HTS Chapter Five: How To Build Discipline and Position Yourself to Earn.

Build Discipline

I believe that all through your life.

You have crossed certain roads and bridges which connect two locations.

A starting point and a destination.

That is exactly what Discipline is.

It is the bridge between your goals and results.

One of my favorite quotes on discipline is by James Clear.

“You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems”

At every point in time, the results that you seek depend on the systems that you have built around your goals.

And those systems can only be activated by discipline.

You need to be able to wake up every day and put in the work.

Nothing more, Nothing less.

As someone who has been building a career in tech over the past six years.

There are discipline-powered systems that have kept me going.

And the beautiful thing is that these systems also helped position me to achieve something important too.

Earning from my skill.

That is what I want to help you understand with this post.

So read on.

On Weekly Calendars and Daily Schedules

I have found out that the single greatest determinant of what you achieve in a day.

Is being sure of what you are meant to do that day.

If you are reading this, you are probably a student who wants to learn a tech skill.

Or a graduate who wants to learn a tech skill.

No matter where you fall under and what you intend to achieve.

There is something that you need to have in mind.

You need to have a system that helps you dictate what exactly you would do every single day.

Are you a student who has lectures five days a week?

You can devote a time of the day to learning your tech skill ( e.g 10 pm to 12 Midnight)

If you are studying intensive courses, you can choose to devote three to four hours between Saturday-Sunday to learning.

The same applies to graduates who have a day job.

You can devote hours of specific days to learning.

Or choose to go the weekend route.

Now if you are self-employed or have a more flexible routine.

You can choose to focus certain days on certain projects.

Currently, I have two projects that I am involved in, and my work week starts on Tuesdays and ends on Sundays.

What I did was give each project its specific days.

The first project has my focus from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

While I focus on the second project from Fridays to Sundays.

Since I created this schedule, I have become far more productive than when I did what I felt like any day.

You need to be very intentional about designing your day.

My Daily Schedule

Below is my daily schedule that I work with currently

I work from 10 am to 10 pm daily.

10 am – 12 Noon = Study Online Course

12 noon – 1 pm = Lunch

1 pm – 3 pm = Work

3 pm – 4 pm = Rest

4 pm – 7 pm = Work

7 pm – 8 pm = Dinner

8 pm – 10 pm = Work

I am currently taking a lot of courses during this period.

So I devoted the first two hours of the day to it.

These courses are vital to my personal and business growth, so they are a top priority for me.

I have found out that the task that you are most likely to procrastinate on is always the most important task of the day.

Doing it first helps you break procrastination and also pushes you to complete other tasks

I also depend on the Superday App to keep me accountable.

Highly recommended.

I will share a link that will help you access the app at the end of this post.

Positioning To Earn

I have found out that the single greatest thing that positions you to earn is sharing your journey.

I started learning UI/UX design in April 2019, and by August I have gotten a job with a global company.

It took me just five months to get there.

There are a lot of people that learn a skill for years before getting a job.

What did I do differently?

After I started learning, I signed up for a design challenge.

I was able to complete the challenge despite the fact that it was for 100 days.

Designing every day for 100 days (except weekends), helped me to become a much better designer in a short period of time.

I was also posting my design every day on Twitter and my WhatsApp Status.

If you are part of the people that are shy about posting their work because they think it is not perfect.

Then it will be very long before you get a job.

On the very first day of learning UI/UX design.

I designed a social media profile section.

It looked so ugly, but I posted it that way and asked for feedback.

I was more concerned with putting my work out than what people thought about it or me.

There are people who would always make fun of your work.

Don’t allow them to rob you of the people who would appreciate your work.

Project-Based Learning Path

Earlier, I shared how I designed a social media profile section on my first day of learning design.

It is important that you don’t fall into the trap of watching endless tutorials.

The best type of tutorials are the ones that teach you how to build something.

If you are learning HTML/CSS, focus on tutorial videos that teach you how to code a simple app (e.g. calculator) than the ones that talk just about the concept of coding.

If you are learning how to design, write, paint e.t.c

The same rule applies.

Build as you learn.

You won’t learn anything until you build something.

Don’t worry about being original in the beginning stage.

Build a clone of whatever you are seeing in those tutorials.

As time goes on, you will learn enough to build something more original from scratch.

Like I said earlier, as you build, share the process.

Tell people what you are building and what it can be used for.

Sometime last year, I was looking for a product designer to hire for a project.

I came on Twitter one day and saw someone who created and published a fictional case study of a project that was similar to what I wanted to build.

That was all I needed. I have found my person.

Conclusion

Building discipline and earning from a skill takes intentionality.

This is what separates those who earn from their skill and those who just have it added to their bio.

Setting these systems is important, that’s why I gave examples so that you know how to proceed.

If you need an accountability partner to help you on this journey.

I highly recommend the Superday App.

I created it from insights I got from over 5 years of teaching online.

Join Project 3000 to be part of its early users.

 

About the Book

I am writing a book that would help you understand how to build a successful tech career.

This is the fifth chapter. I will be publishing two more.

In the first chapter, I gave a solution to the problem of knowing what skill to learn.

It also helped those who have started learning to understand if they are on the right path.

You can read chapter one  here: 📖  HTS Book 

I am sharing lessons and experiences that have helped me work with several global brands.

I am publishing the book for free on my blog chapter by chapter.

You are welcome to share your thoughts and also stories in the comments below.

I will feature some of your stories in the book when publishing.

Please share this chapter with a friend.

You are also welcome to join my WhatsApp community.

I teach on my status daily.

Joining will also help you get access to the coming chapters faster.

Message me on WhatsApp with this link 👉🏽  Hello Ajulu

I have over 7000 contacts and get an average of 1400 status views daily.

Looking forward to your comments and questions below.

 

One Response

  1. Wow this is a good and an important lesson I’ve just learnt now 💯💯
    But sir I need more clearity on system and how to build a system around you

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