The Act of Discipline

I have heard my whole life to follow my passion and to stay motivated. But what about those times when it feels like a passion has faded and motivation is gone. That is what many people struggle with these days. The balance of finding the passion to pursue and the motivation to do so. Now by no means am I an expert but this is an observation I have made in my life. When motivation and passion are not present that only leaves space for discipline. 

The google definition of discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.” I do not think this fits what discipline really is. My definition of discipline sounds like this: “The act of still following through with a goal or job when it gets hard and there is no motivation.” The reason that discipline is difficult for almost everyone is because they see it as punishment. When Michael Phelps trained 1825 days in a row while not taking a single day off, I bet he did not see that as punishment. He saw it as a way to success. When we take a look into our own lives we can see that the things we are truly proud of accomplishing were not done by accident or by 30 minutes of motivation but were done by discipline. 

Obviously myself and more than likely all those reading this are not professional athletes. But all of us should have goals (If you do not, that is where I would start). By using goals it helps us to be able to take actionable steps towards improving ourselves. Whether that be relationally, in our job, or in your own fitness journey. For me the majority of my goals fall in the last category. Having discipline when achieving my fitness goals has given me much more than simply more athleticism or strength.