Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be talking about motivation alone VS discipline. If you have any questions about today’s blog then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188

Really, if you want to get anything done there are two basic ways to get yourself to do that. The first option is to try and motivate yourself, and the second is self discipline. And i know that self discipline is extremely unpopular, but like it or not, it’s the right way to go.

So generally speaking, motivation operates on the assumption that a particular mental or emotional state is necessary in order to complete the task. This may or may not be true at times. It’s just saying that you have to feel like doing it.

Discipline by contrast, separates the outward functioning from your moods and feelings. So in other words, we don’t run emotion, even though as human nature goes that’s what we mostly tend to do. Instead what we want to do is find the discipline within ourselves to do things whether we want to or not.

So for example, if you wanted to be an olympic lifter, you wouldn’t wait until you were an olympic level to start training, you would start training early on and move forward from there. You would work and train to get to that. Whereas if you put some action on the condition of your feelings, then the task doesn’t get done.

We’ve all had the situation happen to us where we wake up in the morning and say, I’m going to get this workout in today because I know I need it…, but then we go throughout our day and by the time we’re ready to workout we just don’t feel like it. So then we go home and hang out and eat comfort food, or watch TV, or just do something that isn’t as beneficial as what that workout would have been. Just not doing it isn’t going to work for anyone.

So if we just set aside the point of our goals and have in mind that these are the goals that we want to reach, then how do we get there without the discipline that we need?

Well we really don’t, and that’s where people feel like they’re running short on accountability or ideas and they feel like they need more and more of these things in order to make this happen.

Well the thing that they need in order to make it happen, and maybe you need it too, is that self discipline. Knowing you wake up, go to work, and whenever you get off work you go to workout. And you have to build new habits into that discipline so that you have exactly what you need at the right time.

So think of it like with the training standpoint from our side. As a personal trainer in Amarillo, there’s even days that I don’t want to do it, but I know that I have to and I know the consequences if I don’t. I want to be working towards my goals instead of working away from them.

So the right question to ask is;  how do you make your feelings irrelevant and do the the things that you consciously need to do without complaining about it?    
It’s honestly in practice. You have to continually practice, schedule things into your day, and make sure that you really build it into your lifestyle. In building that into your lifestyle, that means really making these things a priority for yourself. That way you end up getting those things done more often than not.

The more you practice that, the more likely you are to keep at it and keep succeeding. As you keep going with that, you find that it’s just another part of your day, and if you don’t do it you might miss it. Maybe you don’t miss the workout side of it, or you don’t miss the food prep side of it, but if you don’t do it then you’re missing some aspect of your day and you can feel that.

So motivation alone is really just trying to feel like doing stuff, whereas discipline is doing it whether you want to or not. So you have to find a way to make that switch in mindset.

How you get it is really, like I said, building habits. Starting small, building it up, marking your it in calendar, and gathering momentum over time as you practice and practice and continue to do it.

So if you consider the old saying of the grass being greener on the other side, that’s where a lot of the time motivation over discipline takes us. It’s a mindset of, Oh I don’t want to do this, so maybe this cool new thing would make it easier… Things like a new supplement, a new exercise video, anything that you think would make things easier. The problem is that the grass is only greener where you water it. And you only water the grass when you’re disciplined enough to do so.

So take some time to really put the effort into what you’re doing now.

If you have a plan now, that’s great! Keep going with it. Not everybody needs everything, but some people do need some more than others. So really take the time to focus and put the attention on what you want to get to, what your goals are, and then make sure that you have a plan of action that will get you to those results.

If you need that extra push, then we here at Custom Fitness actually work as a team for each client to customize a nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle modification plan. We go through a detailed consultation process to make sure that you’re getting everything that you need physically to achieve your goal.

So if that sounds like what you’re looking for, then give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.