For the longest time I believed that if only I could get motivated enough, everything else would fall into place. But let's face it, what happens when you are waiting? Waiting for that motivational feeling to arrive before acting on anything for the day? Sometimes, days go by without that feeling and what are you going to do when that's the case?
A perfect example of this is going to the gym and I've started my personal routine workout. I wish I could do it at home because I'm the type that doesn't like to show people the process, just the finished work for them to be impressed and ask how.
So when you have a workout routine, and you wake up in the morning and your body says no, you listen to your body and don’t go. You will listen to that voice every single time you hear it, because it’s there, waiting for you to just think of starting.
What happened to me was that one day I realized that when I didn’t listen to my feeling and went to the gym anyway, I felt better afterwards. But those days that I listened to my feeling and stayed at the house, I felt worse afterwards. I felt worse not only physically, but I also felt worse mentally. Like I’d lost something small but very important. I felt like I've let myself down.
Discipline may look boring in practice and to discuss because of its negative connotation as some form of punishment. But know that discipline is far from being a punishment, it’s more like you make an agreement with your future self, to keep your word. While you keep your word to yourself, you build trust in yourself. It is not easy, but this is a significant and necessary thing to do.
Feelings will always tell you to wait until tomorrow or until you have a better day. But tomorrow, they will be telling you the exact same thing. So there will be no today. That's why you should depend on discipline not the feeling of motivation.