The Myth of Motivation

The original transcript of the dialogue between Me (M) and the Experienced One (E)

M:

Now, this sounds really bizarre. How can staying motivated be a myth?

E:

The endeavor to stay motivated every waking day of your life is nothing but just a myth.

It simply means that you cannot stay motivated every day!

We are totally misguided by all those motivational videos and talks that somehow find its way in our Facebook feed.

And as a result, we often make the mistake of entertaining this romantic thought that we are capable of achieving anything in our life if we can just somehow keep ourselves motivated enough.

M:

You mean to say that motivation means nothing at all.
Oh come on…you got to be kidding!

Ask any of the married men and you are sure to find that they need their daily dose of motivation to retain their sanity in the relationship.

E:

No. I never said that motivation doesn’t mean anything.

I said Motivation alone will not help you achieve success.

And Motivation should never be equated with Success.

It’s definitely not the only necessary and sufficient condition for Success.

M:

So, is it possible to achieve success even if I am not motivated at all times?

E:

Yes, of course.

M:

Now, this piece of information is definitely for my wife, because she keeps blaming me for my general lack of motivation.

But, if not motivation then how do we get to success?

E:

By inculcating the infallible habit of discipline.

M:

So where does the motivation fits in this whole scheme of things?

E:

Motivation at best can give you the much-needed kick start on your journey towards your goal.

However, its role in your long-term success is debatable.

Motivation needs fuel, and that fuel is your habit of discipline. And this habit is simply built by your continuous and relentless efforts.

We all have days when we’d rather curl up in bed under our warm blanket. But by developing solid routines of discipline and surrounding ourselves with strong support systems, you’ll be able to jump out of bed and into your running shoes – even when hitting the snooze button seems the easiest default reaction.

M:

And what’s the difference between the Discipline and the motivation?

E:

Discipline is action oriented. Here the emphasis is on doing things.

Whereas motivation makes you feel good. Motivation is just an emotional state of mind where you feel good about yourself.

It does not do anything. It simply makes you feel great.

But even after feeling great, in most likelihood, you would still find yourself staring at the starting point of your journey.

M:

Ok…then what’s the magic behind the habit of discipline?

How do we get it?

E:

There is simply no magic in it. It’s plain and simple old-fashioned hard grind.

And one more thing, you don’t get this as a gift. You simply earn it through your infallible dedication.

M:

What do you mean? There must be some hack? Like thousands of them available on the internet.

E:

Discipline is a skill that keeps you ticking each day of your life. It’s a consistent but definite crawl towards your goal irrespective of your state of mind.

It is a habit which you cannot break if you ever wish to succeed.

After some time you no longer care if you’re motivated or not. As long as you are disciplined in your endeavor, your faith in your own ability would get strengthened with each passing day.

M:

So, you mean to say that without Discipline nothing would ever work?

E:

There you are: right on the button.

Let me Share my story with you. There was this phase in my life where I was super crazy about learning the art of staying motivated every day.

I finally decided that I shall write down one inspirational quote a day. Besides, I made it a habit to watch an inspirational video each day.

Trust me! There must be more than 1000+ motivational videos on YouTube.
And I was super-thrilled about this idea.

But guess what…After one full month, except for the fact I had one notebook filled up with all these inspiring thoughts, I could not see much progress.

Therefore I decided to learn more about Successful people.
Their habits and Routines. Their drive to Success.

M:

So what did you find?

E:

The greatest take away from each Successful Person:

Discipline!

Rules for Being Successful:

Do not wait for that Motivational drive. It will never come. Even if it comes, it would never stay strong for long.

So, Gear up and work hard towards your goal irrespective of your motivational level.

Have a Plan. Make short and long-term Goals and work towards it.
Try to keep up with your daily deadlines. Deadlines force you to complete the task at hand. Just stay focused on being disciplined in your daily tasks.

Being disciplined on a daily basis converts into long-term Success. Discipline is one of the essential habits that should be developed by one and all.

It is just a matter of keep practicing something over and over again.

M:

And how does practice helps?

E:

Practice turns learned techniques into intuitive responses.

For most of us, the incredible speed and agility of a martial arts master seem thoroughly unattainable.

But is it really?

These masters have simply trained so much that they have reached the point of fighting intuitively. You too can get this good at any skill.

As the cliché goes, practice makes a person perfect.

Any technical information, from patterns to strategies to techniques, can feel like natural, instinctual intelligence if you practice and apply them enough.

A superior martial artist can use his extra focus to look for the subtlest weaknesses in his opponent’s position, or even monitor their blinking in order to attack at just the right second.

Yes, these are things that the human mind really is capable of!

M:

All of these sound pretty superhuman to me.

E:

Let me share with you the workout routine of the legendary Michael Phelps:

In peak training phases, Phelps swims minimum 80,000 meters a week, which is nearly 50 miles. He practices twice a day, sometimes more if he’s training at altitude. Phelps trains for around five to six hours a day/ six days a week. To give himself some additional entertainment in the water, Phelps listens to music during his long workouts with waterproof headphones. Swimming in the water, especially that long, can be pretty boring. Listening to music can provide that extra spark to your workout. There was a point he trained every day for 365 days a year for 5 years.

Phelps does long swim to improve his endurance. However, he does other drills to improve his swimming speed and form. He does a lot of vertical kicking and underwater kicking. To maintain his feel for the water, Phelps does sculling, which is a stroke in which you move your arms back and forth in small figure eights. Phelps uses numerous training gears in the water, such as kick-boards, pull buoys, training paddles, and snorkels. These types of training equipment can put more emphasis on your legs, upper body, and abs in the pool, in addition to providing a great way for injury rehabilitation.

M:

Wow… this is how Discipline can make someone superhuman.

E:

Golden Rule:

Motivation is just the first plunge you take to do something in life, but the fuel to move along the path of your journey is Discipline!

So stop seeking Motivation.

And stick to your habit of discipline!

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Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear them!?

Have an amazing weekend!