“We must all suffer one of two things, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” — Jim Rohn.
How often are we disappointed in ourselves because we didn’t have the discipline to do the things we needed to do to get the results we wanted. We stopped going to the gym. We fell off our weight loss program. Oh yes, we were motivated. We just didn’t have the discipline to follow through.
This morning it was twelve degrees outside here in the Washington, DC Metro area. I felt highly motivated to go to the gym. I could have stayed home because of the cold weather. My car might not start, or the parking lot could have been frozen over, or any number of reasons excuses not to go. I mean, after all schools opened two hours later than usual.
I went to the gym anyway. There weren’t as many people there as usual. I’m sure everyone was highly motivated to go, particularly those with their new found New Year’s Resolutions. But only a few had the discipline to get in the car and actually go.
Twyla Tharp, the legendary dancer and choreographer went to the gym every day in New York City. She had a highly disciplined morning ritual. In her book, the Creative Habit (Simon & Schuster 2003), she wrote:
“I begin each day of my life with a ritual,” she writes. “I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours.
“The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go I have completed the ritual.”
She writes that it’s a simple act, but that doing it the same way each morning makes it a habit, makes it repeatable, easy to do, and one less thing to think about.
That’s a pretty good description of discipline.
Mike Horn, the world famous adventurer speaks of the importance of discipline over motivation and the difference between the two. In his talks to wide ranging groups, including a TED talk, he stresses that he’s “ . . . not always motivated but I’m disciplined, and with discipline in line, you can overcome motivation. You can overcome the most difficult obstacles the world can throw at you.”
It’s hard for Mike Horn to be motivated to leave a tent in the Arctic, enroute to the North Pole, and head out in 76 degree below zero (Fahrenheit) temperatures to pursue his quest of being the first man to travel to the North Pole without dogs or motorized vehicle, in the 24 hour darkness of an Arctic Winter. It takes pure discipline. See the difference? By the way, Horn reached the North Pole.
Why is this important to us? Because we normally think in terms of motivation when we think about exercise and eating right. What is our motivation to do it? Feel good, look good, live longer, etc. But that’s not what gets us out the door on the way to the gym at 5:30 in the morning. That’s not what makes people like Twyla Tharp, get in a cab the first thing in the morning to get to a gym at age 77. That’s discipline, not motivation.
All too often, we confuse the two. It’s motivation that makes us WANT to do it. It’s discipline that gets us to actually DO IT!
“Motivation is doing what you want to do. Discipline is doing what you want to do when you don’t want to do it.” — Anon
Remember your physics? Think of Motivation as potential energy. Discipline is Kinetic Energy.
Motivation is saying: “I want to eat that chocolate cake, but I won’t.” Discipline is not eating the chocolate cake.
Motivation is saying: “I want to go to the gym because I want to look and feel better.” Discipline is going to the gym.
Bottom line: All the motivation in the world won’t get the result you want but it may get you pointed in the right direction. Discipline is what gets you there.
Thank you for reading.