Motivation is fantastic. Motivation is the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning. It gets you to the front door and inspires you to open the door to look outside. But then you discover it’s raining and your motivation wavers. You think, I’m not giving up, but I’m not going out! I’ll just start tomorrow. The next day your alarm goes off, you get out of bed, get dressed, and go to the front door. You open the door and it’s raining again, and you think to yourself wow, two days in a row, I need a better plan. You go back inside and convince yourself that tomorrow will be the day. Then the next day you get up and go to the door and this time it’s freezing cold, so, you think I don’t have the right gear to go outside and do this. I’d love to do it and I really want to, but it’s just so cold.
This is the problem with relying solely on motivation. Motivation will get you out of bed and to the door but it falters easily, leaving you standing looking into the cold, wet abyss. What motivation won’t do is force you to take your first step outside and every other step after that. It won’t make you commit to taking real action and achieving real results. That takes commitment and it takes discipline.
Motivation is great at inspiring you and getting you to the door, but it’s like eating sugar for energy. Its effect dissipates quickly and leaves you feeling empty and needing more. Discipline, on the other hand, gives you the sustained energy and power to continue through the pain, doubt, and difficulty. Despite the hardship, discipline is the driving force, when your motivation fades. Discipline will see you through the pain and allow you to ‘just do it’, to quote the Nike ad.
Discipline is the driving force that underpins the success of whatever you want to achieve, and the good news is discipline is something you can develop. Discipline comes from being able to create a vision of where you want to go, a plan for how you want to get there, and having the will to execute the plan. Most people fail because they don’t have a plan or the will to execute it and try to use motivation to inspire action. This is unsustainable and will lead to failure unless it transmutes into discipline. Motivation is just your vision! Everything else is self-discipline.
Discipline has an amazing, almost illogical way of setting you free. Developing discipline normally results in establishing systems, processes, and routines. Your discipline drives you to stick to your routine and refine your systems and processes until they become habitual. Forming good habits will help you to focus and get stuff done. Being disciplined and forming good habits doesn’t mean being dogmatic or refusing to evolve or change your habits over time. On the contrary, being disciplined means always searching for ways to be more effective and efficient to make sure the discipline you apply is appropriate to achieve the outcome you desire. Process is important but purpose is king.
Developing discipline requires mental toughness. It means being serious about what you want, really serious. It also means being committed. You must be serious and committed if you really want to achieve your desired goals. Your desire to succeed must outweigh all your other desires such as pleasure and comfort, like going back to bed on a cold, wet morning. According to Tony Robbins, there are only two motivating factors in life. Pleasure and pain. The pleasure derived from achieving your goals must outweigh the pain endured in attaining them, otherwise, you will quit and won’t succeed.
There are also different types of discipline. The best discipline is self-discipline. Self-discipline is the discipline you place upon yourself that makes you do the things you need to do with no external pressure. It’s your drive, your ambition, your focus, and your commitment to succeed.
Then there’s group discipline. Group discipline is a form of discipline where someone, normally a leader, commander, or manager, enforces discipline through the threat of some sort of reprisal. It also manifests in the form of individuals not wanting to let down the leader or the group they are a part of. Group discipline results from individuals demonstrating their self-discipline in a group setting to achieve a common outcome, goal, or mission. Group discipline is used to great effect by organisations like the military and sporting teams where the mission must come first and failure is not an option.
Then there’s a third type of discipline which is generally negative and is dealt out to people as a form of punishment. This can take the form of correcting poor form, preventing someone from doing something they shouldn’t, or being punished for doing something unlawful or foolish.
Performance management can be considered a type of discipline especially when there are consequences for underperformance. This discipline takes the form of correcting a problem to bring the person back in line with expectations. Discipline also extends to the legal system in the form of laws that if broken will result in punishment. The mere threat of punishment for breaking laws is enough to ensure most people maintain the expected level of discipline or acceptable standard.
As a leader, it’s important to understand all three types of discipline so you can develop self-discipline in yourself and your staff, apply group discipline to your team and enforce rules and the law when necessary.
So, while motivation may get you out of bed in the morning, it’s discipline that will help you drive results and achieve your goals. Discipline will save you time, reduce uncertainty and risk, and improve your overall performance. Discipline will help you focus and take control, allowing you to achieve your goals every time, unlike motivation which will fade in and out and only return limited success.
Ultimately, discipline will set you free.
