My alarm clock goes off screeching like a horn in a prison yard waking me up.
I hit the snooze button and roll over intent on squeezing a few more minutes of sleep out of the day.
Why?
The carrots and bell-peppers look at me from the back of the refrigerator begging me to juice them, but I choose to open a sugary energy drink instead.
Why?
I stare at my workout shoes planning on putting them on and going to the gym, but cannot seem to muster the discipline to put them on and get my ass out the door.
Why?
We all are aware of what we should be doing.
We know McDonald’s is shit food that will give us a heart attack, not working out will turn our bodies into jello and that sleeping the day away is a great formula for sliding into poverty, so why the hell do we do it?
There’s a multitude of possible reasons, but the main one I’ve seen prevalent is that our goal isn’t strong enough to take us to another level of discipline.
A perfect example is when an actor is preparing for a role that requires him to get in shape.
When you wave a multi-million dollar contract in his face and tell him he had better get in the best shape of his life or the part will be re-cast, you can guarantee that the actor will find the discipline to get in shape.
His goal is strong enough to supersede his wants.
His goal is motivating enough to cause him to stay disciplined.
While it’s obviously easy to get motivated by a million dollar contract, what can you motivate yourself with?
People are either driven by reward or driven by fear of failure.
For some, the reward of a great body is enough to get them out of bed and to the gym.
For others, it’s the fear of getting fat that drives them.
What kind of person are you?
Fear driven or reward driven.
There’s no ‘right’ answer, but knowing what you respond to will better help you to become much more disciplined.
Secondly, it’s important to analyze and see if your goal is motivating you enough.
If it’s not, then you might need to change it or make it more tougher to achieve.
When a person is truly passionate about attaining a goal, they will sacrifice and toil away in order to successfully achieve it.
This week as you are faced daily with the choice of being disciplined or not, look at the root of the struggle:
is your goal actually strong enough?
If it’s NOT motivating you enough, then perhaps it’s time to reassess them and choose goals that make you excited about striving for them, NOT apathetic.
Thirdly, it’s KEY that you use motivation to get you started, but DISCIPLINE is what will cause you to actually attain true actual results.
You can be the most motivated person in the world, but if you don’t have true discipline, then you won’t achieve literally anything.
Until next time.
Your man,
-Elijah “The Realist”
P.S When you’ve had enough, then you KNOW what to do. Get it here.
