There Is A Big Difference Between Motivation And Discipline | The Odyssey Online
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Student Life

There Is A Big Difference Between Motivation And Discipline

Why you can't just rely on motivation to move you forward in life.

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There Is A Big Difference Between Motivation And Discipline
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This week I've been thinking a lot about self development, watching a lot of videos on self development, and implementing a lot of these lessons into my personal life. Let's get real. We all have dreams. We all have goals. We all want certain things in our lives that are going to push us forward into the life that we want to live. But how do we get there? The first thing that comes to mind is motivation.

What keeps you motivated? Maybe you made a dream board, or maybe you just have a list of all the things you want to accomplish stored in your mind. Maybe you want specific things like more money, your dream job, or to lose weight. And perhaps you have more general goals, like feeling happier with your life and the direction you are going. The question is, do you just want these things, or are they motivating you every single day to get to where you want to go? That's the thing with motivation. You might have certain ideas in your head about what you want to do, what you want to have, or who you want to be, but a lot of times that is not enough to actually get you there. It's not enough to just sit back and say those things are motivating you, because in reality, motivation is only temporary.

Some days, we wake up extremely motivated and ready to kick butt and take names. But sometimes we don't. Life gets hard. Challenges come up. We get discouraged. We get tired. We get lazy. When those things happen, motivation flies out the door. When you wake up and are having a bad day, you aren't feeling motivated, you aren't in the mindset to do what you have to do. So then what's the point? I'm not saying it's not good to have things that motivate you. But I am saying that there's something more that you need in your life in order to be successful on both the good days and the bad days.

That's discipline. When you wake up on the bad days and have absolutely no motivation to push you to do the things you need to get done, you need to have discipline. When motivation starts lagging behind, you need to allow discipline to take the reigns and drive you forward. Motivation won't always be there, but your life is still going, and if you want it to change, you need discipline. Discipline is putting in the work, doing what you have to every single day, not because you want to, but because its necessary to get you where you want to go in life.

I recently started a new network marketing job. Some days I wake up super on fire and ready to start my day and rock my business. Other days, I wake up and honestly just want to sleep the day away or binge watch TV shows in bed. On those lazy days, I have no motivation. But what I do have is discipline. Even when I don't want to work, I know I have to, and that keeps me going.

Don't rely so much on motivation, because when you wake up some days without it, you won't get anything accomplished. Discipline is absolutely necessary to get you where you're going. Still be motivated, but also be driven through discipline.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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