When motivation fades we are left with two options. Action through our own sheer will and discipline or inaction and resultant dormancy of our goals and projects. Discipline is the ability to do the hard things even when you don’t want to or when motivation is absent. It is the part of your morning when you take that step out of bed despite your entire body craving the comfort of your warm blankets. Discipline is what is left when motivation fades.
Motivation leaves as easy as it comes and it often goes with more than it came with. Our greatest aspirations follow out the door as if it created them, which it sometimes does.
To ensure discipline follows your lack of motivation, write your goals down. Document the sources of your motivation in your heightened, goal-oriented state. That way, when you are relying on discipline at the end of the day or, in my case, early in the morning, you have a reason to keep doing the hard things when they get even harder.
Create structure and consistency in your life through meal prepping or scheduling workouts. By the time it comes for your pre-planned workout, even if motivation has faded, you feel the urge to get it done anyways.
Take advantage of your motivation when it’s present but don’t rely on it solely. Use it as a means to facilitate and strengthen your own discipline. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
I woke up this morning with a decision. As I sat on the edge of my bed at 5:10 am, I contemplated crawling back under the warm comfort of my oversized blankets and grasping on to another two hours of sleep. My decision was between the warm covers of my bed or the cold tile floor of my bathroom waiting for me to start my day, which was far from appealing.
The issue with the decision I had was the absence of motivation. No fiber in my being was motivated to stand up and walk to my bathroom. However, every part of me was convinced that crawling back into bed would be 10x better than the latter.
Despite this, I got up, brushed my teeth, dawned my workout clothes, grabbed my meals and backpack and started my car. The difference between my lack of motivation and getting out of bed was discipline.
Motivation is the desire to accomplish. It compels you to work on goals you’ve only dreamed of achieving. It makes you feel driven, unstoppable and determined. With motivation, action steps become easier than inaction and your world feels on fire with possibility.
However, what happens when motivation is absent? When procrastination takes over and your goals feel unreachable. What happens when inaction becomes the root cause of your problems yet again when motivation wanes?
I often run across this problem myself and I’ve noticed it enough to address it here. When I’m motivated, I feel unstoppable. Nothing can or will stop me from achieving the subject matter I am focused on. If I am lucky, the motivation will last throughout my project or idea and I will finish it with flying colors. But how often are we actually really lucky?