Self Discipline - My Blackberry Sent Me Running!
16 August, 2007 - Motivation - 11 Comments
Hello folks. Long time no see. 
I’ve been super busy recently which has meant I haven’t had much time, nor motivation, to blog. It’s very annoying when I have to take a break because there is so much I want to write about. Of course, the irony is that the last blog post I wrote was for Jane May… it discussed a bloggers worst mistake, which I happened to say was losing your blogging routine by taking an extended break. Right after I write that post, I take an extended break and commit the bloggers worst crime. Woops!
Anyway, things are getting back to normal now, so daily posts, interviews, and very soon video blogs will all be back. I actually have a video interview planned with Brendon Sinclair of Tailored. Brendon bought me a beer not too long back, so he got first place in my list of people to interview. 
Self Discipline
With my recent lack of motivation and time constraints, I decided today would be a good day to talk about self discipline.
Most people would love to leave their job and work from home. However, working from home can lend itself to many problems, with a lack of self discipline been high on the list.
It’s self discipline that we need to wake ourselves up at 8am each morning. It’s self discipline we need to stop ourselves from sitting in front of the TV in the lounge, and instead work in the home office. It’s self discipline we need to stop ourselves opening an online games Web site and shooting some zombies, and yes, believe it or not, it’s self discipline we need to stop ourselves turning off Google Safe Search and well… ya know. 
As a self employed entrepreneur, and even more so as a self employed entrepreneur who works from home, self discipline is everything.
With all that said, the key to improving your self discipline isn’t in improving your self discipline. The key is motivation. If you’re motivated to do something, you’ll discipline yourself to do it. If you’re not motivated, you won’t discipline yourself to do it.
Unfortunately, we all find motivation in different things so I can’t give you a list of my top tips. However, I can tell you what I did today that resulted in me earning $500, as well as resulted in me going for my first jog in a long time (which included helping a few people caught in a road accident). Oh, and it resulted in my first blog post for an extended period too. 
My Schedule
Last night, while I was laid in bed, I grabbed my Blackberry off the side table and opened up the daily planner. In there I can schedule my days in 15 minute blocks. I opened it up and set an alarm for 8:40am. At 9am, I set a task to read/reply to emails, forum posts, and new blog entries and comments within the blogosphere. That takes approx one hour each day, so at 10am I set a task to make some final changes to a Web site design I was doing for a client. 10:45am I gave myself a 15 minute break (also scheduled in to my Blackberry planner). 11am-12:30pm I did some more work. Then lunch. Then some more work. 4pm I went for a run, where I happened to come across a small road accident and helped a few people caught in the traffic find a different way home. Then it was dinner, and hey, I’m now in the 8pm-9pm block which reads “Write blog post for JamieHarrop.com”.
I was able to follow the schedule to the minute (almost!), and the result was the most motivation I have had for months. I knew exactly what I needed to do today, and I knew when I had to do it. I knew what I had to look forward to (the run was good fun) and I knew when I was going to start and end. For whatever reason, this motivated me *a lot*, and as a result I plan on doing this every day.
Do you suffer from a lack of self discipline? Do you use a schedule to keep yourself motivated and on track? Let us know!
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Posted on 16 August, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Motivation |
11 Comments»
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You just need to remember to schedule time in your blackberry telling you to schedule time in your blackberry.
Think about it
No need to think about it… I’m used to scheduling meetings to schedule a meeting.
You are right. Great self discipline is what will keep you motivated. Also uninstalling all my computer games might also help.
Heh. Yeah, that will help.
Yesterday, I signed out of all my IM programs and at one point (when I really need to get some important work done) I disconnected the phone. It all helps.
I don’t schedule my time down the the minute, but I do write a to-do-list and have a mental idea of how long each task should take and around what time I want to finish. I find this helps motivate myself, since I can get distracted far too easy sometimes.
A to-do list was all I used to do, but it doesn’t seem to have worked recently. It seems I need my Blackberry to tell me want to do and when to do it. :blush:
For what it’s worth, I’ve been using this scheduling system for the last few days and it’s worked perfectly. I feel much more motivated now.
Okay, so I just finished shceduling tomorrow in my Blackberry as well. Or at least, the rest of today, as it’s 1:48 AM. I’m not sure if it will work though. I tried this with a pen and paper calendar, and I kept ignoring it. But then again, maybe if I actually follow the schedual, i won’t be up at 1:48 AM frantically working to finish my project by the deadline. We’ll see!
Good luck Ayomide. Please let us know whether it works for you. Hopefully I won’t be the only one who finds the Blackberry calendar tool to be of great use each day.
I have left my job and work at home. But I still wake up as early as when I worked at a company…I don’t say that I have no problem with my self dicipline. But, until now I’ve never had serious problem which caused by my undiciplines. Sometimes I proscrastinate jobs, but I still can push myself to finish it before the deadline. I don’t know why I can do that…That’s just my habit since I was at school.
I would buy a blackberry, but they are expensive and I don’t wanna. I would schedule my day, but I don’t wanna. I would have more self-discipline somehow, but I don’t wanna. But I wanna wanna! Please tell me how to get my wanna.
[...] Your diary is free this week so you arrange to meet John the same day he called so you can discuss his needs. You develop your needs analysis after a 90 minute meeting, present a proposal to John and before you can click your fingers he has signed the contract and bank transferred the 50% project retainer fee. [...]