Discipline: How to Get It

I recently saw a video, and in the video, the woman was saying that everyone is disciplined, just sometimes in the wrong things. She gave examples like convincing yourself to stay up late to scroll while fighting sleep and focusing on getting a charger because it is important.
She is totally right.
So why do we need discipline?
Every year on January 1st, thousands, if not millions, of people decide that they are going to change their ways and become a better person. Most of those people have the same results. They list what they want to change, how they want to change it, but end up stopping. It is hard for someone to build a whole new habit or break an old one. If you really want to change, you need to have discipline and point it in the right way. There is a gap between wanting something and getting it. Changes and sacrifices might need to be made.
Discipline builds consistency, which is where the real change begins. It is extremely rare for you to start on day one, building habits perfectly and never breaking that consistency since then. It’s possible, but rare. The average person won’t be able to do that. Instead, build off of small, consistent steps and increase over time.
I realized I needed to make changes, so I made a list
Decrease screen time
Become more productive with homework
Be more physically active
Fix my sleep schedule
Prioritize my creativity

I looked at my current habits and saw that I have an average of 8 hours and 7 minutes of screen time a day! There are legitimate reasons such as listening to YouTube while doing homework or taking notes on my phone, but the week I started looking into it, I had spent 13 hours on social media. I hated that and immediately put timers on all my social media apps so I couldn’t spend more than one hour and 30 minutes on them total. I created home screen profiles on my phone for while I was doing homework so the only apps I could access were school/work/ and communication apps, and a profile for during my creativity time that would only let me access those apps. I saw an instant improvement in my social media usage, and my screen time transitioned into reading and video creation. I loved it!
Wouldn’t you believe it, to fix my sleep schedule I made *another* profile on my phone. When it was time for bed, my phone would automatically hide all apps except my settings, phone app, email, and messages. I went from getting poor quality sleep to feeling more rested. Since I was more rested, I had the strength to go on walks every morning. I did for two weeks until I went back to school and felt I was drowning in schoolwork.
But wait! Didn’t I say I wanted to fix that too? That is still a work in progress, but I got an app called “Grit” where you can have goals and monitor them. My goal was to spend at least 5 hours a day doing homework, some before and some after work. That way I could be done faster and have more time on the weekends. It is working alright, and I’m excited to see that improvement.
What I didn’t tell you is that this isn’t the first time I have tried to do something about those struggles I listed earlier. I have tried to fix them repeatedly without success.

This time, I just wanted it more.