How to build discipline - principles
Bronislav Klučka, Nov 21, 2025, 05:06 PM
In the previous article, we showed how to think about discipline and what you need to understand before embarking on a project. Today, we will finally look at how to build discipline. We will talk about 3 principles that lead to discipline, and if you follow them, you will have enough self-control for long-term work on your dream. We will talk about consistency, focus, and system.
The principles of discipline are simple; adhering to them is what is difficult, but if you persevere, your life will change significantly.
Consistency
Consistency is the foundation, and the remaining two principles stem from it.
Consistency as Repetitive Behavior
At the beginning of most projects, there is motivation, the manifestation of which is intensity, and if you are working on something short-term, lasting a few days or weeks, it might be enough. However, just as motivation begins to fade, so does intensity. What you need instead of intensity is consistency.
Do you want to start exercising? What is more sustainable and effective: going to exercise for 5 hours a day for a month and then burning out, or going for 2 hours every other day, year after year? Do you want to lose weight? Is it better to lose 15 kg in 2 months and then stop, or gradually lose 0.5 kg per week and adjust your diet to be sustainable long-term?
The goal of consistency is not to devote every minute you are awake to your plan. The goal of consistency is the long-term repetition of an activity. If your goal is to write a program, a book, or something similar, you can dedicate at least an hour to it every day. If your goal is to exercise, go every other day (the body needs to regenerate). If your goal is something that can only be done on Saturday morning, do that activity every Saturday morning.
Working on your dream when you feel like it builds the dream. Working on your dream when you don't feel like it builds you.
Every step counts. Yes, sometimes your work will be less effective, but you will still do something, you will still move closer to achieving your dream, but above all, in such moments, you are building yourself - your discipline.
Consistency as Reliability
If you say you will do something, do it. If you say you will do something at a specific time, do it. If you say you will do something to a specific quality, do it. Keep your word, even to yourself. Build a personality that you yourself can rely on. Do you plan to go exercise after work? Go, and if your colleagues invite you for a drink after work, refuse.
If you cannot rely on yourself, what does that say about you?
Over time, many things will start to appear that seem more fun than programming again, learning a foreign language, or going to exercise… Something new, some fun, not just what you do all the time, which is boring. Take this as a good sign! You have hit a boundary that you currently have, and you can set out to overcome it. This is the moment when you build reliability.
Focus
Focus (the ability to concentrate on one thing) is another important condition of discipline. We live in a world where our attention is a commodity that is fiercely fought over. TV channels, social media, streaming services - everyone wants our attention. Plus work, friends, family…
Many people claim they don't actually have time. I have already written an article on this topic, but briefly: we all have the same amount of time - 24 hours a day; no one has "more time." However, some people can organize their time so that they have enough for what is essential and eliminate what is unnecessary.
Focus, from the perspective of discipline, is the ability to find a time when you work on what is important and dedicate yourself exclusively to it.
Operational Focus
The brain cannot do multiple things at once; the brain cannot multitask (specifically, the prefrontal cortex responsible for cognitive abilities). The brain can switch very quickly and create the illusion of multitasking… However, such switching has 2 consequences:
It takes about 20 minutes to get into "flow." Flow is being immersed in the work; you are fully concentrated on it and have momentum. Any disruption or switching to another task disrupts this flow, and you have to rebuild it.
Changing a task / disrupting flow is also more energy-intensive; the brain consumes more energy, and you tire sooner.
The brain must essentially put the old task aside (store it in memory) and retrieve the new one.
If you are cooking, feel free to put on a video; you probably don't need to concentrate much on either activity. If you are writing a program, a book, or learning a new language, create an environment where you can concentrate.
Operational focus builds discipline by teaching you to create an environment in which you can take steps forward, and by actively, one hundred percent, dedicating yourself to those steps forward.
Strategic Focus
By Strategic Focus, I mean long-term dedication to one or two projects. Operational focus is a daily matter, but if you devote your operational focus to doing everything for just a few weeks, and then jump to something new when you get bored, you will not achieve results.
Of course, there are goals/projects that can be achieved in a day, a few weeks, or months, but there are also plans for years or lifelong plans.
No, you cannot have everything, and certainly not all at once. You cannot start a family, build a business, aim to become a professional athlete, and learn a new language in six months - all at once and all at 100%. You can try to do everything at once, and you probably won't do any of it properly.
You must be prepared for the fact that part of your time will simply not be available for anything else for a long period. You should know what can threaten your plans and set a benchmark beyond which you will consider changing plans (we have the right to change our minds, that's fine), but one you simply will not deviate from.
