Every notice that person who has a lot of discipline in business and in their life are oftentimes successful with their health and wealth? They don’t give up quickly and walk away.
Somehow, they remain focused on their goals and keep on going toward them when they have discipline in business and life.
I was talking with someone the other day who told me they had not saved up any money for retirement. After spending some time with them, I realized they were not disciplined with money.
They loved to go shopping and spend every dime of what they had earned.
This is not the first person I met like this. It really got me thinking: Discipline can make a difference in your life and your business.
Without discipline in business and in life, you just float along or sink. With it, you can soar above the clouds of life.
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Discipline In Business
Many people go into business and later fail often due to a lack of discipline. They were not disciplined enough to put in the hours and see things through.
Oftentimes, people give up too soon with a lack of discipline.
Those that may have failed that had discipline, got back up, swept the dust off their clothes, and started over again. Failures can teach us great lessons in life.
“It was the character that got us out of bed, a commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
Zig Ziglar
How To Get More Discipline In Your Business
- Get up early
- Have a to-do list
- Learn something new every week to grow
- Don’t spend more than you make
- Invest back into your business
- Hire others to help you – it’s not a sign of weakness!
- Stick with your values
A lot of these bullet points above are about priorities. Life is all about priorities. How you spend your time, what you eat, who you interact with, etc.
Moreover, these principles above apply to your business. Oftentimes, how you manage your days is how you will manage your business.
Now, if you are not a morning person, you may want to change the get up early to get up at a certain time of every day. Work your business at your peak times.
For example, I am a morning person so I would not do well running a restaurant that does late-night dinners. On the other hand, I may do a well-serving breakfast early.
You will need discipline in business as you do with the other areas in your life to succeed.
Why A To-Do List?
Having a to-do list helps you to be disciplined throughout your day. Instead of “floating” from one thing to another all day, having a to-do list keeps you really focused.
You will feel better checking things off as the day goes on. And more importantly, the more you feel better the more you will accomplish.
Using a to-do list day after day is a great vicious cycle to be in!
Learning Something New Every Day
Learning something new is a great habit to form. It will help you be able to be more resilient in your business. If one area of your business is no longer doing well or needed, you can pivot to another area and grow that side of the business.
Imagine if you did NOT learn something new and kept on going the way things were year after year. Many businesses today would NOT have survived if they didn’t learn new things to grow and thrive.
Life Hacks has some great tips on how you can learn something new every day!
Quit OverSpending As You Learn To Discipline In Business
Many people today overspend their money. Whether you work for someone else or own your own business save for a rainy day! That old saying is very true even today.
You never know when your “rainy day” will begin or end. It could last for a day or many days in a row that turns into months or years.
Having a cushion saved is a lifesaver to survive in today’s ever-changing world. It is a discipline in business habit that will make or break your small business.
Before you make your next purchase, think: Do I really need this today? Can it wait? How will it benefit me or someone else?
This discipline will spill over to becoming your discipline in business.
How Investing Is Different Than Spending
So, you may think well investing is spending money that I don’t see. Yes, you may not “see” it now unless you keep track of it.
Back in the 1970s, my grandfather would share his bankbook with me. He wanted to teach me about compound interest. If only I had saved more when I first started working as a teenager!
But I did learn in my 20s that saving just $5 a week turned into $10 and that $10 turned into more as I got raises over time or earned extra money from my 2nd and 3rd jobs. I also freelanced for many years before I had children.
(Many people laugh when I tell them to save as little as $5 a week to get started. It’s like going on a diet, you can’t start big, you have to start SMALL. Small baby steps!)
Today is a little trickier to invest than it was back in the 1970s but the risks were always there. My grandfather did lose money in one investment but made it up well in others like with gold.
Learn as much as you can or hire someone you can trust to invest your earnings no matter how small. That’s the big lesson here: No matter how little or much you earn, save some!
You can make millions of dollars but if you don’t save you will be broke. If you don’t save you won’t be able to invest.
Discipline In Business By Investing In Your Business
If you are a saver investing in your business may be hard. But you can look at it like compound interest.
What is compound interest?
- Compound interest (or compounding interest) is interest calculated on the initial principal, which also includes all of the accumulated interest from previous periods on a deposit or loan.
- Compound interest is calculated by multiplying the initial principal amount by one plus the annual interest rate raised to the number of compound periods minus one.
- When calculating compound interest, the number of compounding periods makes a significant difference. (from Investopedia)
The money you invest in your business should come back to you in more money. So, if you invest in a tool or a person (employee, freelancer, etc) you should earn more money from that purchase.
Sometimes, that investment may buy you TIME, not just money. And always remember, money cannot buy us time in life.
Lisa, Small Biz TipsterTime is our most precious commodity. Another quote of mine is that you must spend time or money to grow your business.
Once your business is established or better yet, you develop a passive income then you can let up on the time and/or money to invest in that business. But of course, you must have discipline in business to make this happen.
Hiring Others and Asking For Help
Great business leaders understand that they can’t go it alone to succeed. They need to hire help from time to time. In the beginning, it can be hard asking for help. After all, we think we can do it all. That’s why we went into business for ourselves, right?
But in reality, we may need others to do our accounting, our marketing, our graphics, etc. As you grow your business you will need to find others who can duplicate what you do.
You will need discipline in business to work with others and have them do jobs for you.
Discipline In Life
Even athletes must have a lot of discipline to stay on top of their game.
“One of the great lessons I’ve learned in athletics is that you’ve got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you’ve got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top. “
Bob Richards
The same goes for people who lose weight and keep it off. They become very disciplined to lose weight and then keeping it off is even harder without that discipline. Discipline is a way of life.
In Conclusion: Why Discipline Is Important In Business and Your Life
How are you becoming more disciplined in your business to grow it? What do you struggle with disciplining yourself? I’d love to know more in the comments below about your discipline in business.
FAQs on the importance of discipline in your business to succeed:
What does early to rise in the morning help you to be disciplined?
Setting up habits like getting up early starts out your day fresh and ready.
Does being disciplined require a to-do list?
Having a to-list written down will help you stay focused on your priorities for the day and not let the day run you with priorities from everyone else.
Do you need to learn new things for your business?
Today you need to learn new things every day to successfully run a business as so much is changing. You must be disciplined to save time daily for learning these new things.
How can you be disciplined with the money you earn from your business?
Be sure not to spend more than you make and save for things that may come up from time to time.
Why do you need to invest in yourself or your business?
Investing in yourself and your business should bring back more returns for your business. But you must be disciplined to continually practice this one.
When do you ask for help in your business?
Whenever you need help to accomplish things on your daily to-do list you should consider hiring some help.
Sensational tips Lisa. Few folks realize; business success is between the ears because actions you take – or avoid taking – depend solely on your mindset. How you think and feel depends on your frame of mind. Being disciplined helps you see the journey through, being true to the fundamentals through the entire process. Rocking post 🙂
Ryan
Thank you, Ryan. I love that – it’s between the ears 🙂 SO true. So many don’t have the discipline. It just dawned on me with talking with this friend the other day and then I began thinking of how many people I know that don’t have it. It’s something I believe one can develop if they want to. It’s the want that’s important. Thanks for coming by here Ryan and enjoy the rest of your day.