The Secret To A Motivated and Disciplined Mind

One of the things that I use to struggle with in life at an early age was finding the blend between staying "motivated and disciplined". If you’ve ever had a hard time getting or staying disciplined, you may have been struggling with a lack of motivation.

 Motivation and discipline usually go hand-in-hand because without motivation, it is nearly impossible to become disciplined.  Ironically, once you become disciplined you rarely need to be motivated to keep your life running smoothly and living with passion.

Discipline is a willingness and commitment to do what needs to be done.  What one needs to remember is that without discipline, our lives would become an unmanageable mess.  Think about the things you do on a daily or weekly basis that are required in order to maintain your life properly. 

Housework, laundry, grocery shopping, fueling and maintaining your vehicle, working, bathing, paying bills, balancing the checkbook, sleeping, and more are all required activities.  Without them, what would your life look like?

Somewhere and somehow you made this tasks habit.  If you already have a strong sense of discipline, you likely do these things without much thought.  You know they must be done, so you just do them.  On the other hand, if you lack discipline, you may find yourself procrastinating and putting your duties aside that can create a massive mess if it’s done often enough.

Discipline is also required when you are working toward a goal.  This is pretty obvious, if you don’t complete the steps that will create the outcome you desire; you will not meet your goal.  When you first set your goals, you may have strong motivation which can help you gain some valuable momentum. 

Yet there are many people that feel that if they just set their goals, the universe will provide them with what they want. That is only the half of it. The universe will provide you with the solutions on how you can obtain what you want, but YOU must be willing to take the daily action steps that will bring you towards your goal. YOU must be willing to implement the steps that are required to reach your objective.

However, ingrained habits and an undisciplined mind may eventually prevent you from establishing continuity; and without some kind of inner or outer motivation you are unlikely to develop the discipline you need. As complicated as this may seem, believe me, just by making some subtle changes in your life you can create monumental differences in your life.

In order to escape this stagnant cycle and develop a strong sense of self-discipline, you absolutely must get and stay motivated!  How can you do this?  There are several ways, but here are few to begin with:

Focus on the benefits.  With every task or chore you do, spend a few moments emphasizing the benefit you will receive from doing it.  In order to get and stay motivated, it is crucial to have some sort of payoff in mind.  Even if your payoff will come at a future time, remind yourself why this task or chore is a good thing.

See the big picture.  Remember that this task is only one part of a larger puzzle.  It’s hard to get inspired about scrubbing a toilet, until you envision your entire home clean and shining.  By looking at the big picture, each little task will retain a measure of importance in your own mind.

Do it for the discipline.  In order to develop strong discipline, you’ll need to keep strengthening your “discipline muscle” bit by bit, your subconscious mind is a powerful tool and you will need to combat past bad habits that have kept you from growing to the level that you deserve.

The only way to do this is by pushing yourself to do the things you have to do!  As you complete each task related to your goal (or even your household chores) keep affirming that you are developing stronger and stronger discipline with each day that passes. 

Eventually you’ll find yourself easily doing what needs to be done and it won’t be a struggle anymore – because you’ll already be disciplined! Unfortunately there is no magic blue pill to solve this for you. The answer is staring at you every time that you look into the mirror and with every pulse of your heart.

Ashley Bolivar