Every morning I have a freezing cold shower, why? Because part of my mind says 'Don't do it, it's just stupid' and that same part of my mind give's lots of different reasons not to do it. Each morning I fight that inner voice and discipline it to accept that I am taking a freezing cold shower. I believe there are benefits to having a cold shower which is why I started the discipline in the first place.

Self discipline is a skill and once you get to grips with it, it can alter your life.

What is it?

Self discipline is the training of your mind to control, perceived harmful, urges, and to continue to control these urges until a satisfactory resolution has been sought

Self discipline occurs in every part of your life right now, you might not have recognised it but it does. When you get out of bed in the morning to go to work, that is self discipline; when you brush your teeth every morning, that is self discipline; when you have a shower or a bath every morning, that is self discipline. Although you might not have recognised it as such we use this skill every day in our lives.

Imagine if you harnessed this power to change different aspects of your life. There are many areas of your life it could benefit; in fact it could benefit every area of your life. If you want to give up smoking, no matter what programs are available to do so, it ultimately comes down to self discipline. If you want to lose weight, yes it's great that there are groups of people who are doing the same as they can be a good motivator but again it comes down to self discipline.

Who's in control of your mind?

With television, computers, e-mail, radio, mobile phones, video, iPods, newspapers, magazines, etc there has never been an easier way to reach our minds through advertising. A lot of us don't realise that we are all being manipulated in some way to do things that may be harmful to us. I am not talking conspiracy or anything like that, it's been a natural progression. Advertisers have become a lot smarter and appealed to our psyche rather than our rational minds, there are some great adverts out there which slip into our minds and build up and eventually get us to act to buy something or do something.

For example our children, especially at this time of year, they are bombarded with adverts for toys and they have to have the latest thing. Why is so much spent on advertising for children when it's the adults who are buying? Because it's the children who ultimately apply the pressure for us to buy the latest toy. We all give in and buy that toy don't we.

The practice of self discipline

Whilst it's hard to control your thoughts and actions as a child it should be easier for an adult, you would think! However this is not necessarily the case. If you've not been taught self discipline as a child how are you expected to self discipline yourself as an adult?

The truth is self discipline comes automatically for some us as our responsibilities become greater. For example when we get a job, we have to get up at a set time, we have to work a set number of hours, we have to conform to the companies rules and procedures, that's all self discipline. Usually the things we learn to practice self discipline in are the things we are rewarded with e.g. our job, going to the gym, saving money, making love. Depending on the person some of these rewards will be bigger and have more meaning than some of the others.

What good would self discipline have in your life?

What if you could practice self discipline in everything you do? How would your life change? Would it change? Think of these questions for a moment.

Some of the areas in your life you could change might be;

The amount of time spent with the kidsYour weightYour fitnessThe tidiness of your houseThe tidiness of your officeThe cleanliness of your houseFixing all the broken things in your house (fix that shelf once and for all)The amount of time spent watching TVWatching what you eatFasting for one day per weekHaving a cold shower every morningGet your finances sorted outWrite those letters you've been meaning to writeMake the phone calls you've been meaning to makeOrganise your lifeGetting up early to be thankful of all the things you have The list could go on and on and I am sure you could add a few as well, let me know what you would add.