Why Most Entrepreneurs Lack Discipline—and What To Do About It - Profits Prophet

Why Most Entrepreneurs Lack Discipline—and What To Do About It

As an entrepreneur, you have a lot on your plate. Not only do you need to educate yourself about finances, but you also need to avoid the three deadly entrepreneurial sins, find ways to continually turn a profit and—ideally—get yourself home in time for dinner every night. Unfortunately, many of these things are not altogether fun to do and you’d likely rather be doing something else. That’s where discipline comes in. When I see entrepreneurs fail, many times it due to lack of discipline. But why do so many entrepreneurs lack this vital trait and, more importantly, what can be done about it?

Why We Lack Discipline

The bottom line is that so many entrepreneurs lack discipline because our culture has simply become too comfortable. As a species, we did not evolve in comfort. We spent hard days trying to stay warm, procuring enough food to keep us going, and avoiding threats to our physical safety. In today’s society, most of those needs are easily met. We spend our days in climate-controlled environments where we never get too hot or too cold. We do the same routines at the gym that don’t stress our bodies too much. We have easy access to high-calorie foods and we very rarely have to defend ourselves from a physical threat.

In short, humans have a whole have become lazy. We don’t want to work too hard, experience any situations where we are in discomfort, or push ourselves to the limit. We simply don’t feel like it’s necessary. But guess what? It is necessary.

Why Discipline is Important

And why is it necessary? If you don’t put yourself in uncomfortable situations, you won’t develop the discipline to do the hard things in your business. Don’t want to make those pesky sales calls? If you don’t have discipline, you won’t do it. Would rather go to a fun networking event than get your monthly bookwork done? It’s likely those balance sheets will get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list. Simply put, the more we avoid the things that require discipline, the less discipline we’ll have.

How to Develop Discipline

To develop discipline, you have to make yourself uncomfortable. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound fun, but there’s really no way around it. Making yourself uncomfortable in a variety of situations on a daily basis conditions you to withstand the hard work so you can be rewarded. Try a few of these ideas in the coming weeks to start building your resiliency:

  • Take a cold shower.
  • Try intermittent fasting where you confine your eating to an 8-hour window (or less.)
  • Hike or undergo other exercise in the heat or cold.
  • Change up your workout routine to something difficult.
  • Attend events that are outside your comfort zone.
  • Start conversations with strangers.
  • Wake up an hour earlier and forego the snooze button.
  • Cut out a daily indulgence for a week. Suggestions: your favorite coffee beverage or your nightly bowl of ice cream.
  • Put your phone away when you get home and don’t allow yourself to check it until the next morning.

If you lack discipline when it comes to your business, you likely lack it in other parts of your life as well. Though this is a common problem and a result of our ulta-comfortable society, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something about it. If you don’t develop discipline, you’ll never be able to do the hard things in your business that lead to success. Need a little help? I’d love to be the coach that kicks your ass out of your comfort zone and helps you develop the discipline you need to create a six-figure business. Reach out today so we can talk more.

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