Just for example, I am currently working on one of my dreams, and the first phase alone is planned to last a year.
If you create at least a somewhat realistic map in advance, you won't be asking questions after 3 months, even if you are not yet at the goal.
Be prepared that offers will appear that you will have to refuse. If the given offer does not move you closer to your goal, then it is moving you further away from it, or at least delaying you.
System
Finally, we get to how to really do it, what steps to take, and what you can do today to build discipline. And what you can do is change the system by which you spend your time.
That is the first thing you need to realize. Someone might think that sounds terrible, that they want to live a free life, and then drag a system into it?
Think back to your last workday (maybe it was yesterday, before the weekend, before vacation): wasn't the morning the same as every other morning? Wasn't work the same as every other day? What about the late afternoon, wasn't it the same as every other one, and what about the evening? Isn't every one of your Saturdays almost the same as every other Saturday? Do you not feel like you are stuck, that years of your life are passing, and nothing is changing?
We already have a system - it's what we do the same way in the same situations/times - the question is whether that current system supports the goal or not.
Our brain excels at patterns. Our brain has been created over millions of years to recognize patterns, support patterns, and create patterns. On the one hand, this means that changes to existing patterns are difficult (the brain physically changes its structure). Nevertheless, on the other hand, it means that if we endure the initial resistance and aversion, the brain will, on the contrary, support the newly created patterns. Just realize all the things you have gotten used to in different parts of your life.
As I have already written, and as you have probably experienced yourselves, change is difficult, and the bigger the change you want to make, the more it will hurt, the more your brain will sabotage you ("you can't handle it," "it's not worth it"). Sometimes, we even embark on such a radical change that we endanger our own bodies (weight loss, exercise), and it is not physically possible to manage such a change healthily.
So how do you do it? How do you change a system that doesn't suit you? The goal is to create a system that:
leads to the goal
is sustainable for the period you will pursue that goal.
Start Small
Start making changes that you know are unpleasant but achievable.
Let's say you want to start exercising; you want to be fit. Can you go for a half-hour walk every third day? That might be something you perhaps don't feel like doing, and you might think, "when? I don't have time…" but honestly, almost anyone could manage that.
Let's say you want to lose weight. Can you cut out empty calories (cookies, chips, chocolate, etc.) every third day after 6 PM? Maybe you have a habit of having something like that in the evening in front of the TV; it's your ritual, your system. But you can probably manage to skip it once every 3 days.
Do you want to start writing a program, a book, or learning a new language? How about an hour a day? Can you find it?
The goal here is not to say "now I have a functional system." The goal here is:
Building self-trust
Active practice
Rewiring neural pathways
Building Self-Trust
How many times have you tried to change something? How many times did you fail? How many times did your brain tell you: "you can't do it"… Sometimes we are our own worst critics and actively sabotage ourselves. It is necessary to clearly see that you can change something, and if you can manage something, what else can you change?
Active Practice
You are no longer just thinking about it, dreaming about it, or planning it. You are practically doing something! And that is a good step; even that small thing will accumulate over time.
Rewiring Neural Pathways
And this is the part of the system change. Try to find steps that are just beyond the boundary of your comfort, so that they are achievable but also move you closer to the goal.
You cannot jump 1 mile all at once, but you can walk there step by step.
Make a plan: "I will go for a half-hour walk 6 times, once every 3 days; then I will start going to the gym for forty-five minutes once every 3 days; after a month, I will start going for an hour and a half once every 3 days; and after another month, I will start going every other day." Start preparing your brain for the change in advance; it will get used to it before it has to happen.
Set Aside a Fixed Time For It
It is not enough just to say "this week I will work 10 hours on my project" – you won't find the time for it. Your time is occupied by the existing system. Make time for it in advance, plan it, and create a long-term plan! "One hour on Monday, one hour on Tuesday, no time on Wednesday, 2 hours on Thursday and Friday, 4 hours on Saturday, and Sunday off." If you plan it in advance and put it on your calendar, several things will happen:
You will reduce room for excuses; you have already set that time aside.
You prepare your brain for the fact that you are simply working on the project from 7pm to 8pm.
You create a new, repetitive activity that your brain can quickly get used to.
The surrounding world will know not to bother you at that specific moment and will start to respect your time.
I cannot guarantee that you will achieve your goals. They will often depend on external circumstances that you cannot control. However, if you follow these 3 steps, you will be able to build a personality that has the prerequisites to achieve great goals.
Choose one small step today and let me know how it went.