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Do you limit yourself, if so why?
In what ways do you discipline yourself to get the best results out of work?
7 answers
Updated
Gloria’s Answer
Hi Lucas,
You raise a question that will challenge you your whole life. Discipline is about staying focused on tasks. For many people, that discipline comes from routines that allow you to perform at your highest level. And that takes learning about your own strengths and playing to them. So what do I mean? Here are some questions that I would ask you to see how you can use your natural tendencies to perform.
What time of day do you feel the most creative or even just awake? I am a morning person. I work in a creative job and my most creative time is at the beginning of my work day. It is the time when my most out of the box thinking occurs. I have friends and co-workers who are night owls and evening is their power hours. Arrange your work around that tendency. Some jobs or even social norms in the US can challenge that, but whenever you can save the hard work for your most powerful hours. I always hear parents encourage their kids to do homework before dinner and yet that may not be their power time to do homework. A student may need to decompress after school before going to the homework.
How easily are you distracted? I am super easily distracted. So I have to minimize distractions. At work, I close my email whenever I shift to work that I need to get done. I set aside certain times in the day to check email. In my work instant message system, I mute or limit notifications to people who I will allow to interrupt me when I am deep into the work that I am paid to do. I do similar things with my personal phone when I am working. This scheduling of time to pay attention can be difficult. We are in a very connected world where you are afraid of missing something. However, it is hard to get into what is referred to as a FLOW in what you are doing once you have been interrupted. I do whatever I can to protect that time to make sure that I function at a high rate for as long as I can. I usually only stay in the flow about two hours max so I will eventually check my emails and messages in the same day.
Those are just a few things that I need to have the discipline to meet work deadlines and commitments.
Gloria
FLOW: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness?language=en
You raise a question that will challenge you your whole life. Discipline is about staying focused on tasks. For many people, that discipline comes from routines that allow you to perform at your highest level. And that takes learning about your own strengths and playing to them. So what do I mean? Here are some questions that I would ask you to see how you can use your natural tendencies to perform.
What time of day do you feel the most creative or even just awake? I am a morning person. I work in a creative job and my most creative time is at the beginning of my work day. It is the time when my most out of the box thinking occurs. I have friends and co-workers who are night owls and evening is their power hours. Arrange your work around that tendency. Some jobs or even social norms in the US can challenge that, but whenever you can save the hard work for your most powerful hours. I always hear parents encourage their kids to do homework before dinner and yet that may not be their power time to do homework. A student may need to decompress after school before going to the homework.
How easily are you distracted? I am super easily distracted. So I have to minimize distractions. At work, I close my email whenever I shift to work that I need to get done. I set aside certain times in the day to check email. In my work instant message system, I mute or limit notifications to people who I will allow to interrupt me when I am deep into the work that I am paid to do. I do similar things with my personal phone when I am working. This scheduling of time to pay attention can be difficult. We are in a very connected world where you are afraid of missing something. However, it is hard to get into what is referred to as a FLOW in what you are doing once you have been interrupted. I do whatever I can to protect that time to make sure that I function at a high rate for as long as I can. I usually only stay in the flow about two hours max so I will eventually check my emails and messages in the same day.
Those are just a few things that I need to have the discipline to meet work deadlines and commitments.
Gloria
Gloria recommends the following next steps:
Paul Goetzinger MPA
Academic and Career Consultant and Freelance Writer
657
Answers
Updated
Paul’s Answer
I have a personal philosophy, which is:
"Never let things things that you can't do, interfere with the things that you can do."
I basically limit myself to the skills and abilities that I can successfully achieve, and the results desired by my organization. I did occasionally take risks, but I found they were risks that were achievable, and resulted in the organizational goals being attained.
So, for me I limited myself to achieving the organizational goals, and never allowing the things that I could not do, interefere with the things that I could do.
"Never let things things that you can't do, interfere with the things that you can do."
I basically limit myself to the skills and abilities that I can successfully achieve, and the results desired by my organization. I did occasionally take risks, but I found they were risks that were achievable, and resulted in the organizational goals being attained.
So, for me I limited myself to achieving the organizational goals, and never allowing the things that I could not do, interefere with the things that I could do.
Updated
Julie’s Answer
I try to time block my day and leverage Outlook rules to keeping my email organized. Set aside time on your calendar to work on priority tasks and try to focus on it during the time you set aside.
Also, make sure you schedule time to eat lunch so you can refuel!
Also, make sure you schedule time to eat lunch so you can refuel!
Updated
Chirayu’s Answer
To get the best out of myself and get good results at work, I like to challenge myself. Taking time to challenge what you think you can and can’t do can be a good first step to self-discipline. Another thing that is beneficial is to find motivational activities. Sometimes it is beneficial to step away from your work to take a walk or do another activity for a short time. Practice from your failures as being more disciplined also requires that you forgive your own shortcomings. Lastly, make practices a habit, clearly define your expectations and set goals for yourself and prioritize them in order to complete the tasks you assign yourself.
Updated
Matthew’s Answer
I think you need to rephrase your question. The phrase "limiting yourself" sounds like you are holding back.
I think maybe you mean to ask how do you better prioritize what needs to be done. It's all too easy to get distracted at work, all the emails, slacks, calls, etc. can just gobble up hours of your day or week. If there is one thing you absolutely have to do, do it before doing anything else. That slack can wait, that email can wait a few minutes or an hour in order to accomplish a critical task or requirement for yourself or someone else.
