How to Master Discipline while Working from Home

Working from home requires discipline and I am not afraid to tell anyone who asks. Many of us hear the word discipline and have things that immediately come to mind. We need to be disciplined in our diets, disciplined in our schedules, discipline is in our life in some way, shape, or form and it is rarely paired with something good or exciting.

I remember when I was in college and formal was coming up. We all had dresses we wanted to fit into. Mine was an adorable hot pink and black cocktail dress. It was the perfect dress and my roommates and I had planned the perfect night. I had a few extra pounds I wanted to get off so the dress had a little room. You see, it was fitted and, I did not think it would be much fun to wear, much less dance in. When I put on this dress, I kind of resembled a pig fighting under a blanket. Not real attractive, huh?

My girlfriends and I decided to do the three-day cardiac diet. For those of you that don’t know, this is a fad diet that promises you that you can lose 10 pounds in three days. You eat three “meals” a day and that is it. Now, let’s talk about the meals. You get a hot dog, no bun, no ketchup, just a hot dog and broccoli. For dessert, you get one small scoop of vanilla ice cream. This is just one of the meals so you can get the idea. The meals are extremely small and by the end of day three, you would pretty much eat your arm!

We all three went to the store on Sunday night. We were going to start the diet on Monday because aren’t all Mondays the perfect time to start a diet?! We loaded up our buggies, there were certain items you only ate once, so we split those up between us so that we all would not each have to buy things like hot dogs. We got home and were so excited. We put up our groceries and mapped out our plan. Oh, and did I mention, we had one last huge meal where we ate so much, we probably gained two pounds! If you have ever been on a diet, you know the meal I am talking about. We could also describe it as “hoovering out the refrigerator with my mouth.”

Sticking to this diet, if only for three days would require discipline and we knew it. Discipline is hard and at times, not very fun. This diet was anything but fun, but we knew what results we wanted in the end. This brings me back to working from home. When I first started working from home, I had no discipline. If I wanted to watch a show, I would, if I wanted to run errands with a friend, I would. I would get my work done, but many times it was late or done late at night when I was tired. I needed discipline. I needed a schedule that I could stick to that would help me to have the discipline to get my work done in a timely manner. I needed discipline so that I was not up all hours working.

When we work or do anything else that requires discipline, we lead a life that is more pleasing to God. If we are working or running a business, we need to have discipline in order for things to run effectively and timely. God does not reward laziness. He wants us to live disciplined lives because He knows that discipline leads to better work, which in turn leads to success.

You might feel like discipline is hard and while it is, we have to remember that God is with us and He is there to guide us in what we are doing. When we are disciplined and work hard, we can be rest assured we will be rewarded.

Now, my girlfriends and I made it three days on our diet. We did not cheat and held each other accountable. We all made sure to avoid temptations like pizza, food on campus, or those tempting treats our neighbors would bring over. We also had the discipline and we wanted the reward at the end. And for those of you who are wondering, we each lost between 8-10 pounds, and that dress, it fit like a dream!

Later!

Kara