Self Discipline Essay

Every now and then we don’t meet our own expectations, whether it was not getting the score you wanted on a test or getting the promotion you wanted at your work. Was it because your IQ wasn’t high enough to reach your expectations or was it because you lacked self-discipline. Contrary to the popular belief that IQ determines academic performance some people have, self-discipline exceeds IQ in predicting academic performance. The purpose of this paper is to define self-discipline, discuss the statement that self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance and provide strategies to maximize self-discipline in a tertiary learning environment. First, this paper will define self-discipline. Second, it will discuss the statement Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance. Finally is will provide strategies to maximize self-discipline in a tertiary learning environment

Self-discipline can be defined as doing things to improve oneself. It is the ability to look past present interruptions and instant gratifications and focus on future goals and what it takes to accomplish them. According Quent (2005) self-discipline is doing things to improve yourself, not because you were told to but because you want to reach your goals. DeVore (1990) defines self-discipline as having perseverance towards your goals; it is the will power not to give up because of failure, disappointments,and setbacks and or peoples options but to draw motivation from these experiences and follow through with the goals no matter how difficult they may be to reach. As stated by Newstex (2011) self-discipline is acting the way you think instead of what you feel at that present moment. Most of the time acting the way you think involves sacrif...

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...es IQ in predicting academic performance as the correlations between final grade and self-discipline are greater than the correlations between final grades an IQ. Students with higherself-discipline are able to outperform their less disciplined peers even those with higher IQ because students with self-discipline are able to make wiser decisions involving study and can separate personal distractions from performance. Strategies that students in a territory learning environment can use to maximize self-discipline are being able to concentrate and stay on task and work until progress is made, this involves not giving into distractions and keep your mind on task. Another strategy is the ability to withhold from initial impulses and to think about the negative and positive outcomes of the action before it’s made. The final strategy is the ability to delay gratification