Don’t count on motivation, because discipline is the key
Discipline is king
Motivation is a fleeting state that requires a certain mental or emotional focus to reach a goal.
It fluctuates depending on external conditions.
On the contrary, discipline can help you overcome the toughest challenges.
For example, you may wake up with a cold or the flu and have to write a 10,000 word report, but are not motivated to complete it.
However, the discipline commands you to approach the work regardless of knowing that it needs to be completed.
Success depends on discipline because motivation comes and goes. It involves undermining an objective until the desired result is achieved.
Motivation is interrupted by excuses and constantly fades. That is why your motivation at the beginning of the year contracts towards the latter part.
“In other words, if you are an effective manager of yourself, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your drives, your moods to those values, “says author Stephen R. Covey in The 7 habits of highly effective people.
You don’t have to wait for perfect conditions to start a task. Rather, tackle the problem boldly until conditions are perfect.
Motivation is an overused word, evident in the corporate world, where managers desperately try to inspire their employees.
However, in the sports world, athletes cannot rely on motivation to succeed.
Winning athletes know that discipline is the cornerstone of success. They consistently show up for training when they are less inclined. Unforeseen circumstances can interrupt your preparation, but you are determined to put in hours of dedicated practice.
Life has a way of dragging you in all directions if you let it. This means that if a crisis or unplanned event arises, you may not be motivated to take action to achieve your goal.
This scenario happens too often.
If you remember the week before, did something unexpected affect your motivation?
Did it decrease during the week or was it disciplined despite the interruption?
Author Jay Samit states in Disrupt yourselfAs you carefully study your environment and analyze your daily frustrations, you will find that opportunities for disruption begin to arise. Daily discipline is the key to this exercise. I tell my students to write down three things that they notice could be improved by all days “.
Get feelings out of the way
You must dissociate feelings with actions to achieve your goals. This is the biggest impediment that affects people because they are dictated by their emotions, rather than seeing the goal as the prize.
You’ll enjoy reaching your goals more than the immediate gratification of succumbing to your emotions.
If you trust feelings, you will be less inclined to commit to the task at hand because it is dictated by short-lived emotional states.
Discipline means showing up again and again, regardless of how you feel. The goal has a higher purpose, so it is up to you to stay committed to the end.
It is clear, you do not set a goal to play small. It’s about winning and accomplishing what makes the quest exciting.
“The discipline of consistent action is what self-management is all about. It’s the only way to win and keep winning,” states author Larry Weidel in, Serial Winner: 5 Actions to Create Your Success Cycle.
So how can you be more disciplined and avoid having motivation?
First, create regular routines without overcommitting yourself in the early stages. If your goal is to exercise four times a week, increase gradually rather than doing your best during the first week.
The biggest impacts in your life will be the result of taking the first step and improving it.
Gradual improvements
In the sports world there is a term known as marginal gains popularized by Sky Team Cycling Director David Brailsford. It is a concept called “aggregation of marginal gains”. According to Brailsford, it means “The 1 percent margin to improve in everything you do.”
At the top level, most professional athletes have a similar ability in terms of performance, dedication, and skill. What separates the first from the second or third are the smaller gains, 1%, such as: sleep, nutrition and recovery.
The 1% increments add up, leading to marginal gains. Therefore, discipline becomes the means of success.
“Success is really a sprint, a discipline-driven sprint long enough for the habit to kick in and take over,” state authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan state in, The One Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results.
The key is to start small and make small increments towards your goal.
Second, find out your underlying motivation for pursuing the goal. Find a compelling reason to take daily action – even if it’s the smallest task, you’re likely to stay committed.
People who have a compelling reason are disciplined until the goal is achieved.
The desire must be imbued with enthusiasm, you will stop at nothing to achieve it.
As Samuel Johnson said, “The chains of habit are too weak to feel until they are too strong to break.” Anyone who thrives in any endeavor develops this discipline, the ability to stand still, stay on course, grow down, no matter what happens. It doesn’t matter how the world receives them. Regardless of the initial results they get, “says Derek Rydall in Emergency: seven steps to a radical change in life.
The forces of life conspire against you in the form of resistance. If you succumb, your efforts will be in vain and your success wasted. However, if you take them into account, you will stand firm regardless of the circumstances.
Persistent action in the face of fear is paramount, as Susan Jeffers writes in her acclaimed book, Feel the fear and do it anyway. With this approach, you boost your self-esteem every time you commit to a task.
Authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan state, “When you discipline yourself, you are essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. If you stick with this long enough, it will become a routine, in other words, a habit. So when You see people who seem like “disciplined” people, what you are really seeing is people who have trained a handful of habits in their lives. “
You must learn to think with the end in mind, as Stephen R. Covey says..
Discipline replaces motivation because you show up constantly. The goal is too important to let feelings get in your way.
The late American motivational speaker Jim Rohn said: “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”
I advise you not to let regrets get the better of your success.
After all, it is too important to be left to chance.