Motivation is Bullsh*t
It happens to me too:
You get up, you look at your alarm and think to yourself “why am I even up this early? Why would ANYONE be up this early?”
I love CrossFit as much as the next guy but sometimes getting the motivation together to do something is just as tough as it was to go study for the Calculus III Final.
Yes. I did that.
I wasn’t motivated to do that, either…
So when someone says “why aren’t you more motivated,” you can say something more or less along the lines of the title.
Don’t get yourself in trouble.
What do I do when I’m not motivated? There’s several different techniques I use and they are:
- Self-Discipline. There is no other type of discipline, really.
- Removing my own barriers to entry or making the decision before I need to make the decision.
- Making the easy stuff harder and the harder stuff easy.
Let’s start at the beginning: “self-discipline.” Motivation comes and goes and there is no arguing that. Self-discipline is something which can hold much stronger. This is especially true once a habit is built.
The key to this is to strike while the iron is hot and develop the habit while you’re excited about something. Get up and go and be excited for it. This is also why it’s so important to have little successes along the way because when the motivation disappears, you’re left with self-discipline!
That is powerful!
Motivation comes and goes but discipline is steadfast. What this means is there is no choice. Discipline has made that choice for you because that’s what discipline does.
When the question shows up about getting out of bed and doing what I need to do to achieve my goals, discipline carries me in the right direction.
When it’s cold outside, when it’s cold in your bedroom, when you’re warm in your bed and you don’t want to get out of it: good. That means it’ll be even more worth it WHEN you get up out of bed and take the disciplined path toward your goals.
Action steps? Don’t give yourself a choice in the matter. Get up and go.
I do.
