H2O Magazine

Combined strength of motivation and discipline

Interestingly, discipline and motivation are two faces of a coin. They coexist and when combined becomes a formidable success formula. In other words, if a person lacks self discipline, he cannot simply use motivation to succeed. Though possible to practice discipline without motivation, self discipline alone cannot ensure progress. Only when both self discipline and self motivation combined, they gain lot of power. Moreover, if a person is both self disciplined and self motivated, he becomes a formidable force to reckon with. No failure or discouragement can stop a self motivated and self disciplined individual. He is just unstoppable.

How self discipline and self motivation guides one’s life

A simple example illustrates the case in point. A person decides to quit smoking. She needs a very strong motivation, indeed. However, a motivation itself cannot help the person to stop smoking. If and only if the person is highly disciplined in the case quitting smoking, she can succeed with a good mixture of motivation.The same rule applies to weight loss too.

Perhaps, people derive motivation from external sources, while discipline is more of internal attribute. Nonetheless, discipline instilled with fear or coercion, for example, is only temporary. The person must develop his discipline internally and use motivation to become progressive and successful.