Achieving what you set out to achieve is arguably the most satisfying, and perhaps most uniquely human of experiences. It involves both the emotional and rational faculties, often fighting against each other. The analysis of this all to human struggle has occupied the minds of many a philosopher and truth seeker. To seek such personal truth requires precise thinking. Precise thinking requires precise language.
Motivation, discipline and purpose are all related to taking action toward a goal. Sometimes, these words can become confused. When we confuse language, we confuse our thoughts. Creating an explicit difference between words allows you to see form where there was once only murk, and in this case, catalyse action toward your goals.
Motivation vs Discipline
The distinction between these two fuels of action recently became unclear to me. I could sense there was an intuitive difference, but couldn’t land on exactly what it was.
I’d like to think I’m a disciplined person. Military people are disciplined. Military people are badass. I want to be a badass, so I want to be disciplined.
Most of the time the difference between discipline and motivation is clear, but the case was blurred by the fact that if one is motivated to be disciplined, is there a real difference besides the word used? Or at least it seems like they overlap more than what may be intuited before such an example. Could a supremely motivated person just seem disciplined?
But am I demonstrating self-discipline if I am motivated to be disciplined? I know of the benefits of being a disciplined person. And so maybe I just will be. After all, just doing it, is the key to discipline, right?
The difference between motivation and discipline is in that phrase there. “Just will be”. We often paraphrase it, but the sentiment is the same. For example, when most people start a new habit, they think they should start exercising and decide they just will. They buy the gym membership on January 2 and are raring to go. But that is not discipline. Even if in that moment, you really want to be disciplined. Discipline is not a state of mind, like motivation. It’s a habit.
The blurring between motivation and discipline above occurs because of the way we use the words “discipline” and “motivation” vernacularly. Most of us don’t think hard about the difference, because there is already an intuitive difference. That intuitive difference is reified by the last two sentences of the previous paragraph. We say one “is motivated” and we also use the same for discipline, “is disciplined”. This makes them seem of the same semantical category.
The difference becomes clear when we use “discipline” more precisely. That is, the shorthand “Is disciplined” can be explicitly expanded to “has demonstrated consistent action towards something for a long period of time.”
Now the confusion is obvious. “Is” connotes the present moment, making the phrasing of “is disciplined” and “is motivated” seem more similar than they are, because the duration of time is not capture by the “is” used in “is disciplined.”
So, perhaps I can construct a sentence like “I am motivated to be a disciplined person”. But what this really means is that I may experience a high in my mood which will cause me to take some action towards a goal for the foreseeable future. The foreseeable future being however long the motivation lasts. This is simply being motivated. It is not being disciplined.
You can be motivated to be disciplined. But actually being disciplined requires long, directed action, perhaps even in the absence of any motivation. Only after elapsed time can we establish discipline.
Motivation vs Purpose
Can there be discipline in the absence of motivation? Why would anyone bother with such an activity?
Purpose.
Elon Musk is an insanely hard worker. Would you say he is motivated? Or that he has purpose?
Purpose is what will drive your discipline. When you have sufficient purpose, it then makes sense to become disciplined.
Purpose is the reason for doing something. Reason. It is not emotive. It is rational. You have decided. You, the charioteer of your life.
With purpose you don’t need to want to go for a run. You just know, on a rational level, that going for a run is good for you.
Purpose implies long-term thinking. Motivation is ephemeral. If you are not motivated but you’re disciplined, and you’re disciplined (usually) by a long term purpose, then you will succeed more often than if you relied on motivation alone. Or, taking the Stoic perspective, you will succeed, because it is establishing the process that is virtuous. That is the will to improve, and not the improvement itself, is more important. The improvement is merely a preferred indifferent.
Motivation can never precede purpose. But purpose often precedes motivation. A strong purpose is larger than oneself. Thus, even when motivation is lacking, with sufficiently trained discipline, you can keep moving towards your goals.
Find your purpose. Be disciplined. Achieve what you can achieve.
