Motivation vs Discipline
‘Motivation gets you going, discipline keeps you growing’
What are motivation and discipline?
Motivation is the reason why we want to complete an action or actions. Think of it as the initial burst of inspiration and movement towards your goals — we have all felt it. Whether it be in the gym or whether its the first day of our diet which seems to last forever. We all recognise motivation and there is no feeling like it.
Discipline on the other hand is what we actually do — the actions we complete. Forcing our selves to start that diet, to get to the gym to put on our shoes and go for a run. Its hard and it sucks, but we see results. We overcome our feelings to produce the actions we want.
Is motivation bad?
In the fitness industry we often hear people saying that motivation is useless. Whilst I agree that discipline and self discipline is much more important than motivation, I woudn’t describe motivation as bad. You’re never really going to work harder than when you get that initial spark that ignites our desire to take action. Its powerful — for that hour or day or week where motivation courses through out veins we can visualise our goals and will do anything to get there. The issue is that motivation is not always there with us. Most of the time we are without motivation and in these times those who rely on it will struggle.
Its all good wanting something and being motivated to do it, but if when you don’t want something, those days you don’t feel like going to the gym or eating healthy then you will never achieve your fitness goals and might even reverse the hard work you have done in the days before.
What does discipline entail?
Many people think discipline is punishment, enforcement, always doing the same thing. This is not correct.
Discipline is to:
- Learn
- Train
- Apply a system of standards.
You will see results if you are disciplined. If you say that you will get up at 8:00 and go for a run every other day. If you don’t skip your runs. If you wake up and do the things you don’t want to so that you can reach you’re goals — whatever they can be. The more you do this the more you introduce discipline into your life.
Conclusion
Health and fitness is as much of a mental battle as it is physical. If you train you mind the right way you will see the results coming. If you liked what you read feel free to have a look at my other writing so we can continue our fitness journey together.
