Don’t Wait for It to Feel Good | Cultivate Self Discipline at Home

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Self-discipline is such an important skill to have as a homemaker. If you tend toward messy or simply need more discipline in your life and at home, the good news is, self-discipline is a skill you can learn! Today I’m sharing a few important things to remember when cultivating self-discipline at home.

Also, be sure to download my free printable habit tracker at the bottom of the post!

Cultivating Good Habits and Self Discipline @ AVirtuousWoman.org

Self-discipline can be learned – even if you are currently struggling with it! It requires practice and repetition, but it can be learned. And even better than that, if you add to those things the Word of God, He will help you cultivate a heart of self-discipline at home and in your life.

Self Discipline at Home: Part One

For the Spirit of God… gives us self discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

That’s good news!

However, it’s important to understand that if you until you “feel” like doing something you don’t really want to do, you may put it off indefinitely.

You see, if you have a habit, you aren’t using your decision making skills – you’re functioning on auto pilot. Habits are those things you do that don’t require a lot of thought. You do them routinely without really actively thinking about it. You just do them.

BUT, when you are creating a new habit in your life – you must make an active decision. It’s hard work. You have to think about it. It feels hard. It feels wrong. Your brain resists the change. It’s easier – it feels easier to continue on doing what you are used to doing.

The only way to replace bad habits with lasting good habits (or simply create new, good habits) is to accept that it feels hard. Accept that it feels wrong. Embrace it. Celebrate it. Remind yourself that doing the hard things will lead to better things. Remember that having self-discipline at home is worth the effort!

Keep going. Don’t give into those unpleasant feelings.

And before you know it, you will have cultivated new habits that make your life better and make your home life run smoother.

You can do it! And once you create one new habit, your whole life will begin to change. And as you create new habits in your homemaking, you’ll begin to see how self-discipline at home makes a huge difference in how you feel.

“As people strengthened their willpower muscles in one part of their lives—in the gym, or a money management program—that strength spilled over into what they ate or how hard they worked. Once willpower became stronger, it touched everything.” ― Charles Duhigg, The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business

I remember when I was a young mom and it just felt like I could never catch up and the house was always a mess. Always. I would panic at the thought of company coming over. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, why I couldn’t get it together, or why it was so hard for me to keep a neat home.

Here’s the thing though. You can have a messy house whether you have kids at home or not. Some of us, like me, are just prone to messiness. It comes naturally to me.

The fact is, messiness is really just a way of life for a lot of us. We have bad habits. Bad habits that pile up like paper clutter and shoes on the mudroom floor. Or laundry. Laundry piles up way to fast!

Establishing good habits is the key to overcoming messiness. And good habits are built one by one. So let’s start tonight.

Do This One Thing Tonight

Go to bed with a clean kitchen.

Now, for some of you, a clean kitchen may mean clean counters, a clean stove, and refrigerator.

But we’re building good habits. And like I said, good habits are built one by one. So, what I’m asking you to do tonight is go to bed with clean dishes and a clean sink. If you feel like wiping down the counters and stove or clearing the clutter off of your counters go ahead. But if you walk into your kitchen and everything feels overwhelming, don’t worry about the mess.

Just get those dishes done and wipe out your sink.

Repeat tomorrow night. You may be surprised at how much happier you’ll feel in the morning. I’m sure of it!

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing tips on how to keep the clutter off your counters, because we all know that the kitchen is the heart of the home, it’s where the family gathers, and it’s often where people enter your home first.

What’s one thing you need to work on to cultivate self-discipline at home? Let me know in the comments below!

Action Steps to Take Today

  1. Pray and ask God to help you cultivate new, better habits and replace old, bad habits.
  2. Push through the hard feelings until you’ve built new lasting habits.
  3. Believe in God’s power to give you a heart of self-discipline. He answers prayer!
  4. Download my free printable Habit Tracker below, if desired.
  5. Use the Habit Tracker to track your new habits!

More Resources for Homemakers

Free Printable Spring Habit Tracker

Spring Habit Tracker @ AVirtuousWoman.org

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