Without a doubt, it’s a general misconception that for us to strive for success we need to be motivated.
While that is true, it’s essential to develop more valuable traits in order to achieve such motivation. That is where discipline in particular comes in to play.
The power of discipline is considerably significant when it comes to success and it is the sole reason for why many celebrities, entrepreneurs and businessmen have achieved so much in their lives.
Personally, I checked out this TedTalk by Anastasia Babutsidze which talked about the power of discipline and it was certainly eye-opening to realise why is discipline important.
One of the key statements that stood out was when she stated that we should ‘not let our mood measure our productiveness’ as referenced by James Clear in his book “Atomic Habits”. There are many more books about discipline out there to read which are certainly valuable in helping to realise its importance. It’s absolutely worth looking around!
This is just one of the many things that people are unaware can have major impacts on the road to success and is just one of the many reasons why discipline is destiny.
We tend to be vulnerable to how we feel. For example, if we feel angry, we end up wanting to stay away from difficult tasks that may yield achievements. This is a perfect example of a lack of discipline.
I want to explain my reasons for why discipline must be valued higher and why it’s something that needs to be focused on instead of just motivation.
If there is one thing to take away from Sanityfly, it is that you cannot create discipline by being motivated and without discipline you will struggle to be motivated.
That is why discipline is destiny – the power of self-control helps us to dictate the moves we make day-to-day.
If we can have more control on the actions we take and the emotions we have, being able to perform productively with little distraction can certainly put us on the road to success.
Conscious discipline is a key factor here too. Understanding the impacts that procrastinating can have on our productivity and its consequences on our road to success are what will create the motivation for the long-term.
So many people struggle to realise the consequences of their procrastination as they adopt the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ type of mindset. They may have bursts of motivation but not realising these impacts are what puts that motivation to a halt.
That is why motivation is only temporary without discipline….
Lets revisit the Tedtalk up above…
Anastasia also outlines to “avoid our phones and social media because these distractions often give us pleasure to avoid our work”.
These are some of the reasons why we may experience temporary motivation. Without conscious discipline, we simply cannot resist these pleasurable activities.
The moment we feel the urge to work, it can become easy to be brain-washed into procrastinating again.
You may feel accomplished that you are putting in some hard-work for a short period of time, but because of the lack of discipline, that feeling alone is enough to make you feel like you deserve to take a break and go on your phones.
Conscious discipline training is what creates the road to success in the long-term and if your are able to train your mind to resist pleasure and hunt down achievements, success will be inevitable for sure!
This adds on to my previous point. If you can train your mind to stay in a permanent disciplinary state, you will become used to putting in long-hours of hard work.
The general idea is to develop a routine that helps you put in the work to get on the road to success through trial and error. Find out what works for you and what are the most effective techniques in aiding the power of discipline within you.
With discipline, you are trained to avoid activities that grant no value to your long-term goals. Why?
Because you understand the consequences that activities that pleasure you will bring and that doing them will only encourage you to fall into a habit of continuing to do them.
This is something that motivation cannot teach you.
When you are motivated, you feel encouraged to put in hard-work to achieve a goal.
However, while that’s the case, you still like enjoy doing activities that offer pleasure and enjoyment such as scrolling through social media.
Here’s how I’d put it simply…
With motivation, you only add on the hard work to your distracting activities. With discipline, the hard work substitutes distracting activities instead. And it’s clear that the latter is far better for the long-term without a doubt!
The power of discipline is so important especially in this modern world polluted with social media and distractions all around us.
A lot of people end up being glued behind a screen instead of venturing into the real world and trying to experience new opportunities and activities and this is all…because…of…no…self-discipline…
When you are disciplined you realise that in order to achieve long-term goals you must try things that you wouldn’t be comfortable usually doing. It could be something you may think is embarrassing or nerve-racking.
To be self-disciplined means to try new things or venture out of your comfort zone, because in doing so, you are building yourself up to be a stronger person with more confidence. This is essential on the road to success in achieving your personal goals!
One of the most valuable things I personally have learnt is that failure is better than not trying. Even something as scary as speaking in front of large crowds can sometimes feel embarrassing almost as if it didn’t go successfully, but that doesn’t mean you went backwards in achieving personal goals.
You can check out my reasons for why embarrassment is good for confidence right here: Why embarrassment is good for confidence – Sanityfly
If anything, you’ve gotten closer as you learn from the experience and understand what can be done better. This is better than not trying in the first place in every way!
So if you want to grow as a person, train your conscious discipline and leave your comfort zone!
Personally, I believe that these reasons are entirely valid and justify why we should value discipline over motivation. Without discipline, motivation is merely temporary and I’m sure some of us, including me can relate to this in some form.
If we are to achieve the goals that we set ourselves out to achieve on our road to success, we must absolutely possess the necessary self-discipline to avoid distractions.
Whether it is social media, preventing us from studying or our friends wanting us to go out when you need to work, being able to develop the courage to say no and stand up for yourself is what makes discipline a powerful force in our lives!
