Self-Discipline
Chapter 6
“ Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin, Author
McGraw-Hill
© 2010 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
• Define self-discipline and cite its benefits.
• Explain how to control impulses.
• Describe the process of replacing bad habits
with good ones.
• Define critical thinking and list its seven
standards.
• List the steps in the decision making process
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Taking Control of Your Life
• Self-Discipline The process of teaching yourself to do
what is necessary to reach your goals, without becoming
sidetracked by bad habits.
• Self-discipline helps you to do this by strengthening
your ability to:
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control your destiny
persist in the face of setbacks
weigh the long-term consequences of your actions
make positive changes
break bad habits
think critically
make effective decisions
Elements of Self-Discipline
• Discipline comes from the Latin verb meaning “to
teach.”
• Persistence The ability to go on despite opposition,
setbacks, and occasional doubts.
• Self-Determination Determining the path your life
travels.
• Responsibility The ability to make independent
proactive decisions and to accept the consequences
of them.
Success Secret
• All successful people rely on self-discipline.
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Ingredients of Self-Discipline
Personal Journal 6.1 Going Against the Odds
Activity 29: Do You Control Your Life?
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Controlling Impulses
• Impulse A sudden wish or feeling that can lead to
unplanned and unwise actions.
• Acting on impulse occasionally is relatively harmless.
When impulses guide your behavior, you do things
that are not good for you or others such as:
• wasting time, disregarding obligations and letting people down
• overreacting and making comments you wish you could take
back later
• driving dangerously
• compulsive spending
• overeating or abusing alcohol and other drugs
• jumping into unhealthy relationships
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Controlling Impulses continued…
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Thinking Long-Term It’s easy to trick yourself into
believing small, impulsive actions, don’t have longterm consequences.
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Delaying gratification doesn’t mean punishing yourself.
It means choosing a later, bigger reward.
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When you feel an impulse coming on:
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Stop. Realize you are about to act impulsively.
Think. What will I gain in the short term? What will I lose in
the long term?
Decide. Given the consequences, is it worth it?
Personal Journal 6.2 Thinking Long-Term
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Embracing Change
• Do You Resist Change?
Activity 30: Making Positive Changes.
• What’s Holding You Back?
Are you making excuses? Remind yourself how much
better you will feel once you take action.
• Hidden Resistance
Activity 31: Overcoming Resistance to Change
Success Secret
• Success requires the courage to change.
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Conquering Bad Habits
• Habit A behavior that has become automatic through
repetition.
• How do you know when bad habits are causing your
problems? Ask yourself whether any of your habits:
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make you unhappy or feel bad about yourself?
drain your energy or stand in the way of your goals?
get you into trouble at work or school?
hurt or seriously inconvenience others?
Success Secret
• When your habits have negative consequences, it’s time
to change them.
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Conquering Bad Habits 2
Lasting change doesn’t happen overnight.
Changing habits involves three major steps:
Step 1 Wanting to change the habit.
Before you can break a bad habit, you must want to
change from within.
Step 2 Understanding the habit.
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When do I give in to my bad habit?
Where do I give in to my bad habit?
Who is present when I give in to my bad habit?
How do I feel just before I give in to my bad habit?
How do I feel just after I give in to my bad habit?
Activity 32: Getting to Know Your Bad Habits
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Conquering Bad Habits 3
• Step 3 Replacing the Habit
Journal 6.3 Habit Change Chart
• Relapse is Normal
Sometimes you try ten times, and not until the tenth
attempt do you succeed. With each attempt, your selfdiscipline got stronger until you beat the bad habit.
• For Habit Change, Use Positive Self-Talk
Examples:
• I arrive on time for all my classes.
• I am proud of myself for arriving on time.
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Discipline Your Thinking
Learning To Think Critically
• Critical Thinking Active, self-reflective thinking.
• Benefits of critical thinking are that it helps you
solve problems and overcome obstacles.
• Critical thinking doesn’t come easily.
Activity 33: How Critical Is Your Thinking?
Success Secret
• Think and communicate with a clear purpose.
