Discipline is the new Motivation
Hello 2022— feels like 2020 too here in Ontario.
I don’t think I have fully processed the fact I am in January of 2022, but again, I think my sense of time has been warped since December 2019; I believe the reason behind my feelings is the loss of tangibility in my surroundings. Whether it be school (now university) which has been entirely online for me since 2020, I also shifted a lot of my daily tasks- reading, writing, note-taking, meeting with friends- to a virtual platform. While it had some benefits and I found my workflow to be more efficient (I am planning to post a short blog on online note-taking soon), the biggest downside to my routine was the monotonous surrounding which eventually disturbed my sense of time and place.
It truly hit me when I finished my exams in the last 10 days of December and was intent on doing a multitude of things before the start of the new year. My highlight was supposed to be travelling a day after my exams; however, life happened and my travel plans got cancelled. This truly brought me down and took a hit on my mood. I was struggling to do anything besides sulking in bed and watching marvel shows without a thought in my head. This led to a disastrous snowball effect wherein I was almost loathing myself for my inability to get things done and make the most of my vacation, and there was one thing that infuriated me the most— a lack of entity to blame. Thanks to COVID, most things are of a virtual nature, so I had no excuse when it came to being restricted to do things.
Like most people, I was told to stop thinking about things that are out of my hands and start anew. I opened my Notion and tried writing this post around 15 times (to be exact) but I was getting nowhere. I could neither find the motivation nor the drive to think about anything; thus, writing. I tried reading to find a spark of motivation, binged an online course on digital writing, almost posted my old poems (we do not want to see that), and still, there was no motivation.
That is when I finally got to thinking and realized that motivation may just be another capitalized notion to fool the wise human race. I knew I wouldn't be the only one who thought about this, and certainly, I found an entire book written by Jeff Haden titled ‘Motivation Myth’. In it, he doesn’t necessarily talk about how motivation is a scam, but he talks about how motivation is the result and not the catalyst. He puts a strong emphasis on the process of doing things and stresses the importance of HOW over WHY. Although a weird concept at first, Jeff, very interestingly, discusses how the end goal should be forgotten instantly when doing something, and rather, it should be broken down into smaller goals that will make the process to the end goal extremely efficient and attainable. I can talk loads about the various concepts discussed in the book; however, I really want to get to the discipline aspect of it, so I will link a brilliant breakdown of the book by Sarah Cy.
If you think about it, most people have no idea what they are doing and the ultimate purpose behind it. It is only when you bring a routine, a discipline to your life is when things get done, and it is after those completed tasks that you get the motivation to continue doing so. I honestly had zero motivation to write my blogpost (clearly evident from my inactivity) but I decided that it is not motivation that will excite my neurons, it is constant activity— discipline that will eventually yield results. Human emotion is broad, and I mean broad-spectrum, and if you choose to condition your day-to-day actions on where you fall on the spectrum every day, there is a high chance that you will get things done; however, you will never know when those things will be done.
One of my favourite quotes on the distinction between motivation and discipline is:
Discipline, in short, is a system, whereas motivation is analogous to goals. There is a symmetry. Discipline is more or less self-perpetuating and constant, whereas motivation is a bursty kind of thing.
To depict it in a more relevant example, how many of us are always motivated to study? What would be the consequence of relying on that motivation? Yep, pretty ugly. So, rather than relying on why I should get there, focus on how I should get there. Tune yourselves to do things and you will see that discipline is the predecessor to motivation and it is the process which makes the goal worthwhile, not the other way around. If you are struggling to start and need some tips on structuring your day, check out my blog on some cheeky tips to get things done.
So friends, I hope this made you reconsider your views on motivation. If not, feel free to send me an email or comment under any of my social media handles to share your side of the story.
Cheers :)
