You’re ready to begin! You’re excited! You’ve joined 30 Minute Hit! You’ve got your boxing gloves! You’ve promised yourself you’re going to stick with it! You are motivated!
Cut to three weeks later…
You haven’t begun. You’re discouraged. Your new, unused, boxing gloves sit in the corner gathering dust. You’ve let yourself down. You think to yourself, “why does this always happen? I was so motivated to do this!” Don’t be too hard on yourself! That motivation that led to all those great choices is essential to your mental well-being. Without it, we can spiral all the way down to a lack of purpose and even depression. So just the exercise of taking those first steps while you’re feeling excited to do so is a win! However, while deciding to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself is an essential first step, good intentions simply aren’t enough. If motivation were all it took to succeed, we would find this road to wellness much less tumultuous. That feeling of motivation is so exciting! It’s like a whole new beginning, and it feels energizing, and hopeful! Without discipline, however, it is nearly impossible to sustain.
So what are the differences between motivation and discipline? And how can we use one to fuel the other?
While motivation is defined as the general desire or willingness of someone to do something, discipline can be defined as training oneself to do something in a habitual way. To simplify; motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going.
Discipline really comes down to just doing something, even when you don’t feel like doing it. The beauty is that once you have created those healthy habits through discipline, a time will come when it won’t take nearly as much discipline to stay the course. Your new lifestyle itself will keep you motivated!
Motivation gets you started, discipline creates habits, habits keep you motivated – what a wonderful cycle! At 30 Minute Hit, we understand that while all of the above is true, maintaining all three of these things is not always easy. We all fall off the proverbial wagon from time to time, and that’s ok! Sometimes discipline means breaking a habit temporarily to acknowledge other needs in your life, body or mind. The key is to not stay off the wagon (or the mats)! Your Hit trainers are not immune to this by the way. We are all forced to prioritize different things at different times. That’s why it’s so nice to know that wherever you’ve been, your trainer has been there too, and is ready to meet you back on those mats to help regenerate that motivation, and to help hold you accountable to your goals.
Every day offers opportunity! Seize those feelings of motivation, talk yourself into sticking it out – even when Netflix is calling – and then reap the rewards of the choices that your discipline has helped you achieve. So whether you started slow, started strong, or haven’t started yet, the key word is, “start”.
Just begin, or, begin again. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, only where you are right now.
Motivation vs. Discipline
