Motivation VS Discipline

Disclaimer: I am not a professional advisor. Nothing in this post should be used as professional advice. I am simply sharing my personal experience and what I have observed in regards to wellness. Please contact a professional advisor if you are in need of further advice.

Food For Thought

I am a person who thrives off of change. I love how challenging and rewarding new experiences are and I love how it pushes me to grow. Whenever I am put into a new situation, in charge of a new event, or planning a trip to a new place, I always have the motivation to dive right in and get the task done! That being said, I have always struggled with discipline. I am generally a free spirited person and have a hard time committing myself to things, even if I know that they will benefit me in the long run. When it comes to the harder tasks that require long term discipline, rather than short term motivation, I always seem to fall short. In this blog post I want to start the discussion about the differences between motivation and discipline and hopefully give you some food for thought to evaluate your own relationship with both.

What’s the Difference?

By definition, motivation is the fuel that drives us to complete tasks, whether from an intrinsic (yourself) or extrinsic (reward, other person, etc) source. I denote motivation as the “easy stuff” because generally when you are motivated to do something, it is something that you WANT to do. When the new year starts and you want to make new years resolutions, motivation is the drive behind that desire to write out those goals. In my opinion, motivation continues until you hit that wall where you no longer WANT to accomplish those goals. When someone says they have “no motivation” to accomplish a task, they are essentially saying that they do not have the drive or passion to complete the task.

When you hit that wall where you no longer have that “spark” or “passion”, you then enter into the territory of discipline. Discipline requires extensive self control. It is the ability to complete tasks, even when you don’t want to, for the sake of your current and future self. When you make those new years resolutions and run out of motivation to stick to them, discipline steps in to take over. If you view motivation as the fun, free 20 year old, you can view discipline as the strict mom coming in to make sure you don’t mess up your future.

So What?

Although it may seem like an obvious comparison, I think a lot of people assume that motivation and discipline are the same. As someone who is great at motivating myself and terrible at disciplining myself, learning the difference between the two has help me to implement the impeccable changes in my life and helped me stick to my goals. I have never had a problem starting new tasks, but I have always had a problem sticking to them. Even in my career, I have always found it easier to just move on to the next one, rather than focus on the one that I am at. If this sounds like you, then you likely struggle with discipline as well.

When I was younger, my inability to remain disciplined didn’t bother me that much. I enjoyed school enough to have the motivation to complete my tasks, I was at my dance studio during the majority of my free time which I loved, and I had a part time job that I really enjoyed, too. Even when I graduated college and started my first job, I still didn’t realize how much I lacked discipline. However, over time, I slowly started to notice my lack of commitment in various areas of my life. It started small with not exercising as much, then I started going out more, then I started spending more money, finding 100 reasons to get a new job, finding 100 reasons to move to a new city, starting and then stopping various new hobbies, and the list goes on.

When I sat down and started to look at my life, I realized that 100% of the time I was doing things that I wanted. I was living off of motivation and the highs that come with it, but I left no space for discipline. Although I was having fun, I had no balance in my life. This is when I became more serious about discipline and how to implement it into my life.

Why Can’t We Just Have Fun?

You may be reading the above paragraph and wondering, what is wrong with having fun 100% of the time? You may also be wondering why you need discipline, especially if you are able to accomplish tasks just fine? To that I would say, you may feel like you don’t need discipline right now, but I can almost guarantee that at some point it will come back to bite you in the butt.

In all areas of life, we have to do things that we don’t want to do. Even if you are the most free spirited person in the entire world, you still have to live, eat and sleep. All of those things when broken down are guided by discipline. The sooner you learn to be aware of how discipline can affect you and how it can benefit you, the sooner you will be able to implement it into your life. I promise that your future self will thank you.

BUT HOW?

There are so many ways to become more disciplined. One of the easiest ways to start is to implement micro habits into your life. You can read our blog post about that here. Micro habits are small building blocks that allow you to slowly become more committed to yourself and your goals. They are a great way to start small with one goal at a time until you develop a whole routine of habits! For example, start with meditating right when you wake up in the morning. Then after a few weeks begin journaling right after your meditation. After your meditation and journaling is completed drink a glass of water. Building good habits are the key to becoming more disciplined!

Another way to implement discipline into your life is through positive reinforcement. You can set a timeline for yourself and get yourself a small gift or treat every time you hit a certain milestone. For example, if you want to work out more you can buy yourself a new workout set every month that you accomplish your set workout number. This is a great way to use motivation (the workout set) to build discipline (the routine of working out). Overtime, working out will become a habit and you will no longer need the monthly motivation to keep going (but you totally can keep buying the cute sets!).

Similarly to building habits, creating routines can also help you become more disciplined. Consistency is key, so if you start using your goals to create your routines you will have a much higher chance of sticking to them. Sticking to the same routine everyday will allow you to take the mind work out of the equation and simply complete your tasks like clockwork. It is a lot easier said than done, especially if you struggle with discipline, but over time it will become an easier process. All you need to do is get started!

The End?

This is the end of this blog post, but I hope that it is the beginning of your self exploration into your relationship with motivation and discipline. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and, as always, we hope you learned something new!