Goals drive us forward in life. They give us a purpose. We get up in the morning and get moving to fulfill our purpose. Achieving goals in life and in business would be difficult without self-discipline and persistence.

What is self-discipline? Think of it this way. You have chores to do around the house. Your parents promise to pay you $20 a month if you do all the chores they ask you to do. In the middle of washing the dishes, you suddenly wish you were lying on the couch watching television. You are tempted to stop but think about all the things you can buy with that money so you stay the course.

Why is it that it’s so easy to say you’re going to do something and so difficult to follow through and actually make it happen? The key is to cultivate self-discipline and persistence however, that’s sometimes easier said than done, right?

Here are a few tips to become self-disciplined and persistent – tips to make things happen in your life!

#1 Eliminate, or at least set aside, emotion. Self-discipline is the ability to move forward and to take action regardless of how you feel. Let’s say you decide you want to lose weight. When you make that decision, you’re probably feeling pretty motivated and confident. You probably went so far as to formulate a plan to make it happen.

For many people, running a business out of the home can be a great opportunity. You can spend more time with your family, control your own workload and income, and have a lot more flexibility to fit your life. But before you quit your job and get started, you need to consider some of the downsides of working from home and how they could affect you and your family.

Whether you’re starting your own business, working at an established company, or just trying to get things done around the house, there’s a good chance there’s one thing intent on keeping you from getting things done: the Internet. It’s especially difficult if your work requires you to be at the computer, hovering over your temptation. They key to getting things done is to not stop fighting. Here are some tips for keeping yourself on track.

* Schedule breaks. While distracting yourself all the time is obviously bad, you can’t concentrate all the time. Taking scheduled breaks will let your mind reset and leave you refreshed to be more productive during your working time.