

“We say, “I can’t,” I shouldn’t,” or “I won’t,” far more often than we should. We say it so much that we believe that fighting against these powers is useless, and thus we lose power over ourselves. In other words, when we tell ourselves we have no discipline, it ends up being true.”

Answer 4: Willpower

If you think of self discipline overall as a muscle, then willpower is your barbell. Using it is exercise, making your overall self discipline stronger.

“Willpower is correlated with positive life outcomes such as better grades, higher self-esteem, lower substance abuse rates, greater financial security, and improved physical and mental health,” write the experts at the American Psychological Association.

Answer 5: Foresight 

Foresight is as essential to self discipline as a destination is to the operation of your GPS. If you can’t tell your GPS where you want to go, then it won’t get you anywhere. If you can’t effectively picture the benefits of your discipline, then you’re not very likely to practice it.

Answer 6: Strategies 

Research suggests that instead of focusing on inherent skills, the path to self discipline can be forged through self-directed strategies, such as:

• Goal setting and planning strategies
• Situational strategies to resist temptations
• Cognitive strategies to make negative thoughts less overwhelming

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This commemoration, designated by the United Nations General Assembly, falls on the anniversary of the Auschwitz concentration camp liberation and was created to honor the memory of at least six million Jewish Holocaust victims.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has resources to help you reflect and meditate on this painful day:

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🗓️ Black History Month is right around the corner. Start planning activities with your team.

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