Motivation is what makes you want to do more whereas Discipline gives you the freedom to do more.
It’s a well-known fact in the self-development space that relying on motivation is iffy at the best of times. Motivation for people is this magical extrinsic force that hits you like a lightning bolt and suddenly you are ready and raring to write your magnum opus.
That’s NOT how motivation works!
Motivation VS Discipline
Motivation is an added bonus of doing the stuff you love, for example, you start writing about an interesting scene that you’ve come up with and suddenly you get all this motivation to create all this lore and you are just propelled through your work.
Therefore, motivation follows action, NOT the other way around.
If we want to be consistently doing our best work we have to find a source that constantly pushes us into action, where then we can be propelled forward by motivation.
This source is discipline.
When you become disciplined you do the hard things you don’t want to do with ease because it is just a part of your identity, that you are the person that does the thing consistently.
Jocko Willink, (Ex-Navy Seal and motivational podcaster) has this interesting concept;
Discipline = Freedom
The more disciplined you are the more you are free to do the things you love doing because you know that you’re doing the things you have to do.
I find that insight so important when I think about my routines and habit-building.
The key point I want you to understand from this is motivation is a result of action, that was initiated by an external force, being discipline.
How to Use Discipline Rather than Motivation
This is all well and good Eamon, but how can I rely on discipline over motivation?
The first thing you have to understand is the stuff you’ve just read, you have to rely on systems that instill discipline into your life, waiting to be stricken by the gods for motivation.
Secondly, make your system.
I have done this recently with my life. I’ve set out a page in my journal with the question at the top;
“If you could achieve anything in your life, what would you want to achieve?”
Well, I filled out that entire page with about 25 things. For example, some of the things are “I want to have a horror anthology series that I am proud of”, “I want to have confidence in myself” and “I want to become a celebrated writer”.
These are 3 pretty different goals, and that’s fine, you can have as many goals as you like. Then the discipline bit comes in.
Flip the page.
Next Question.
“What are the daily habits that will compound over the long term to help you achieve your goals?”
You now come up with a list of habits that you need to do Every Day to get you closer to your goals.
For example, my habit for creating a horror anthology series is that I need to write 1000 words of fiction a day, to make progress.
Now you have a system. You know that if you’re disciplined enough to do these habits consistently, you will make progress.
Conclusion
I hope you have a better understanding of yourself and how you can instill habits into your daily routine, through discipline to achieve your goals, rather than waiting to be motivated to act.
Motivation is a result of action.
Action is a result of Discipline
Discipline is a result of keen planning.
I hope you enjoyed this post, if you’re wondering how to get a habit into your daily routine, here’s a post about just that;
Thanks for reading. Happy Writing 🙂
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