Why Discipline is the Key to Success
I am often questioned by my business peers asking; how I have the motivation to do what I do. To train regularly and find the time to work on my health.
Motivation Comes and Goes
The problem with motivation is it is fleeting. It cannot be relied on for consistency. And the key to results is consistency.
Motivation is a great spark to get the fire burning. Think about those times when you’ve said to yourself “I am going to get back in shape”.
You hit the gym or the road with all the eagerness in the world. You are so sure and convinced that this is the time for you to finally get in shape.
Then after a few weeks, or maybe months, that motivation has disappeared, and you are trudging to your chosen exercise with no desire or excitement.
Discipline vs Motivation
What I tell my esteemed peers is; my training has nothing to do with motivation. It has everything to do with discipline.
Motivation is a feeling. It’s an emotion. So to rely on a feeling to keep you consistently exercising is a fool’s errand and guaranteed to end in failure
Discipline is a Skill
A skill is a learned behaviour. The more you work at it, the easier it becomes.
By learning the skill of discipline, you workout even if you are not motivated. You eat right even if you are not feeling the best.
In the same way you go to work every day no matter how you are feeling. By practising the skill of discipline to exercise. By doing something you don’t always feel like doing, eventually training becomes a habit and you do it consistently no matter how you feel.
Replace Motivation with Discipline and build a Positive Habit Loop
Take yourself out of the motivated mindset and into a disciplined mindset.
When you begin your new exercise regime, do not go gung-ho five times per week. Think about what you can realistically do. Even if it’s only once per week. What can you do even when you’re not feeling the best?
Build That Discipline Into a Habit
- Discipline is what creates habits when motivation doesn’t exist.
- Discipline is what will build consistency.
- Consistency is what will get you the results you so desire.