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We all have different goals that we might want to accomplish in our lives. And accomplishing these goals can play a very important role in the way of contributing to our personal happiness and feelings of success.
We can set either big or small goals for ourselves and they can relate to anything and everything, from our weight to our finances, our relationships with others, our plans for the future, our personal daily habits, and more.
Toward the end of every year, millions of people get inspired to set goals for themselves to work toward achieving in the new year to come.
Each of us has at least one area in our lives that we surely hope to see some sort of change or improvement in. And it's not likely that we are going to feel satisfied in our lives if we feel that we have been stuck in the same position and never feel like we are reaching any new level, accomplishing anything new or different. We might have goals to start our own business someday, to become the supervisor or manager of where we work now, we might want to get married, to save for retirement, to have our own home, to become more self-sufficient, to gain more friends, get accepted onto a team or into a certain school, to explore a new place, to invent something that can improve the lives of many, and much more.
Setting goals is the easy part. And for some folks, they seem to have a much easier time going about achieving their goals than many others do.
I used to think that motivation was the key factor when it came to accomplishing goals and achieving success in a number of different areas in life. And we could easily be motivated by a desire to look better, feel better, or to enjoy a higher standard of living in life than we currently do etc.
However, motivation doesn't last forever, and it's not motivation that is going to get you up when you don't feel like getting up, to work toward achieving your goal that you've set for yourself. If you are going to rely on motivation to inspire you to work hard at something daily until you achieve it, then you might find that quite frequently motivation has you falling short.
When we imagine some end goal we have in mind for our lives, we might not always be able to rely on that motivation to stimulate our effort on a continual basis for an extended period of time; that's where self-discipline comes in. Self-discipline is what is going to help us to make the decision to resist daily temptation that might prevent us from moving toward achieving our goal.
Working toward change requires effort and for many that effort doesn't come easy. It's not easy to stay away from eating things that we would like to, or to stop spending money that we shouldn't, or to sacrifice our fun time to study or do something that won't show any reward until much later down the line.
It takes strength to exercise self-control and so it's not the easy choice to make.
We have become so accustomed these days to instant gratification that it has no doubt contributed greatly to the erosion of self-discipline for many. Why wait for the house, boat, car, and clothes etc., even if we can't afford it now? We can just put ourselves into debt and work for the next 20-50 years to pay it all off. And then by that time we don't even enjoy the item anymore and we will likely have a lot of regret and bitterness for the whole that we dug for ourselves, but by that time it's too late.
For those of us who appear to be more seasoned in exercising self control, they have frequently suggested that the only way for a person to improve their self-control and self-discipline is to do it on purpose, be intentional about it, and be dedicated to doing it repeatedly. Know and accept that it isn't going to be easy, but it might get easier for you to continually make that right decision over time, the more often that you choose to do it.
For example, say that you want to make the goal to quit a habit. It might be really hard at first to say no to that habit, but the more that you do it and the more time that passes, it's likely that you will find it easier to make that decision for yourself.
When it comes to task of trying to strengthen and improve our own self-control, a variety of suggestions have been made as to how to go about climbing that mountain. First we should know that our self-discipline can be improved upon, we need to clearly think about what we want to control or stay away from (prioritize), make a plan to stick to, get more sleep, try to remove temptations from our lives, reward ourselves for small accomplishments, and more. It's up to the individual to find out what is going to work best for them and to then put that into action.
In a world full of motivational tips, resources and how-to’s at our fingertips, it seems clear that motivation alone is not enough to bring success and achieve goals. That’s why…
I chose Discipline over Motivation.
Motivation is a feeling,
but discipline is an action.
Motivation is the starting point. It stirs up emotions, ideas, inspiration and excitement, which are great and important things!... but some people stop there. We disqualify ourselves when we think “I just need to get motivated”. My friend, it requires more.
In order to succeed in any area, we should
progress from motivated feelings to disciplined actions.
If I could sum up self-discipline in my own words, here it is:
Self-discipline is a series of consistent habits or routines, diligently applied and continued long after the initial motivated feelings have simmered down.
So why do I choose discipline over motivation?
Motivation produces emotion, but discipline produces results.
Motivation is temporary, but discipline perseveres.
Motivation fades after time, but discipline grows after time.
Motivation is an event, but discipline is a lifestyle.
Motivation starts the project, but discipline finishes it.
Motivation sets the goal, but discipline works it to accomplishment.
Don't get me wrong, I receive motivation during the week through various avenues (podcasts, books, teachings, mentors and quotes on social media), and my mind races with exciting ideas! I’m constantly getting motivated. But it was only when I learned the art of transitioning the motivated feelings into regular, disciplined actions through weekly routines is when I truly saw results!
'Busy-ness' and 'lack-of-time' were my past excuses. That was until I became increasingly frustrated that my dreams and projects didn’t happen on their own (funny that!). After years passing by, I stopped making excuses. I took responsibility for my own dreams. I realized I needed more than just motivation. I chose discipline over motivation.
To the person who to become fit – be disciplined to continue that weekly routine of hard-core exercise and quality diet choices.
To the person who wants to start that business - be disciplined to do the research, planning and journey through step by step.
To the person who wants to be in a better financial position – be disciplined to make wiser decisions by spending less, investing and saving more.
To the person who wants to step into their desired career – be disciplined to do the study, experience and hard-yards required to get there.
To the person who is writing that book – be disciplined to write each day and stick to your word-count goals.
So be encouraged. Remaining disciplined through daily routines and habits might seem mundane, but each day you are progressing one step further and further. You’ll surprise yourself, because once you apply discipline to one area, it organically spreads and transfers to other areas of your life!