Being a Role Model: Am I self disciplined?

The POWerful Word of the Month is Self Discipline! While teachers and instructors will be imparting valuable lessons about self discipline to your family this month, the most POWerful parents will take the lessons home with them! As parents and teachers, it’s important to model self discipline, if we want children and teens to adopt the value of self discipline themselves.

Self Discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action even when you don’t feel like it. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your ability to discipline yourself? What would “level 10” self discipline look like?

The best parents and teachers take inventory of their own actions so they can evaluate how they can improve their ability to be a role model. In that spirit, here is a list of questions to ask yourself about your own self discipline.

(1) Do you keep your work-space (whether it’s your office, kitchen, or bedroom) organized and neat?

(2) How much time do you waste looking for something you lost (or don’t know where to find) each week?

(3) Do you have your goals written down and accessible?

(4) Do you make your bed each day?

(5) Do you pile the dishes in the sink?

(6) Do you spend your money wisely?

(7) Do you save/invest your money wisely?

(8) Do you keep an organized calendar?

(9) Do you exercise at least 3 times per week?

(10) Do you eat a sensible diet most of the time?

(11) Do you have any unhealthy addictions that you haven’t addressed?

(12) How much TV do you watch on a dayly/weekly basis?

(13) Do you surf the internet or do you carefully decide on which sites you will visit?

(14) Do you oversleep?

(15) Do you complete a task when you say you will?

(16) Do you keep promises when you make them?

(17) Do you allow phone, email, internet communication or texting to interrupt you while you are trying to complete a task or do you ignore interruptions?

(18) Do you do what’s easiest or do you do what’s right?

(19) Do you clean out your closet every season before buying new clothes or shoes?

(20) Do you feel that you set a good example of self discipline for your children?

Nobody’s perfect. This month, why not make a plan to become just a little bit better? Pick one thing to work on when it comes to self discipline. It could be “getting up 10 minutes earlier,” “getting to the gym at least 1 time per week,” “cleaning out the hall closet for 1 hour on Wednesday,” or “saving 10% of my paycheck each week to save for a trip to Disney.” Whatever it is, share it with your children so that they know that you, too, are always working to become more POWerful everday.

Here’s to a POWerful Month!

Dr. Robyn