Why I choose dicipline over motivation
Ever just wake up and think “I don’t want to do “X” today”? Yeah, I think we’ve all been there. It’s hard to get motivated to do the thing we need to get done sometimes. Occasionally, you really need to work yourself up to it!
In the context of exercise, you hear a lot about motivation and discipline but let me tell you why I prefer the latter to the former in most cases. Motivation or “getting yourself pumped up” can be an amazing tool for those days where you need a push but motivation or getting motivated is usually hard to sustain. Rather trying to get motivated every time you need to exercise, I believe cultivating discipline to be a much more realistic approach.
Discipline is control gained by enforcing obedience & order. Alright, obedience sounds a bit harsh but let’s focus on the order part! Creating order in exercise is essential to keeping you on track towards your goals and making it easier for you not to fall off. The way I like to think about discipline is in the context of habits created over time. There are some good ways to go about doing this. Below, I’ll outline ways to get going in the right direction.
1) Setting clear and attainable goals - If you have a goal to work towards, this is the first way to ensure you show up every day. You can miss a day here and there, it’s not that deep but keeping your goal in the forefront of your mind helps with ensuring you pick it back up the next day in order to keep pushing!
2) Developing a routine - Following a structured program with room for overload, proper recovery and overall enjoyment, is the 2nd step to keeping on track. Whether from me, another coach or your own programming, knowing in advance what you’re working towards & which or how many days you’ll be training is a great motivating factor to get up on a random Tuesday.
3) Tracking progress - This is a great idea so that you can see just how far you’ve come as you go! Tracking how much you’re lifting in relation to your beginnings, tracking your overall physique month over month, etc… You may not notice a difference day by day because not much happens in a day but having these things to look back on will make you feel amazing later!
In summary, habits formed over time become a lot easier to stick to. Before you know it, it’s just that “thing” you on a random Tuesday at 6pm. Use the motivation for those days when you really need a boost :)