The other side of that coin is to identify what's not important to do. You would be surprised how much time we spend on tasks or mini projects that would not be missed if they were not done. Don't be afraid to let go of those things.
I think maybe you mean to ask how do you better prioritize what needs to be done. It's all too easy to get distracted at work, all the emails, slacks, calls, etc. can just gobble up hours of your day or week. If there is one thing you absolutely have to do, do it before doing anything else. That slack can wait, that email can wait a few minutes or an hour in order to accomplish a critical task or requirement for yourself or someone else.
The other side of that coin is to identify what's not important to do. You would be surprised how much time we spend on tasks or mini projects that would not be missed if they were not done. Don't be afraid to let go of those things.
Updated
Howard’s Answer
Hi Lucas,
This is a great question and the answer requires you to train yourself to be disciplined in your approach. For me, I often found it difficult to deal with work issues when I was younger, due to lack of experience. The more experience I received, the better able I was to handle work issues without being distracted. This requires practice and as you continue on in your life, you will gain more confidence in yourself and know that what you are doing is right, at least for you.
Discipline requires you to focus carefully on what you are doing and not letting distractions get in the way. When you are distracted, slow down a bit and handle the distraction at a later time in the day. Your focus on the task at hand is most important. Sometimes we are also very tired from handling life's struggles and we will find that when you are tired, or don't get enough sleep, we can easily lose sight of our concentrated efforts to solve a problem and remain focused. There is an old saying that you might want to know and it is ""Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
I have also attached a link to an article in Forbes magazine that you can read. It can be very helpful if you read about some of the strategies you can use to become more disciplined and focused in your life. Hope all is well and best wishes to you in all your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Professor Christiansen
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2020/08/25/8-powerful-ways-to-cultivate-extreme-self-discipline/?sh=4f735977182d
This is a great question and the answer requires you to train yourself to be disciplined in your approach. For me, I often found it difficult to deal with work issues when I was younger, due to lack of experience. The more experience I received, the better able I was to handle work issues without being distracted. This requires practice and as you continue on in your life, you will gain more confidence in yourself and know that what you are doing is right, at least for you.
Discipline requires you to focus carefully on what you are doing and not letting distractions get in the way. When you are distracted, slow down a bit and handle the distraction at a later time in the day. Your focus on the task at hand is most important. Sometimes we are also very tired from handling life's struggles and we will find that when you are tired, or don't get enough sleep, we can easily lose sight of our concentrated efforts to solve a problem and remain focused. There is an old saying that you might want to know and it is ""Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
I have also attached a link to an article in Forbes magazine that you can read. It can be very helpful if you read about some of the strategies you can use to become more disciplined and focused in your life. Hope all is well and best wishes to you in all your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Professor Christiansen
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2020/08/25/8-powerful-ways-to-cultivate-extreme-self-discipline/?sh=4f735977182d
Updated
Roberto’s Answer
Hi Lucas,
Yours is a great question and it already has some great answers in the discussion trail. I agree that this is a very mature question that is going to (hopefully) follow you all your life. We always need to be self aware and constantly evaluate ourselves and our response to our environment; then adjust accordingly.
Discipline is the big word here. For you not to limit yourself, you need to set your sights further and higher than where you currently are at any given point on time. Discipline is the skill of sticking to your plan and principles. Assuming that you are still a very young student, I'm sure you will have the opportunity to move your goal post forward many times.
Today I would recommend that you start by establishing a few "guiding principles" between three (3) and five (5) personal qualities you have (or want to have) and always evaluate your goals and actions against those. You can call those your "Core Values". What this is going to do is to establish a basic but powerful element of discipline that you can expand into more complex activities.
There are many to choose from. My own, for example, are "Loyalty", "Competence" and "Persistence". Yours can include one or none of those because there are many others. Because you are talking about not having limits, you maybe could adopt "Growth" and check any plan or decision you make against it. In this case you would ask yourself: "by pursuing X, Am I pursuing Growth?" an so on.
This is just to get started, the road to a limitless attitude will be paved with doubts and real setbacks, but if you have the discipline of always checking against your plan, and that plan is checked against your "Core Values" you will, invariably; go over your doubts and recover from setbacks.
Good Luck !!
Yours is a great question and it already has some great answers in the discussion trail. I agree that this is a very mature question that is going to (hopefully) follow you all your life. We always need to be self aware and constantly evaluate ourselves and our response to our environment; then adjust accordingly.
Discipline is the big word here. For you not to limit yourself, you need to set your sights further and higher than where you currently are at any given point on time. Discipline is the skill of sticking to your plan and principles. Assuming that you are still a very young student, I'm sure you will have the opportunity to move your goal post forward many times.
Today I would recommend that you start by establishing a few "guiding principles" between three (3) and five (5) personal qualities you have (or want to have) and always evaluate your goals and actions against those. You can call those your "Core Values". What this is going to do is to establish a basic but powerful element of discipline that you can expand into more complex activities.
There are many to choose from. My own, for example, are "Loyalty", "Competence" and "Persistence". Yours can include one or none of those because there are many others. Because you are talking about not having limits, you maybe could adopt "Growth" and check any plan or decision you make against it. In this case you would ask yourself: "by pursuing X, Am I pursuing Growth?" an so on.
This is just to get started, the road to a limitless attitude will be paved with doubts and real setbacks, but if you have the discipline of always checking against your plan, and that plan is checked against your "Core Values" you will, invariably; go over your doubts and recover from setbacks.
Good Luck !!
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