How To Be Disciplined In Business

How to be disciplined in business… as easy as getting your teenage daughter to tidy her room!

Earlier this week, I found myself saying to one of my daughters, “You need to be disciplined about this,” as I tried (with some strategic nudging) to get her to tidy her room. What she didn’t know – but I did – was that a friend was travelling up from Gloucester to surprise her the next day. I couldn’t exactly say that outright, so we had to get creative with our encouragement… You’ll have to read on to see if it worked!

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But our conversation stayed with me.

Because it got me thinking – what does discipline really mean, especially for those of us building online businesses?

“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.”
— John C. Maxwell

It’s easy to see how discipline helps when it comes to keeping a bedroom tidy – put your clothes away, clear up your cups, and the room starts to look like a room again. But for online entrepreneurs, discipline shows up in different ways. It’s not about being strict with yourself in a punishing way. It’s about choosing what matters most, even when it’s hard.

Here’s what discipline actually looks like when you’re trying to grow an online business, or any other business for that matter!

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How to be disciplined in business in 9 easy steps

1. Getting on with it – without a time punch card

When you run your own business, there are no managers, no weekly check-ins, no colleagues to hold you accountable. You are the boss, the team, and the admin department. So when you skip a day, no one chases you or docks your holiday allowance.

Discipline here means showing up for yourself. It’s choosing to get back on track when your to-do list mysteriously turns into “just one more YouTube video” – possibly about redesigning your smallest room when you just completed it last week!

Trust me, I’ve been there. Discipline is simply doing the work anyway because it’s the only way to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.

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2. Using social media without falling down the rabbit hole

As an online business owner, you need to be present online – sharing content, engaging with your audience, and responding to comments are all part of your day’s work. But it’s all too easy to fall into the scroll-hole and come out an hour later arguing (in your head) about a new conspiracy theory, a life hack involving a banana or having watched every cat video uploaded that day!

Discipline is showing up with intention, doing the work, and logging off before social media eats your brain and your working hours.

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3. Watching your data wisely

I’ll admit it: I’ve done this more times than I can count. Refreshing my stats, hoping for a traffic spike, watching Google like it’s going to send a personal message saying, “Well done!”

In the early stages (and that can be up to 6 months or a year), your analytics will be quiet. That’s normal. Why would the search engines send all their customers to your brand new site which is untested and untrusted? Be real – these things take time.

Discipline here is about trusting the process of building your business from the foundations upwards, instead of looking for quick validation. Focus on the work, not the numbers. I think the story of the Three Little Pigs has this one sewn up. Don’t keep looking for quick fixes, or you’ll be facing the ‘wolf at the door’ much sooner than you’d like! Take your time, trust the process and build your castle!

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4. Sticking to your schedule – even if it’s a late-night/early-morning one

Whether you work best at 6 am, during your lunch break, or at 11 pm with a cuppa and a biscuit, discipline means sticking to your chosen time and showing up consistently. Not perfectly. Just consistently.

You don’t need a 9-to-5 structure – many of us are building businesses around other jobs or family commitments. But even a flexible schedule needs some structure if it’s going to succeed. Set yourself a goal for the hours you will work on your business during the week, then allocate the time to that endeavour. They show up and do the work. Simple!

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5. Taking time to learn the tools you need

Discipline also means investing time in the tools that will support your success. Canva, SEO plugins, email marketing platforms, social schedulers – they don’t all need to be mastered at once, but they do need to be understood if you are to use them efficiently and with purpose.

I recently tackled Adobe InDesign (after much hesitation) and finally created an eBook I’d been putting off. It took time, tutorials, and a few deep breaths, but I did it. That’s an example of discipline – taking the time to master the technical stuff that will help you move your business forward.

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6. Following the training instead of chasing shiny new ideas

There’s so much advice out there. So many gurus. So many “surefire” systems.

Discipline means sticking to your strategy long enough to see it work, and not giving up just because something new and sparkly comes along. Yes, test and tweak. But don’t ditch everything the moment the next trend appears. If you’ve read more of my blogs, you’ll know that I have created my businesses following the training from Wealthy Affiliate, a great place to learn how to create and build an online business. The training there is structured and walks you through the process in a simple step-by-step manner. I’ve found this invaluable by teaching me the things I need to know in the order I need to know them. I didn’t get distracted, I got on and built my business.

So, finish what you start – especially that “About page” that’s been sitting in your drafts folder for two weeks.

 

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7. Not letting other people’s doubts derail you

One of the hardest parts of an online business is that not everyone understands what you’re doing. You might get sceptical comments or confused looks – sometimes even from people you care about.

Discipline means holding your vision steady. It’s tuning out the noise and staying rooted in what you know you’re building.

Raise an eyebrow, smile politely, and carry on. You’re not building your business for them. You’re building it for you and you don’t need to apologise or let their ideas influence your own vision.

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8. Learning from mistakes instead of giving up

Mistakes are inevitable. We’ve all made them. You will make them. It could be a failed post, an unnoticed broken link, or a course you bought and never finished. The key to success lies in how you deal with mistakes, not in making them.

Don’t let these moments become full stops. Discipline is about seeing mistakes as information and feedback, not judgment. You tried something, it didn’t work – now you can try something better.

(Note here: Back up your website… regularly! Just saying.)

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9. Be kind to yourself, without guilt

Here’s the twist: discipline also means knowing when to stop, take a breather and have a rest.

This isn’t about working yourself into the ground. Rest is not a reward. It’s a necessity. Take breaks. Close your laptop. Watch the cat videos – just not while you’re supposed to be writing a landing page.

You’ll come back clearer, calmer, and more focused, and the cat videos will still be there when you’ve finished.

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Final Thoughts on how to be disciplined in business

“Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.”
— Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln

Being disciplined in business isn’t about being hard on yourself. It’s about being committed to your vision – even on the days when motivation is nowhere to be found.

Keep going. Keep learning. And remember, it’s the small daily actions that build empires in the long run.

All the best with your business. Let me know which one resonates with you most in the comments below.

PS. And for those who are interested, my daughter did eventually tidy her room, and it’s stayed tidy a whole week. We could be making progress!

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