You’re not unmotivated, you’re undisciplined.

More motivation won’t help a lack of discipline

Motivation is important, but it’s not enough.

Daniel Pink in his book “Drive” outlines how internal motivation springs from meaning, challenge and connection. These are all very good, very necessary things; we need these to bring heart and soul to what we’re doing to feel fulfilled.

But motivation is “discovered” more than it is learned or developed. We find our motivation by paying attention to what really, deeply interests us, even fascinates us, by paying attention to what activities bring us quickly and easily to a flow state. Of course, there is learning and developing involved, because you need to have some knowledge and skill in an area before you find it interesting, and before you’re able to find flow.

We tend to overestimate the power and value of motivation, though.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen articles, books or other teachings on productivity that emphasize that you must know your “why”, that you must be be clear about your motivation to do something. I can’t tell you the number, but it’s a lot. The assumption seems to be that if your motivation is clear enough, if it’s strong enough, the productivity will happen automatically.

We can see it in how people talk about getting things done, too. If we’ve put something off for too long, we say “I’m just not motivated.” If someone else isn’t getting something done, (especially if it’s something that he or she says they want to do), we usually say that they’re just not motivated, or not motivated enough. Again, the assumption seems to be that if the motivation is high enough, the productivity will just happen.

Except that’s not the case. It happens all the time that the person doesn’t lack motivation, they lack discipline.

Discipline has gotten a bad rap. It’s often associated with hard-nosed will power, denying oneself pleasure and leisure, and empty, unfulfilled work you do because you must, because you’re expected to.

There is a grain of truth to that. Discipline without motivation is hollow and unfulfilling.

But Motivation without discipline is flaky, and likewise empty.

Motivation isn’t enough to see you through to the end of a large, complex project, you need discipline.

Motivation isn’t enough to get you through the hard, cognitive work of thinking things through, thinking in paths no one has thought before. You need discipline.

Motivation isn’t enough to get you writing or doing your other art every day for years (often without visible results), to learn and produce at your best. You need discipline.

And Discipline, like common sense, is remarkably uncommon.

From the time we enter school, we are told by teachers and parents what we need to do when, what is expected of us, and how we should do it. When we leave school, most people immediately find a boss who does the same thing.

Which means that even if we’re highly motivated to do something without a boss or teacher or parent imposing discipline from the outside, telling us what to do when, we have little ability to accomplish things.

We call it procrastination, usually. And say we’re just not motivated enough.

Large numbers of people say they want to write a book. Few actually do. Large numbers of people say they want to start a business, or a side hustle. Few actually do. Large numbers of people say they want to learn a new language, learn to draw, or increase their level of physical fitness. Few actually do.

It isn’t motivation that’s lacking, it’s discipline.

But the good news is, discipline can be learned.

How? Just like anything else — in small, daily steps.

Imagine that a friend decided he wanted to learn calculus, even though he hasn’t done any math for years, and he sits down with a textbook and reads a bunch of it. Then he takes a test and fails it, and complains to you afterward “I can’t learn it. I’m just not motivated enough”. You would roll your eyes and call him an idiot.

You can’t get off the couch and run a marathon. You can’t learn how to speak a language in a weekend. You can’t learn self-discipline immediately either. Just because you’ve been effective under someone else’s discipline doesn’t mean you can sustain it on your own.

So start small.

Find what you’re motivated to do; something meaningful and challenging. It doesn’t matter what. If later, you decide something else is better, you can always change what you’re doing.

But you need to just start.

Make the decision that you’re going to do that thing, just a little bit, every day for 100 days. Keep the bar low. Write for ten minutes, or 200 words. Learn one new word and do ten minutes of vocabulary review in the language you’re learning. Do twenty pushups. Walk one mile.

Now that decision is made, and you can’t unmake it for 100 days. You are going to do that thing every day no matter what. If you do the minimum amount and do it half-assed, that’s fine. Just make sure you’ve done it. The point is not high-quality production, the point is to maintain the decision and the discipline.

By the end of the 100 days, chances are you aren’t doing the minimum, and aren’t doing it half-assed any more.

You’re developing discipline. Build on it. Do more, do bigger.

Now use the motivation and the discipline to dig deeper. What can you accomplish?

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