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The Power of Self-Discipline

The Power of Self-Discipline

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young women on a hike looking at a lake

Purpose

Strengthen your self-discipline and discover how it can help you succeed in all areas of your life.

Description

Invite someone to teach your group yoga or a martial art, with a focus on how it develops self-discipline.

More Ideas

  • You can’t make me smile—Divide the group into pairs. Partners sit facing each other. One partner tries to make the other smile. Partners can speak but cannot touch each other. Set a time limit (two or three minutes). At the end of the time limit, have the partners switch roles.

  • Charades without frustration—Give each participant a paper with a word or phrase that he or she will act out. You can make the activity more challenging with more difficult words and phrases. The person doing the charade cannot speak. Have participants focus specifically on not getting frustrated during the game.

  • Learn some relaxation tools—Teach the group a number of breathing exercises that they can do when they need to be calm and think clearly. You can practice breathing deeply from the diaphragm and not the chest, controlling your exhalations to make them last twice as long as your inhalations, and visualizing a relaxing scene with every exhalation. Talk about situations that make you tense and how these quiet relaxation tools might help.

  • Willpower experiment—At the beginning of an activity, give each person a treat. Tell them they can eat the treat now, or wait until the end of the activity and get two treats. (See Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 56–59.) Then watch a video or play a game. After the video or game, give an extra treat to anyone who waited to eat their treat.

  • Group plan—As a group, set a goal that will require self-discipline to accomplish (for example, reading a certain number of pages in the Book of Mormon for a specific length of time). Determine how participants will track their progress. Celebrate together when the group achieves the goal.

Discussion

Encourage participants to talk about what they are learning. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity. You could ask questions like the following:

  • Why do you think self-discipline is important to your progress and happiness?

  • When was a time you experienced the blessings of self-discipline?

  • What feelings or impressions do you have about improving your self-discipline?

  • How can you apply what you are learning in your life?

Related Resources

Sabbath Day Lessons

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