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Self-Motivation! It is the toughest discipline to develop as a leader, as an industry expert, as an inspiration to one’s team. Motivation is the building block of any enterprise or business venture. Motivation creates everlasting Value.

Building a successful business and a life you love takes enormous self-discipline. Top entrepreneurs look to motivation to build upon their self-discipline. Here then are five ways that make being self-motivated less of a chore and more of a refresher course to re-awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship that may have taken a back seat to the day-to-day management of one’s business.

1. Be patiently unwavering

Self-discipline is your only option if you want to win. People talk about wanting to win but aren’t willing to make the sacrifices necessary. Maybe it’s hard-wiring, but there’s never been a situation when one thought that not being disciplined or wavering was in their best interests. When you’re fundamentally patient, it makes everything quite easy. Quit being antsy for stuff to happen so soon.

2. Do things others aren’t willing to do

Everyone has discipline, but many apply it to the wrong things: most people’s version of discipline is a learned collection of bad habits. Instead, be disciplined about taking massive, constructive actions that’ll provide the greatest value to your life and business. There’s no easy way to “have” discipline; you need to have a hunger to succeed. Do the things that others won’t, so you can live the life others can’t.

3. Master your thoughts

Discipline starts in the mind. Pay attention and listen to yourself think. Capture and convert every negative or defeating thought into the exact opposite and repeat until the empowering thought becomes the dominant one. Ultimately, discipline affords you freedom from everything you don’t want: freedom from fear of failing, financial insecurity, unwanted pounds, emotional immaturity, and mental laziness. The greatest discipline is controlling your thoughts. Everything emanates from the mind.

4. Make Excellence habitual

Greek philosopher Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Develop simple habits to ensure excellence. Ordinary things done over time become extraordinary. To start, brain dump your goals on paper every morning, then circle the three to four most important ones and commit to executing them. Develop an immediate impulse to always take the next logical step to drive progress. Allocate the necessary time and schedule it on the calendar. What gets scheduled gets done.

5. Love your mission

Olympic athletes possess more than motivation, which is temporary and overrated. It’s self-discipline and sacrifice that sets them apart and drives them to the finish line. To cultivate self-discipline, start with love. When your job becomes your mission, you can make the sacrifices necessary to succeed. When I wanted to run a marathon, I stopped eating everything that could derail my performance. When I wanted to start a business, I stopped spending time with anyone who didn’t further my mission. In all these situations, my discipline was driven by my purpose to improve my life and the lives of others. Self-discipline coupled with love will keep you going when motivation wanes.