Inspiration vs Discipline: why motivation lies and pain feels better after all

So… I haven‘t written in a while. The reason being? I was very very busy. Very!

You do believe me, right? Right….?

No..? Fine! No need to give me those skeptical eyes with raised eyebrows… I‘ll admit everything. Yes, I‘ve done a couple of interesting things in the meantime, but as for the rest of it - was just not focusing my attention where it needed to be.

Therefore today I want to talk about something I have been struggling with for a while. I could pretend that this article is dedicated to you guys only, but that's not the case. I dedicate this article to myself more than anyone else. The reason being, I quite often fall into the Inspiration trap, instead of doing what‘s planned. If you want proof of this occurrence in my life, look at the last time I published an article…Wait, I‘ll make it easy for you. It was the 9th of April (glances down shamefully). So just to make sure I get out of these old habits, I‘m writing this article so I could remind myself of the truth, putting it right in front of my eyes so I wouldn't be able to get away. But I would be glad if you join me in my reflections after all as I‘m sure you‘ve done it plenty of times in your life as well.

So today's debate is as old as time: Inspiration vs. Discipline. We all know the feeling when after watching some videos or seeing some exciting stuff happening we come up with this master plan in our heads of getting up tomorrow and start working on things we like. Now the clock is showing at about 11 pm, you don‘t have to rush anywhere and you are full of positive energy so it seems easy.

The reality is though, you wake up in the morning and it‘s all gone. The idea of yesterday‘s masterplan is still there, but maybe you went to sleep late or had too much pizza and you don‘t feel particularly energetic or in the best mood. The positive bubble of energy has depleted. Significantly. Therefore starting the thing you planned yesterday now equals the effort to running five marathons. In a row. And probably a weight training session afterwards. So, being clever, you convince yourself that after some breakfast and doing some other usual daily activities you will wake up fully, feel better, and start working on your plan with the same energy that you went to sleep yesterday with.

Now the fact is, you most likely forgot to include other factors in the calculation. For example crazy drivers on your way to visit a friend who makes you angry. The energy you use to think about all the things you should be doing at the back of your head. Or just the fact that all of these activities take effort and physical energy after all, and that it definitely doesn‘t leave you with a new tank of spare energy to work on your plan. So in the afternoon, you come to a decision to postpone it until the times get better and watch some more videos to“do some more research“ and make sure you don‘t forget about your plan.

Now as you probably realize, motivation is a very unreliable source if you want to get anything done. If you just rely on motivation, you need to wait for sunny days or a positive mood so you can work on your projects. And the fact is, as much as it might be difficult to face, your brain lies to you. And not because it is just an evil apparatus trying to take over the world, but because it's just a computer absorbing information and carrying out orders, just because you trained it that way. So it just does what it thinks is best for current circumstances. So it lies to you that currently you don't have all resources necessary to take action and you should just procrastinate a bit to summon some energy.

And that‘s why we ladies and gentlemen need discipline. A will to carry out our plans after the good feeling of inspiration is gone. After you come home from work tired and all you want to do is sleep. After you don't feel good either about yourself or the world, but you still do the right thing. Because you know there was a pretty important reason behind why you wanted it in the first place, and even if you don‘t feel like it, it will make you feel good in the long run.

Now the word discipline does have negative quite a few connotations attached to it. Whether it would be an image of your parents forcing you to do homework in school years or something that only soldiers in the army do when they follow all given instructions. And the word itself sounds pretty cold. We know that discipline will put us in an uncomfortable position and we will need to go against our feelings sometimes. And as known author John C. Maxwell confirms „Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.”

Now we as human beings are designed to avoid pain for survival reasons. Because pain = harm. Majority of the time. I‘m sure you agree if you had any physical trauma or had your heart broken over things that mattered to you a lot. It is never fun, it doesn‘t make us feel good, and sometimes even stops us from trying things once again as we are afraid of the same scenario happening again. So we are just avoiding pain as much as we can as we try to protect ourselves and our wellbeing the best we can. Seems pretty logical, right? However, it‘s not always as one-sided as it looks.

Believe it or not, the pain actually helps us the majority of the time. It teaches us a lesson. About ourselves, about the world, the thoughts and beliefs we hold. It makes us stronger as we evaluate the situations we are in and learn how to deal with them. Or at least we are pointed out our weaknesses so we can work on them bit by bit. And over time, it just makes us better-rounded individuals who just use evolution as a tool to grow. Because that‘s why we are here after all, right?

So looking from that perspective, discipline is not as bad as it looks or sounds. Yes, you will be willingly putting yourself in uncomfortable positions. You will be thinking about more enjoyable things you could be doing instead of working out at 4 pm. But guess what?

Over time, even if you are taking tiny steps toward the direction of your goals, you will end up there sooner or later. And at that moment when you‘re enjoying the lifestyle that you created, that temporary pain will be worth it. Because the time will pass anyway, whether you do things you want, or whether you find excuses not to do them. However, in a few years when you look back, I‘m sure you will enjoy being in a more favorable position rather than regretting you haven't started or quit down the line. And you know what the best thing is? Discipline is going to become your favorite thing. You will learn to love the pain, the grind, and all negative emotions it's causing you. And you know why? Because you‘ll be smirking knowing better things, much better things are waiting for you just around the corner. Just as long as you keep moving forward and keep walking your path. There is really not much else to do, is there?