Is It True That When Motivation Fails Discipline Prevails?
Last Updated on July 20, 2022
“Don’t rely on motivation for anything. It is fleeting and unreliable. Discipline however, is unyielding. Force yourself to follow through.”
Anonymous
When we are motivated, it’s easy to find the energy to get things done. However, when that motivation begins to wane, it can be hard to push through and keep going. If you feel like you need more discipline in your life right now, you’re not alone.
The truth is that most of us can use a little boost in this department at some point or another. When we lack discipline, our natural inclination is often to blame external factors for our lack of progress in some area of our lives.
But what we don’t often realize is that most of the time it comes down to an issue with personal discipline.
Motivation will always be there from time to time but if you want long-term results and becoming a better person and achieving your goals you will need a lot more self-discipline as well.
So if you want to expand your personal discipline and grow as a person as well – keep reading and find out why motivation fails and discipline always prevails!
Why Is Discipline So Important?
In general, discipline is about doing what needs to be done, regardless of how you feel. This includes all the tasks that you need to complete in order to move your life forward. There are so many areas where having more discipline would make a positive difference in your life.
If you are lacking in discipline, you may struggle with things such as:
- Being consistent with your fitness routine.
- Having healthy eating habits.
- Managing your time effectively.
- Finishing all of your work on time.
- Staying on track with your finances.
- Having good habits.
- Maintaining good relationships.
- Letting go of bad habits.
- Staying focused on your goals.
“When you don’t feel like doing something, but you’ve committed to doing it anyhow, that’s the essence of self-discipline: sticking to your word.”
Anonymous
Why Motivation Doesn’t Last Long?
Motivation is a fleeting feeling. It comes and goes, especially when you’re trying to build self-discipline in your life.
When you’re building discipline, it’s helpful to understand that motivation isn’t going to last. You need to have the endurance to keep going even when you don’t feel like it. You need to have the self-discipline to put in the work even when you don’t feel like it.
This is why it’s so important to build your self-discipline when you’re trying to build a new habit or eliminate an old one. You know that when the going gets tough, you’ll need to be able to persevere through the tough times.
So, what comes first? Motivation or discipline?
The answer is when you first decide to make a change, you’re excited to get started because you know you’ll benefit greatly from the outcome and that motivates you. Eventually, you’ll need to draw on your own self-discipline if you don’t want to let your progress lapse. Having self-discipline allows you to keep practicing even when you don’t feel like it. This is the reason why motivation fails and discipline prevails in life.
Now, as you have understood the power of discipline and how it always prevails over motivation, you might want to know how to develop discipline. And instead of giving you a whole top 5 ways to develop discipline, I have shared a short way to help you develop this strong habit.
How Can You Develop More Self-Discipline?
How can we build more self-discipline in our lives? Discipline is something we practice over a long period of time. It’s not something that we can just do once and suddenly have it. It takes consistent effort and a lot of patience.
If you’re struggling with discipline, the first thing you need to do is recognize that you have a problem. Sometimes we think that we’re disciplined when really we’re just being lazy.
Once you recognize that you have a problem and are ready to correct it, you can take the following steps to start building more self-discipline in your life:
- Be honest with yourself = What areas of your life need more discipline?
- Identify your motivation = What are you trying to achieve?
- Break your goals down = What can you do today to move towards your goals?
- Create a reward system = What will you do when you’ve accomplished your goals?
- Prepare to fail = No one is perfect.
- Stay consistent = The only way to make progress is to keep moving forward, no matter what.
Just Start and Trust the Process And You Will Not Need Motivation Any More
We often procrastinate because we are waiting for the perfect conditions to begin something. But the perfect conditions rarely exist. As such, we need to learn to just start and trust the process.
You may not feel like doing what you know you should do. You may not feel like taking on a certain project that’s due next week. You may not feel like going to the gym or eating a healthy meal. But if you want to become a stronger, better person, you need to push through the feelings of laziness and just do what needs to be done.
You need to trust that the more you do what needs to be done, the easier it becomes and the more natural it feels. Just like with anything else in life, you have to start small.
You have to take it one step at a time and build your self-discipline from there. You can’t go from zero to 60 overnight. You have to build your self-discipline slowly.
No one ever achieved their goals without failure along the way. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll never achieve the things you want out of life.
One of the best ways to grow your self-discipline is to keep trying. Even when you fail, you need to keep trying. Failure is only a setback if you let it be.
If you keep trying, you will eventually succeed. You will eventually build the self-discipline you need to succeed. If you want to become a stronger, better person, you need to practice self-discipline. You need to push through those feelings of laziness and just do what needs to be done.
If you keep trying, if you keep building your self-discipline, you will someday achieve all of your goals. You will someday become the person you want to be without ever relying over motivation.
I really hope that this post helps you comprehend the advantages of self-discipline over self-motivation. And if you’re reading this, then thank you for reading it till the end.
