Have you ever thought that you need motivation to do a task and that people who achieve things it’s because they have a lot of motivation?
This can’t be far from the real truth about action and motivation.
First, let me tell you my story.
What is the myth of motivation?
I always thought that motivation is the force that leads to action.
I would think about doing something and I would do it if I had the motivation to do it.
It would look like this:
The problem was that I would not have the “motivation” to do the things I wanted a lot of the time, so I ended up not doing them.
After reading multiple productivity books, articles, and courses, it was obvious that I had a wrong idea of what leads to action, and what motivation is.
It changed me forever.
How motivation really works.
We think that motivation leads to action, but in reality, it’s action that leads to motivation.
If we were doing only things when we felt like doing them, it’s common sense that would result in a lot of problems in our lives.
It’s action that leads to little victories and those lead to motivation. You have to start with action and the motivation will follow, not in reverse.
So if we go back to our graphic above, it would look this:
Some people will call it discipline.
It’s the ability that we all have to do things besides not feeling like it.
And often when we start doing the thing and after little wins, we will find motivation.
“You feel motivated because you took action. Motivation is a result, not a precondition. You don’t need motivation to break a sweat. Break a sweat and you’ll feel motivated.”
Discipline is freedom
When you hear discipline you might think of prison, being trapped in routines, and less freedom.
It’s quite the opposite of that.
Doing what you want and only when you feel like doing it, spending all day watching Netflix and eating junk food, that looks more like prison for me. Prison of our own feelings, and absence of control over ourselves and our lives.
Being able to do what we really want to, and do it beside if we feel like it or not, and have systems to get there, it’s the real freedom. I can guarantee you that.
Conclusion
A quick review.
We discussed how we think motivation leads to action but in reality, it’s the opposite and we also talked about how having discipline is having more freedom over ourselves and our lives.
Thank you so much for reading along with me, and hopefully you got something of value here, have a great rest of your day! 🙂
Leave a comment below on your toughs and what you plan to change!
