It’s not the discipline that you are lacking. It’s the goal that gets you out of bed that is missing.
“Suffer the pain of discipline, or suffer the pain of regret.”
— Unknown
People say that if you are lazy you are lacking discipline. People say children are lacking discipline if they don’t do their homework or if they play video games the whole day.
People say if someone is successful or doing something every day, they have discipline.
It’s not the discipline that makes those people successful or does stuff every day without thinking.
It’s motivation (mostly intrinsic) that comes from knowing where you want to go in life, what you want to achieve in life, and how to go there.
“Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe this is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds.”
— Stephen R. Covey
So what can you do that makes you wake up in the morning motivated to do the hard work or work out now every day?
You have to have a goal and a plan for that goal!
1. Figure out what you want to achieve in your life
What do you love to do? What does your perfect life look like?
Go to some quiet space and think about it. Meditate. Nothing is impossible, so also think out of the box.
2. Figure out the values of that goal
After you know what you want to do in your life. What are the values of the person that will achieve this goal?
Do you want freedom? Do you want a family? Those are the values you are living by then. Decide based on that.
3. Plan the steps to the goal
A lot of people have a goal, even the same goal. But they don’t achieve it.
Everyone wants to win the gold medal, but only one can.
A goal can be overwhelming because it sounds big and far away. So you have to take a step back and think about small steps which you can do now.
As small as possible. So you can do this step today or this week.
Let’s Get To Work
After you are done with those steps, do you feel motivated to start achieving your goal?
If not, go back to step 1 and find a more convincing and motivating goal.
Achieving a goal comes from consistently working toward it. You are able to achieve any goal if you work towards it consistently every day.
Now you have a plan for what you should do every day.
Make it a consistent habit and stick to it and soon you will see results.
Habits are effortless as soon as you established them. Like brushing your teeth every day before showering.
Consistency and Habits > Talent
If there is a goal you want to achieve, and you think you don’t have the talent for it: you need to know that consistency and habits are beating talent in the long run.
If you consistently do something (for example writing), then you will get good at it and you will become a professional writer. Even though your English teacher told you that you are bad at writing.
That was a long time ago. If you keep up the work and stay motivated to improve, then you will improve day by day.
And that’s how you will get disciplined and you will improve day by day. You will figure out that to achieve your goal you have to be healthy and fit too, so you will be motivated to do sports regularly and to eat healthy meals.
People will think you are disciplined, but you are actually intrinsically motivated by your goal and your values, and you are working consistently toward it.
There will be situations in which you are not motivated at all and you just feel tired and uninspired. That’s ok and totally human. Take a break! Do something different! Try something new!
Continue later.
“Success is not final; Failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston S. Churchill
Conclusion
If you think of yourself as lazy and lacking discipline, it means you don’t have a goal yet that keeps you motivated.
If a kid doesn’t have discipline and isn’t doing homework, she is lacking a goal and motivation. If the kid doesn’t know what homework is really necessary, find a goal for this kid!
You now know the answer: find something that motivates you!
Make it a habit and you will never have to find the motivation again!
An Inspiring Story
Michael Phelps, the really successful swimmer with more than 25 Olympic medals has made a habit out of his swimming and every tournament.
His success comes from figuring out what his goal is and then consistently working towards it and he made winning look effortless and it was effortless for him because he did the same thing every day.
He put on his headphones with music in preparation for the contest, and as soon as he did that he was concentrated. He has a series of habits before he gets to swim and after he did all that swimming itself was another consistent habit he did after the preparation.
He doesn’t need talent and he doesn’t need discipline. He trained consistently and there was no other outcome than to swim and to be the best.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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