This article was developed via a partnership with BetterHelp.
So you are committed to getting in shape. That’s a great first step! You know you are not satisfied with the way your body feels. You want to be healthier, maintain a healthy weight, and feel stronger. You might also want to improve your stamina or endurance when doing physical activities, or increase your chances of living a longer life with less disease.
Whatever your reason is for getting in shape, you might be focusing heavily on the motivation aspect of getting fit. That’s what the standard fitness industry narrative sells to us, right? If we can just find that perfect playlist, or personal trainer, or attractive workout clothes, we’ll feel motivated enough to change our lives. It sounds a lot sexier than the reality: discipline drives the majority of real, long-lasting transformation.
Yes, there is a major difference between motivation and discipline. Let’s dive into what sets them apart, why you should prioritize one over the other, and why discipline and motivation together can help you get, and stay in shape.
Discipline Vs Motivation: How Are They Different?
The difference between motivation and discipline is similar to happiness versus contentment. Happiness is a fleeting feeling of joy, a quick fix of good feelings. External things tend to give us happiness, like a fun day at the park, or a brand-new car, or a tasty meal with friends.
But contentment is a more internally driven experience. It’s a long-term steady state of peace that can withstand the ups and downs of life. It’s a system to fall back on. In this analogy, motivation is happiness, and discipline is contentment. Let’s define them further.
- Discipline: Self-discipline is training yourself in ways of self-control, strictness, or habits that you will follow through with, no matter what your environment or circumstances dictate. It’s the underlying system of habits that guides your actions throughout the day, and helps you achieve goals regardless of how motivated you might be feeling in the moment.
- Motivation: Motivation is the incentive that comes from an external stimulus. This external incentive becomes your reason for a particular behavior or action. For example, an inspirational video on social media might be your motivation for going to work out in the morning. To learn more about motivation, click here to check out some awesome articles from BetterHelp.
Another way to put it is this: discipline is a choice. It reflects your values and the kind of person you want to be. It is like an unwavering foundation that you can fall back on, no matter the twists and turns of life.
Motivation, on the other hand, comes and goes. It is a fleeting state of energy and excitement that drives you to accomplish something. It is indicative of external things. It is certainly useful, and works together with discipline in amazing ways!
Why Discipline Is Better Than Motivation
Now that we’ve defined discipline and motivation, let’s dive into why discipline might be more useful than motivation when getting and staying in shape.
Motivation Comes and Goes
Motivation is defined as an external stimulus that becomes our reason for doing the things we do or the choices we make. Motivation is like the trigger that kicks us into gear. Imagine how a flower in spring only begins to sprout after a fresh rainfall. Motivation can be the rainfall that initiates our growth, but it won’t always be raining. Thus, feeling motivated is a fleeting thing.
We may wake up in the morning and feel motivated to exercise, or we may feel totally unmotivated. We shouldn’t let it be the deciding factor whether we do something or not, simply because it is a fickle and unreliable thing. And we don’t want to leave our progress up to chance.
Discipline Creates Daily Habits That Will Move You Forward
Discipline is the process of training yourself to commit to certain habits that, in the long-term, get you to where you want to go. Building these daily habits is less about feeling inspired or energized. It’s more about understanding what you value in life and what you’re willing to do to live out those values.
Do you want to get in shape? The only way you’ll get there is if you decide that you want to be the kind of person that’s healthy, fit, and active. If you just want to do it to look good for Instagram or impress someone on a date, it will never stick. Commit to becoming a healthy, fit person. Make that one of your core values. Then the discipline to get there will come more easily.
Here are some examples of daily habits you can discipline yourself to practice every single day, regardless of whether or not you feel motivated to do so:
- Go to the bed and wake up at roughly the same time every morning and night. This way your body settles into a rhythm, feels well-rested, and lethargy doesn’t take hold of you when you’re trying to be active or productive.
- Put on your workout clothes first thing in the morning. This puts you in a new frame of mind, and gets you one step closer to moving your body. Don’t linger in your sweats if you can help it!
- Schedule out a time block every day for exercising. Taking the decisions and “flexibility” of when you exercise out of the equation will help you stick to a routine.
- Commit to only eating takeout on Friday nights. A healthy diet is a key component to getting in shape. What are your eating habits like? How can you begin to incorporate better daily eating habits?