NOBODY talks about the amount of self-discipline it takes to work with yourself or for yourself. When you’re employed by others, you answer to supervisors and follow their authority. When you are your own boss, you have to almost always maintain a sense of self-discipline to get work done. We are so conditioned to perform “well” under pressure, under supervision and authority that it seems impossible to work under ourselves. Your efficiency and effectiveness rely solely on your work ethic and productivity as a self-employed entrepreneur. If I don’t have to answer to anyone, my mind sometimes thinks that gives me room to constantly relax and do things at my own pace. This is one of the main reasons why some people can never be self-employed. They mistake entrepreneurship or “freedom.” In some ways, it is freeing, but if you want to meet a target or goal for your business, reach a certain profit margin or expand—it takes a lot of discipline and self-awareness to get it done, and I can assure you that it is no easy task.

This is the same self-discipline I had to apply for my studies and all other achievements in life. I had to keep my mind fit because the minute you become mentally lazy, that’s where things start going south. To break it down for you, I timed myself when I was studying. I made sure to have a goal and personal criteria whenever I was doing my assignments for UG. With my business, I make sure to have a yearly plan of the things I want to achieve. I changed my mind from, “I can’t do it” to “How can I get this done?”. That made all the difference in the world. All of this required all but one thing—discipline. Even in the realm of freedom there is responsibility. When I first started my journey as an entrepreneur, I thought it was an “easy” way to make money while being my own boss. Boy, was I wrong. Anybody can slap a logo onto a Facebook page and sell products. That’s easy. That’s what I mistakenly thought being an entrepreneur meant. The point of this rant is to shed light on the importance of responsibility and discipline—holding yourself accountable when there is nobody there to do so. Not only is it a moral obligation to do so, but you should do it because it will ultimately increase your productivity.

I can either choose to wake up at 1PM, stay home and tell myself I’ll make up for it tomorrow,
or I can choose to be disciplined enough to know that every hour in the day counts—so I have to make the best of it. Same way, I’m not saying overwork and burn yourself out. You need to ultimately change your mindset and make productivity a lifestyle. When we think of “self-made” successful moguls, we only acknowledge their overall success and not the self-improvements and lifestyle changes they had to apply to themselves to get where they want to be. I’d advise you to prioritize and schedule your time effectively. Self-awareness is perhaps the most important factor in order to achieve self-discipline. You need to know your boundaries, your limits, your skills and even the things you need to improve on. You constantly need to be aware of who you are, in order to figure out what you can and cannot do. Success is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s an illusion because that’s all that people see most of the time. They hardly ever see or notice what’s behind that iceberg—discipline, hard work, perseverance and commitment.