The thing about motivation.
It's fleeting.
When I was in my late teens I played soccer competitively. I played or trained at least 6 days a week, every afternoon and evening and every weekend. It was all-consuming. I loved it, but by the time I was done I swung so far the other way in not doing much at all for my fitness. I was no longer driven by the discipline of having to show up someplace, and it wasn’t ever motivation getting me out the door. Discipline is what drives you because motivation is actually fleeting. Motivation doesn’t last long and often we need to do things that we don’t necessarily want to do. That’s where discipline comes in because if we only ever relied on motivation, most of us would get a grand total of fuck all done.
The reason I often have lists or pose challenges to myself is that if I don’t, I’ll never accomplish anything. My 45-day retreat is to hack my bullshit because if I don’t, things will stay the same. Because when the motivation wanes, as it does, and the desire for the excitement of embarking on something goes away, all I have left is the determination to be better. And that will only come with discipline to get up and get it done.
When we have a goal in mind and understand the rewards and implications of completing that goal, that helps drive us forward. It’s why people who run half marathons and marathons do so because they know that crossing the finish line and getting the medal will be the greatest feeling for them at that moment. That sense of accomplishment. But they will only get there with discipline because when it’s -5 and snowing or cold and rainy, it’s not motivation that gets you out of bed - it’s your training plan, which requires discipline.
Unfortunately, as a species, things have to hit rock bottom before people will make a change. Frog in boiling water type stuff. Until it gets so bad that you don’t have a choice. That has certainly been the case for me. Because I operate in extremes, I can go through periods of running on fumes before collapsing. A sign that I have pushed myself to one extreme too far. I am learning to find the balance, but when you’re someone who finds calm and joy in the chaos, this can be difficult to do.
I am on day seven of my 45-day retreat and can say that I have been hitting the requirements of it. I am taking my supplements, have ditched sugar and foods that won’t nourish an inflamed body (but my GOD did the croissant in Whistler look good today), I am doing yoga/stretching daily, I am getting outside, I am reading, I am on social media less, sleeping when the body says so, getting sunshine and snowboarding as much as I can. I know I will feel worse before I feel better, but I also know I am trending in the right direction. Thanks to discipline, and determination, I am crossing items off the daily checklist.
So, the next time you know you need to do something but just don’t want to, remember that often we don’t always want to do the thing but we will feel much better for having done it. That’s discipline for you.