noun | /ˌselfˈdɪs.ə.plɪn/ 

• the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses.
• the ability to make yourself do things you know you should do even when you don't want to
• the act of disciplining or power to discipline one's own feelings, desires, etc, esp with the intention of improving oneself.

This sounds like exactly what I need for the year ahead. I have a major issue with my self-discipline. Year after year, I've set the same sort of goals and year after year, I've failed to do what I wanted because I've lacked self-discipline.

I probably sound like I'm being very harsh on myself and I'm not in any way trying to say that every other year has been sh*t because I didn't achieve everything I wanted, far from it actually, I've still achieved a lot of things I'm incredibly proud of, It's just not a great feeling when you're not being able achieve goals and dreams and feel like you're just stuck in the same place all the time.

I need some self-discipline back in my life. I have goals that I want to achieve or get back on track and I'm going to struggle(and have been struggling) to achieve them.

2018 is the year that I'll regain some self-discipline, I want to be more disciplined in the following areas:

Eating- This is the most important. I think this is the route cause for a lot of the issues that I have. I've become very mindless when it comes to eating, I don't really pay attention to the amount that I'm eating and I'm certainly not listening to my body correctly. It's only when I step on the scales that I notice the effect that it's had and whilst I feel guilty, I don't seem to be doing anything to change it.

I'll often just pick at snacks in the kitchen when I don't actually need to eat them or even feel that hungry. I don't drink half as much as I should and I'd probably find I'm less hungry if I drank more water. I need to lay off the snacking and really pay more attention to the signals my body is tell me.

It's all about calories in VS calories out and about having more self-discipline to not just eat  anything I want without being mindful of it.

What do I want more? Some chocolate to satisfy a sweet craving or to finally shift some of the weight and start to feel happier and more content with my body? I know what my heart is telling me.


Fitness-I'd like to become more disciplined when it comes to exercise and my training schedules. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't care at all about the times I got in races. Sure, the main reason I do the races is for the enjoyment and the participation but deep down, you're always striving to beat your last time.  It took years to beat my previous Half Marathon time and I'd probably put that down to a few things in particular.

Firstly, my weight was going up and not down, extra weight to carry is surely going to slow you down to some extent. The second being that I wasn't incorporating any sessions into my schedule that would aid in getting quicker. Intervals, Fartleks and Hill training would all help, but I am one that doesn't like to be out of the comfort zone and when the going gets tough, I give up very easily, even though I'm sure I'm more than capable of doing them. Thirdly, I was doing no cross training and we should all know that getting in some cross training and weight training can make us better runners all round but despite having all good intentions, I'd do one and the intention would die out and I just didn't do them.

None of the above will help me achieve or beat any goals, I need some self-discipline and just get out there and do them, even if I don't particularly feel like doing it. I've never regretted any workout!

What do I want more? Stick at the same pace, getting the same times or get out there and start smashing out some new PBs?


How I spend my 'free time'- This sort of ties in with the two areas above in a way. I don't think I spend my spare time very productively. I sit at a desk for almost 8 hours of the day for work and then come home only to spend my free time also sitting down. I waste far too much time when I'm sat at my computer when I could be doing something far more productive instead of watching TV series and YT videos. I'm not saying I'm going to cut them out completely as it is something I enjoy, but reducing the amount of time I spend doing it needs to be cut down.

I've many a time skipped a run or a workout in favour of watching the next episode of a TV series just because I'm not 'feeling it' or because the weather is 'bad'. Most of my snacking also happens during this time too.

I complain that I've gotten behind with blogging and my YT channel when in reality I have plenty of time and just get distracted.

What do I want more? Finishing another episode of a TV series or doing something far more productive for my health and mind? I could catch up on some blog posts, film a YT video, read a good book, study something for work or fit in a workout.. the TV episode or YT video will be there for me to catch up on later.


So, as you can see, there's a few main areas where I need to be exercise some self-discipline. If I can finally get those under control, I should be well on my way back to achieving some goals I've been repeating for a long time!

I've set some small goals for the start of the year so I can work on my self-discipline. I know it's not going to be easy. I'm going to do a quarterly update to look over the goals I set here and re-evaluate what has been going well and what hasn't been going quite as well and set some new goals if I have achieved some. With this in mind, here are a few goals to start working on:

• Track calories in MFP to start making myself more aware of how much I'm eating.
• Cross train 1 x per week.
• Join at the leisure center and start swimming again.
• Read 1 book each month.
• Lose 5 lbs and get back to pre-house move weight.
• Blog x 2 per week. YT 1 x per week.

I don't think these small goals will be too difficult to attain with some more discipline and I have a few months before I check-in again.

I really hope that my word for 2018 will help guide me to some great things this year. Only time will tell.

Have a wonderful year ahead, everyone! Thank you to those who have stuck with me through the good and the bad! I appreciate your support.

Question: If you had to pick a word to guide you through 2018, what would you chose?