Embrace Motivation Over Discipline

Do you have a reason to stay motivated and do the work? Without that, your discipline will wane.

If you’ve ever taken on a big, personal challenge, you know how it feels. Take paying off debt, for example. You have a large amount of debt, which often comes with big interest payments. Trying to pay off the principal feels hard because so much of your monthly payment goes toward the interest. The challenge takes a long time, maybe too long for your patience.

Without the why behind paying off the debt, it’s hard to maintain the motivation you need to get there. Discipline will only get you so far.

Now if you get a medical diagnosis that rocks your world, it’s easy to find your why. You change your diet to prevent further damage to your heart, or you commit to exercising regularly so you can lose the weight to hopefully reverse your high blood pressure.

Everyone has their own way to stay motivated to do the right thing. And, of course, it helps when it’s something that you enjoy and want to do.

I play tennis several times a week; it’s part of my exercise routine. The bonus is that I love it, so it’s really easy for me to head to the tennis courts and do it. Even when temperatures are in the 110s in the Phoenix summer.

So how do you set up your own motivation, when you feel less than motivated to do something?

• Know why you want to accomplish the goal.
• Create a vision board around the goal or write down the outcomes of doing the thing. Maybe you want to lose the weight for a beach vacation or you want to create a new healthy eating habit so you can have the energy to chase your kids.
• Set up accountability. Whether it’s a workout accountability partner or someone to touch base with around your finances or something else entirely, knowing that someone out there is aware of your goals and wants to help you with them is key.
• Don’t let perfectionism get in the way. You do not have to be perfect, ever. Thinking that it’s all or nothing will prevent you from making progress at all. In fact, I think that doing 80 percent, 80 percent of the time is a great balance. Let the other 20 percent go.

When you try to stay disciplined and white-knuckle your way to a goal, you’re not as likely to succeed. And even if you do, it’s not going to feel very pleasant.

But with a healthy dose of motivation, you’ll get there and feel good about doing it!