Self Discipline Essay

Study Skills draft essay – “Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance”

According to Duckworth and Seligman (2005) “Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance” (p. 939). The purpose of this essay is to explain self-discipline and how it relates to IQ in terms of academic performance. First, it defines self-discipline, and how it fits into a tertiary learning environment. Second, the essay will cover different forms of self-discipline. Third, it will discuss in more detail the original statement. Finally, this essay will provide strategies on how to maximise self-discipline in a tertiary learning environment, and discusses how these strategies can help someone to achieve goals set in their studies.

Duckworth and Oettingen (2010) also refer to it as self-regulation. DeVore (1990) states, “Self-discipline is the ability to systematically and progressively work toward a goal until you have reached it” (p.3). This, effectively, is being able to stay focussed on a particular goal, work towards achieving it, and push aside distractions that can get in the way of reaching one’s goal. In doing this, one delays gratification in order to receive a larger reward in being able to do so, as opposed to allowing themself instant satisfaction. This then allows them to benefit greater in life due to said reward. In a tertiary learning environment, that goal may be along the lines of finishing an assignment on time. If one has an assignment that is due, the student is likely to want to get it finished on time in order to achieve as high marks as possible, and pass the assignment. This will mean that student will have to use a lot of time working on it, giving up some free time in order to get it done. By doing this, the student is limiting distractions in order to achieve a

Such strategies include ways to help with goal setting and goal striving. Mental contrasting is a self-discipline strategy for goal setting, which, as stated by Duckworth and Oettingen (2010), means, “the positive future is elaborated first, and the negative reality is framed as ‘standing in the way’ of realising the positive future” (p.4). The mental contrasting strategy requires making both the desired future and the present reality accessible at the same time by focussing on them in conjunction with one another (Duckworth & Oettingen, 2010). As for goal striving, this can be achieved through the strategy of implementation intentions. Gollwitzer (1999) suggests that people can form implementation intentions to help them in the goal striving stage, i.e. make if-then plans (as cited in Duckworth & Oettingen, 2010). If someone sets a goal and strives to achieve it, they will have a better chance at actually achieving it, as opposed to those who do not, as those who do will be focussed on achieving it, and not letting anything stand in their way. In other words, they are minimalising distractions that can occur in one’s environment in order to remain focussed on the task at