The loafer believes he is enjoying life, but sooner or later he must face disillusion.

Fausto Cercignani

Since self-discipline shines in the long term, and often doesn’t seem to provide any benefits in the short term, you may be tempted to believe that people who are loafing around have it better.
While you’re watching your finances like a hawk, they spend money they
don’t have and show off with all the new cool gadgets.
While you’re eating a salad and washing it down with a cup of green tea, they’re eating a bag of delicious potato chips and gulping down sugary cans of Coke.
While you feel like throwing up during your workout from trying to to squeeze out one more rep, they squeeze more mayo out of the bottle to put it on the French fries they gorge on while watching their favorite TV shows.
It might seem they have it better, but sooner or later the person exposing himself or herself to discomfort for the sake of achieving their long-term goals will come out on top, while the people loafing around will get to feel the negative consequences of their laziness.
Irresponsible spenders will realize they’re on the brink of bankruptcy. Potato chip addicts will be diagnosed with diabetes. The inactive TV fans will start taking hypertension medication .
You, on the other hand, will look back at your past sacrifices and smile, happy that you’ve never succumbed to the temptation to take it easy and loaf around.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” (…) You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Self-discipline is a lot like dealing with fear. When you face temptations, look them straight in the eye and send them packing, the next time they appear in your life, you’ll be able to say to yourself, “I managed to overcome them once. I
can handle them this time as well.”
The more times you successfully overcome the temptations, the easier it will be to handle them again. Regular practice will make you less susceptible to temptations and even more likely to ignore them, just like looking fear in the face will make you more likely to act in spite of it.
Granted, it’s not that with enough experience, you’ll become unconditionally self-disciplined, just like you won’t one day stop being afraid of anything. Just remember that each situation that tests your resolve is another experience from which you can draw inspiration to overcome future challenging circumstances when they occur.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.

Helen Keller

A positive attitude is essential if you want to build self-discipline. What’s the point of denying yourself instant gratification if you don’t believe that you’ll get a greater compensation for it in the future?
If you suffer from pessimism, realize that along with improving your self- control, you’ll need to improve your ability to see the world in brighter colors.

Three easy steps you can take today to become more optimistic include:

1. Express gratitude for what you already have. If you can’t be happy with what you have today, you won’t be happy with what you have tomorrow.
2. Reframe negative events into opportunities and lessons. An event is bad for you only if you decide it is. Think of it as a lesson or an opportunity to change your life, in order to give it a positive meaning.
3. Surround yourself with positive input. If you only read fear-mongering news and hang out with pessimistic grumblers, you’ll have a hard time exhibiting optimism.

Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts.

Elbert Hubbard

I’m an avid rock climber. In rock climbing, particularly when climbing long routes, your forearms can get pumped to such an extent that you can no longer hold onto the rock. Climbers afraid of failing will often ask their belayer to take in the rope so that they can rest and try again with renewed strength.

While this strategy is good for learning how to climb a difficult route, sometimes it costs a climber an on-sight (a clean ascent with no prior practice of the route) or a redpoint (completing a route without resting on the rope) because they give up too quickly, right after they start feeling overpowering discomfort.

Even when you can barely hold onto the wall, often you can still perform one or two moves more — and those moves may be enough to upgrade your position to a rest stance where you can safely recharge and continue climbing without resting on the rope.

It’s the same with many other areas of life. You believe that you can’t go on any longer, that your self-discipline has run out and it’s time to throw up your hands in defeat, while in reality, persisting just a little bit longer is all that separates you from success.

The next time you feel like giving up, persuade yourself to push a little bit longer. Chances are, success is right around the corner.