Motivation is temporary, Discipline is permanent.
Because, (Action --> Discipline)> Motivation
On a lazy Friday night, while browsing Facebook you come across a pic one of your old friends who has lost a lot of weight and is looking sexy from being chubby. You look at your growing tummy.
“I am fat.” — You say that in your mind. You start thinking that how fat you are going to look, or even worse like no one is gonna marry you with that belly. So, on Saturday you go for some exercises and a run. You control your diet. You slog your ass off for two days thinking that if you continue like this you will get back in shape within 3 months.
Monday morning, you wake up. You make excuses like you have to go to work and can’t go running. You get tired by the evening. While going to sleep, you think I will get up early and run tomorrow. The cycle continues till Friday. Saturday and Sunday, you get the intense urge to get back to shape again. You slog. The next 5 days, you would again lose motivation to do anything. Slowly you would even lose the motivation to go back even on Weekends and will sleep like a lazy potato.
Sounds a little familiar, right? Do you know why this happens?
Because Motivation alone is unreliable. It is momentary, unpredictable and departs quickly as it enters.
What if you did not see that picture on Facebook? How would you get motivated then? You won’t right. The problem is, we leave inspiration to chance.
As Max Lu has said,
When people listen to an motivational speech there is an emotional response (by nature, temporary) that is created by an understanding — a common aphorism being that the way to get where you want to go in this life is hard work and grit. However, the emotional response wears off and we fail to revisit the understanding which incited the emotional response and all the good things that came with it. Thus, we become “unmotivated” until we are reminded again.
Our habits and actions are like a car. Motivation turns the engine on. That is Discipline which takes the driver seat to get you on the journey to your destination. Motivation without action doesn’t work.
Do you know how to get out of it ?
Answer : Just do the work. It doesn’t matter how you feel at the time — just do it. Don’t wait until you feel motivated. You will build momentum and eventually you will get inspired. Ignore inspiration — if it’s there, great. Use it. If it’s not, act anyway.
Don’t feel like going to the gym? Just go.
If you have writer’s block, then write.
Just don’t wait. Don’t wait for the right moment. Don’t depend on luck.
Just as our physical muscles requires enough exercises to be in shape, our brain also requires consistent doses of inspiration which we fail to provide. If you still need motivation to do something, feed it to your brain everyday till the point that one day you don’t need it.
Frequent action creates Discipline which eventually creates luck, creativity, and motivation. Unlike motivation, discipline is entirely within our control. The initial actions might not give the result but you shouldn’t stop there.
So, Action → Discipline > Motivation.
If you wait for motivation, it may never come. By choosing discipline, you give yourself the power to create results of your own. Start your hustle.
Who knows, you may even motivate yourself along the way.
Hard work and discipline are not sexy. They do, however, provide a sense of freedom and satisfaction that motivation never could. — Robyn Reisch
You get my point right? Winners become winners by acting like it. So, start like one.
Until next time …
