Which Is Better? Discipline vs Motivation

What is the difference between discipline vs motivation? And, is one better than the other?

If you’ve read or heard others talk about this, you’ll see that a lot of people say discipline is better than motivation.

I would like to argue that both are important in that they both have different roles in achieving your goals/ systems.

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Discipline vs Motivation

Have you ever watched a movie where someone goes through a lot of bad things only for them to ‘finally’ have enough and make a change in their lives?

They get a sudden burst of energy and seem to turn their lives round in one day. They run on the treadmill for hours, they study all night, they change their entire physical appearance – they transform.

But what these movies show you isn’t very realistic.

If you want to go from D’s to A’s or B’s in your exams, studying all night for a couple of days isn’t going to cut it.

If you want to lose weight, drinking juice for breakfast, lunch and dinner and running on the treadmill for a few hours every day might do something in the beginning. But eventually, you will burn out and most likely fail.

Having lasting, beneficial results that impact you positively internally and externally requires time and effort.

This is the where motivation and discipline comes into play.

What is motivation?

Motivation is the inspiration and energy you need to make a change.

It is like the fuel behind your actions; the reason you do what you do.

You could be motivated to start working on your mental health because you want a change in your mood.

You could be motivated to be better with your finances so that you can buy yourself or your loved ones the things you want.

Therefore, motivation is the energy you need to make a change in your internal or external state.

What is discipline?

If motivation is the fuel behind you taking a certain action, discipline is the vehicle that will take you there.

Having discipline means being in control of your habits, behaviours and actions so that you can achieve your goal.

So, if you want to save more money because you want to buy better things, motivation would be the desire to save more money so you can buy better things. Discipline will be the actions you take so that you can save better and make your goal a reality.

Discipline is maintained and strengthened through techniques like routines, habit-tracking/ habit-building and time management etc.

The Discipline + Motivation Equation

If you add it all together, the equation to achieving your goals is the following:

Motivation (fuel) + discipline (car) = goal (destination)

The combination of the two is what allows success, not one or the other.

Without discipline, you would have no plan on how to achieve the goal. Sure, you can be motivated and excited to start saving money but if you don’t actually set a plan, you will continue with your spending habits as usual.

Without motivation, discipline is unnecessary. If the thing you’re doing isn’t something you want, why would you put yourself through all that hard work of achieving it?

You might not be motivated to study for your exams, but the overall motivation here is passing it so that you can do something with your life later on. This is why you discipline yourself to pass the exams.

Things to keep in in mind about discipline vs motivation

Working on your motivation/ discipline is a skill

Directing your motivation into action through discipline is a very important skill that will help you achieve success in anything you do.

Having motivation to do something is an indication of your willingness to improve, to constantly challenge yourself to be better.

Having discipline presents your self-control, focus, productivity and ability to prioritise. If you are disciplined, it also avoids burnout as you have time to take care of yourself whilst sticking to your routine.

Motivation is more attractive than discipline

What I mean by this is exactly the things you see in those movies where the characters ‘transform’ themselves.

The energy, the determination, the drive – it’s so infectious and inspiring. It might even make you want to get up and start making a change too.

But, you’ll soon realise that this sudden burst of action isn’t enough. What you need is consistency and discipline.

Discipline requires you to do the hard work, including tasks you don’t like doing. But doing them is necessary to get closer to achieving your goals.

So, how motivated are you to be disciplined to achieve this goal? Think about that question too.

If one of your goals is to start a small business, one thing you might do is watch small business reels/ tiktoks/ vlogs and this gets you really pumped to start your own.

But how hard are you willing to work for it? Channel that motivation into your discipline.

If your motivation wavers (for example, if you’re not getting high sales in your business as quickly as you wanted to), your discipline saves you from complete failure as you have a routine to follow.

Motivation is sporadic, discipline is built

Think of motivation as spurts of energy. You could have a big spurt of motivation that kicks you into action or it could be consistent energy that drives you towards your goal everyday.

Therefore, your motivation levels will vary everyday.

Intrinsic motivation is to do with the inner self. It is when you are motivated to make a change in yourself such as accomplishing something or simply being happier.

Extrinsic motivation is referring to external rewards like a pay rise, praise or getting better grades.

On the other hand, your discipline may start off as weak. You tell yourself you’ll start a task at a certain time but procrastination delays it by an hour or two.

Over time, you put things in place to avoid this happening again. This could be things like leaving your phone in another room to limit procrastination or using the pomodoro technique so you can get started on the task.

Overtime, your discipline gets stronger as you learn and adjust. It is something you work on to get better and better, whilst motivation is a feeling.

Enjoy your drive to the destination

As you work on your goal, enjoy the ‘drive’ towards getting there.

The road to achieving the goal may be long and it is important to enjoy your time as you work towards it.

Losing a certain amount of weight will take time and effort. It could be a few months or even up to a year, and both are a long amount of time regardless.

But does that mean you need to stop going out with your friends? Or that you have to force yourself to eat foods you despise because it’s the only way to lose weight?

Doing this will make you miserable and may even cause failure as you lose motivation to keep on going.

You need to enjoy the process and reward yourself for your successes as you work on your goal to keep your motivation levels high and maintain your discipline.

There are people who achieve their goals but for some reason, it doesn’t give them the satisfaction/ happiness they thought it would give.

There are many reasons why but one could be because they were so miserable working for this end goal that in the end, spending all that time being unhappy lost the gratification they should have felt from achieving the goal.

It is important to enjoy life as it is now. And enjoy everyday. Not wait for the moment where you ‘finally’ can be happy.

Just actively working on your goal every day by being disciplined is a major success. So give yourself a pat on the back for that!

Other posts on discipline/ motivation:

How To Plan Your Day to Prioritise YOURSELF

Start A Good Habit Using The Habit Loop

How To Plan A Daily Schedule To Free Up Your Day

Why We Should Focus On One Task At A Time

Sunday Routine To Prepare For A Hard Week & Skyrocket Productivity

How To Be A Disciplined Person & ACE LIFE!!

KEY TAKEAWAYS – Which Is Better? Discipline vs Motivation

It’s not just about achieving individual goals. Don’t do motivation vs discipline, use them together to achieve all your goals so you can become the best version of yourself.
Motivation is the inspiration and energy you need to make a change.
Having discipline means being in control of your habits, behaviours and actions so that you can achieve your goal.
Motivation (fuel) + discipline (car) = goal (destination)
Directing your motivation into action through discipline is a very important skill that will help you achieve success in anything you do.
Motivation is more attractive than discipline.
Your discipline gets stronger as you learn and adjust. It is something you work on to get better and better, whilst motivation is a feeling.
You need to enjoy the process and reward yourself for your successes as you work on your goal to keep your motivation levels high and maintain your discipline.

Which Is Better? Discipline vs Motivation