First off: as we all know, discipline is more important than motivation. That being said, being motivated is still a nice to have. Why not try to stay motivated?
When is motivation
Have you ever considered when and by what you are motivated? You have just read a story, seen an image, .. of something (usually the destination of a journey) that triggered an emotional reaction: 'I want that too!' You see a ripped guy getting a girl, a player pickup a 10, a trader making a profit. You are now motivated. Your journey starts. You buy a gym membership or pick up your first book. After 1 week, the motivation (emotion) starts to wane and you no longer go to the gym or put down the book. Build discipline and push through!
Picture the destination
Yada yada journey vs destination. You'll love the journey way more if you actually like taking it, rather than pushing through relying solely on discipline. So, how to generate motivation?
Try to go back to what triggered your emotional reaction in the first place.
- Put a poster/picture of the destination on your bedroom wall, phone/pc wallpaper, enjoying the rollercoaster of emotion every time you look at it and imagining what it will be like, WHY you are on this journey
- Read the same story that triggered your emotional reaction
DO NOT rely solely on motivation, but use it to remind yourself of why you are on this journey and why it's all worth it.
StarDoom21 5y ago
I like to think of motivation being that nice seasoning you need to add to your discipline steak.
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b2daoni 5y ago
This is an excellent metaphor.
tyrannosaurus_fl3x 5y ago
Motivation is why we do it, discipline is doing it. The biggest issue for people committing to being disciplined, is complacency. If you see the motivation for why you should do something, but you're already satisfied with your life there's not a drive pushing you to improve.
I'd argue complacency is the biggest issue we face. Even if it's a false happiness, if you feel it's good enough you'll never be driven to improve. Like if you were racing and you decided that first place is cool, but you're happy with the race results as they are. You could be first place, but you just settled for 3rd. This world is driven forward by people who look at what we have and say "how can we improve this". If you're lazy and unmotivated being fat isn't a big issue to you as it's the price you pay for indulging in gluttony. You're happy indulging in the food and not happy with working out, so rather than working out to be in shape you decide its better to just be fat and lazy.
One thing that had inspired mankind for a very long time (and still does) I'd the idea of building a better future for your children. Regardless of if you plan to have kids or not, the motivation to build a better future for yourself should be enough drive to keep you going. The issue is when you reach a point where you say "this is good enough, why should I bother improving". Not that maintenance of that level is bad, simply that it leads to a downward slope over time.
throwabcdaway4 5y ago
It you are happy it doesnt matter so much tho
SoggyBeefNoodle 5y ago
Pretty much every coach I've ever worked with has said that the most important days in the Gym, are the days you didn't want to be there.
The days where you wanted to slack off and go seek some comfort elsewhere, but stuck to it and put in the effort when it mattered.
rp_nc 5y ago
I agree. What would be your advice to fight complacency and get a new drive to do better?
These are 2 different journeys: 1 where you want the destination (my example), another where you don't want the destination (complacency, your example). If there is no goal, discipline won't help you get anywhere.
tyrannosaurus_fl3x 5y ago
I think it's important to balance complacency and motivation. Complacency is actually a great thing because it's really just finding happiness at where you are in life. The issue is when you set the bar for complacency too low. If you work out get in shape, get financially where you want to be, get where you want to be with women, there is nothing wrong with some complacency. You should be satisfied along the way. The issue is when complacency stops you from improving in life. Also worth mentioning that complacency is essentially saying you reached your goal so far, but you choose where the end goal is.
Fighting complacency and drive is where motivation comes in. One thing is simply you getting sick of where you are. There are things you can do to essentially trick your mind into complacency. One example is porn and masturbation. You're essentially fooling you body into thinking it's at a higher level in life than it really is. You're flooding your brain with dopamine. You numb your brain to it all and at a primal level tricking you body into not driving you forward. In the past if you wanted to see tits you had to go interact with females and work to see them, but now on the internet you have limitless ability to do so. You'd have to actually fuck to get off and wouldn't just have a huge selection of degenerate porn to satisfy the rush. You desensitize yourself to it and eliminate a natural drive of the body. If you cut out porn and even avoid things like looking at softcore stuff like Instagram, if your body really wants to see it, it'll have to earn it in real life. If you aren't capable of earning it you need to work towards becoming a man who can get it for real. Now im not one to say an absolute like porn is always bad for you and whatever, but I am definitely saying that the overindulgence that people currently have interferes with and upsets the balance of natural functions of the human that's developed for an extremely long time.
Sorry for the long comment, but I'd guess I'd sum it up as this : We have reached the point where we can artificially achieve complacency without earning it which leads us to underachieve. If you want to find motivation cut out the artificial satisfaction and look for real satisfaction.
assa_ssin 5y ago
I agree discipline is more important than motivation but only in the beginning.
Motivation is needed for keeping up and to excel. To excel even simple motivation isn't enough - you need to be obsessed!!
In order to be motivated you need to choose a goal that is countable.
Money is something countable, muscle mass, number of pussies, number of books are also countable so it is easy to set clear countable goals, and keep track and be motivated during the process.
red__Man 5y ago
motivation is like preworkout or caffeine, it works but sooner or later you ll get tolerant to it.
majcisen 5y ago
By that time you can hope that it turns into passion.
LotBuilder 5y ago
Motivation is way overrated, Habits are way underrated. Habits are what allows discipline to stay on track. They create a code of what you absolutely do and don’t do. “I work out at 7am 5 days a week. I absolutely never eat fried foods. I absolutely never drink soda. I do not go home from work unless I have made 10 new contacts a day.” Whatever your codes are. Those codes and habits are how you can maintain long term discipline after motivation fades. Success is boring and repetitive. It’s time on task over time doing the right things.
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xcxcxcxcxcxcxxcxcx 5y ago
If you’re just starting out, make a list on your phone of times in your life that you were embarrassed, slighted, disrespected, etc. It might seem petty but that pent up anger is a really cheap source of motivation that can help you bang out those last few reps or miles
BadMoles 5y ago
To add a little nuance to the conversation, I would argue that people mix up motivation and inspiration.
When you see a fit, muscly guy and that makes you sign up to the gym you are not *motivated* to go to the gym - you are *inspired*. Inspiration is the kick start that many people get for various things in their life - artists for example often talk of being inspired something to start a painting they've been struggling to start with for a while.
When you have the discipline to train regularly, you see the benefits in the mirror, you feel the benefits in the burn, the endorphins and the increased strength you can utilise and this *motivates* you to train consistently. Those times when you've craved a workout? That's motivation rather than inspiration (possibly endorphin driven motivation).
That's my thoughts anyway, you're free to disagree. :)
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WangHotmanFire 5y ago
The way I see it, discipline is the seed of motivation when it comes to self-betterment. This is because discipline builds habits, and those habits are vitally important to staying motivated to do something
BadBoyOnizuka 5y ago
Any tips for becoming more disciplined? I feel like if I just developed my discipline, I'd be able to do anything in life. Sadly it wasn't cultivated early on, so I need to do it for myself.
myfirsttimecoding 5y ago
Motivation is fantastic but often downgraded online because 'discipline' is better. You will never be disciplined if you never had motivation in the first place. Rereading top TRP posts that I once read years ago always fuels something inside of me even though I have discipline. It's always nice to have and an utmost requirement for beginners.