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Standards of Critical Thinking
• The key to thinking critically is to hold yourself to high
standards.
• The Foundation for Critical Thinking specifies seven
standards for excellent critical thinking.
• Whenever you think, speak, or write, you should try
to follow each standard.
Success Secret
• Look at critical thinking as a learning process.
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Critical Thinking continued…
1.
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Clarity It is the foundation of critical thinking.
A thought or statement is clear if it is plainly worded
and easily understood.
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Unclear: Students need to indicate which classes on the signup sheet they would like to take due to the fact that the
December 13 deadline is approaching.
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Why It’s Unclear: The sentence is too wordy and longwinded. It makes a simple statement into a complicated mess.
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Clear: Students need to sign up for classes before
December 13.
2. Precision Exactness.
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Imprecise: Too much TV makes kids more violent.
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Why It’s Imprecise: The statement does not specify what
kinds of programs make children more violent.
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Precise: Children who are exposed to gratuitous violence
on TV are more inclined to become aggressive.
3. Accuracy Factual Truth. Ask yourself:
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Is this really true?
Is it possible to check whether this is true? (If not, the
statement is probably not accurate.)
What is this based on?
How reliable is the source of this information?
4. Relevance A fact or idea is relevant if it has a direct
connection to the subject being discussed. Ask
yourself:
• Is this connected to the issue?
• Is this being introduced to change the subject, criticize others,
or shift the blame?
5. Depth A thought has depth if it digs below the surface
to consider the substance of the issue.
• Shallow: Building more prisons will solve our drug problem.
• Why It’s Shallow: This is a superficial solution to a difficult
problem.
• Deep: Building more prisons will allow more drug dealers to
be imprisoned, but it won’t address the causes of drug
addiction.
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6. Breadth The degree to which a statement considers
other arguments and points of view.
• Narrow: I don’t know why people like Mike’s guitar playing—
it’s terrible.
• Why It’s Narrow: This statement assumes that there is only
one correct point of view on Mike’s guitar playing.
• Broad: Mike’s guitar playing appeals to metal fans, but it
doesn’t appeal to me.
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7. Logic The process of drawing the correct conclusions
from the facts and providing valid explanations from
your conclusions.
• Illogical: All of our students are above average.
• Why It’s Illogical: It is statistically impossible for a majority of
people to be above average when compared to each other.
• Logical: All of our students have special talent in a certain
area.
Activity 34: Developing Your Critical Thinking
Success Secret
• Remember that your point of view is only one of many.
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Becoming a Better Decision Maker
• Decision A reasoned choice among several options
or possible courses of action.
• Good decisions matter because no positive change
happens without making decisions.
• Handling Mistakes Everyone makes mistakes.
Mistakes can be valuable tools for you to learn when
you view them in a healthy light.
Success Secret
• When you make a major decision, you are creating a
new future for yourself.
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Steps in the Decision-Making Process
• Step 1 Define the Decision
Framing Effect Decision-making bias that results
from the way a decision, question or problem is
worded.
• When you are faced with a decision, take care to
frame the decision in different ways so that you don’t
exclude any possible options.
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Should I accept this new job?
Should I settle for this new job?
Should I reject this new job?
Should I continue my job search?
Should I remain unemployed?
• Step 2 List All Possible Options
Don’t be satisfied with one or two options; brainstorm
until you have a wide range of possible courses of
action from which to choose.
• Step 3 Gather Information
The more information you can gather, the easier it will
be to generate options and then evaluate them.
• Step 4 Assess the Consequences
Look into the future and try to gauge the possible
outcomes of each course of action.
Personal Journal 6.4 Pros and Cons
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• Step 5 Choose One Option
Once you’ve made your choice, remember you’ve
done everything in your power to choose the right
course.
• Step 6 Act
A decision only has value if you act on it. Don’t let fear
of regret scare you away from making a decision.
• Step 7 Evaluate Your Progress Ask yourself:
Did I overlook information that would be helpful in the future?
What can I learn from the experience to help me make a better
decision the next time around?
Activity 35: Using the Decision-Making Process
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