Discipline or Motivation?

I recently heard one of those special-forces-turned-motivational-humans say something about getting over the idea of everything being done because of motivation and just doing things because you are disciplined.

I think it's a fascinating idea because for years, probably decades, I've heard a ton about motivation. Motivating others, motivating your team, motivating your colleagues, motivating yourself.

There was a lot of talk about motivation vs. being lazy, and how most people who were perceived as lazy weren't lazy, they just weren't motivated.

This idea of replacing motivation with discipline has had me thinking for the last few weeks.

Actually, since I did my Pluralsight course titled Prioritizing Tasks and Managing Time for Greater Productivity , I've thought about this stuff. But most recently I've been thinking about the "why" of productivity.

I've come down to this, at least for me: what I do, the progress I make, the tasks I work on, will sometimes be driven by motivation and sometimes by discipline.

In 2006, when I got laid off (and started My Big Fat Failed Job Search), I found that as a job seeker I was motivated to get out of that status, but the job search tasks were so dreary that they required a lot of discipline.

When I started JibberJobber, this web business that I was going to sell for a gazillion dollars one day, I was driven by motivation. I didn't need any discipline... I was so anxious to get stuff done I never had to tap into discipline.

I'm at a different stage of my life now, though. I'm not in startup, scrappy, what's-the-future going-to-be mode. I've built processes and systems and programs that are humming along. My finances are much better than when I was unemployed. I'm older and have *some* of the maturity and wisdom that comes with age.

Where I was once motivated by changing the world, I'm now more motivated by figuring out my physical and mental health, and enjoying the fleeting moments I get with my growing kids. I won't get any of that (health or precious family time) back, even if I do get a gazillion dollars down the road.

My motivation is to enjoy the present and build health so I can enjoy more of the future even as I age.

Sometimes that gets in the way of the mundane work tasks I have. My motivation for some of those mundane tasks has waned, which is where discipline kicks in. There are plenty of things I don't want to do during the day, but they need to get done. I especially want to get them done before they go from not important to urgent... I don't like living in Quadrant I.

And so here I am. I need to have a meeting with myself and figure out what my motivations are. I have had a big "why," and that's great, but it might be shifting... maybe that's why my motivation has been feeling empty.

Discipline is great. It's necessary because not everything that has to get done will be driven by motivation. Sometimes you have to do hard, boring things. But when you do things because you feel motivated, that's on another level. That's the level I want to get on.

What do you think about motivation and discipline? More importantly, how are you doing with your motivation? Do you need a reevaluation and readjustment? If so, that's okay.

We have different seasons and circumstances in life and when those change, we need to make changes.