Unquestionable Rule for Life #3
Motivation Fades
Motivation is the willingness to get up and do something. To start, to finish, to be actively participating in something. Then comes the day it is too cold, too wet, too hot, too dry, or whatever it happens to be that will stop us in our tracks. Then motivation is gone.
The mission fails to be accomplished. It happens; it happens to all of us. No one is immune. NO ONE!
Do not kid yourself and especially do not try to kid me with your “oh no not me” or “I never give up” and all that nonsense. Once the motivation fades away there is little to nothing any one can do to bring it back. Back to the level that it was when you started.
Why is that? Simple. You lack discipline.
Again, do not for one second kid yourself. It happens to everyone. No one is perfect. Yes, it happens to soldiers, the most disciplined of soldier have at one point lacked discipline.
However, by recognizing that discipline is what will get the job. It is through the vehicle that is discipline that success arrives just in the nick of time. Discipline is that “extra” that makes things happen, for the better. Lacking discipline makes things happen for the worse.
Sure, there are those few individuals that are motivated enough to accomplish but to what end and for how long? Usually, individuals that appear to be highly motivated will peak and the fade of into obscurity. Think back in high school, remember that “star quarterback” where is he now? Yep, their football career peaked in high school. Seriously, with approximately 64 – 96 professional NFL quarterbacks (starter, backup, and the back up to the backup) what are the odds? Let’s do the math: out of the 26,727 high schools (as of 2025) in the United States that comes out to a mere 0.0036% quarterbacks that make it to the “big show”, thus the odds are never in their favor.
I am not going out of my way to pick on the quarterback but I am only doing so to give this example some legs. I am more than sure all 26,727 starting high school quarterbacks were motivated to be the big fish in their tiny pond. But where was the discipline?
Were they disciplined enough to accomplish the mission? No.
Are you disciplined enough to accomplish the mission, the one you set for yourself just as you were graduating high school? I did and I did not. I did in that I joined and did my time in the US Army. No, in that I did not become the Medical Doctor I dreamed of becoming when I was a wee lad. I lacked the discipline to go Pre-Med. I did, however, have the discipline to eventually get my Bachelor’s and ultimately two Master’s degrees.
It was a long road and it continues to be a long, arduous road. However, the discipline instilled in me by the US Army, the US Army Infantry school at Fort Benning, the Berlin Brigade, my wife, and my children make my next accomplishment all the better. See what I did there? I shared with you that building the discipline I need was not easy. It was gained over time. It is not something was “just there” for me to take. It was always there but I had to see it, recognize it, work for it, and ultimately earned it.
Once you have discipline, it is not the end all or be all. It is something that must be continually earned. You have to work at getting disciplined and the work even hard to stay disciplined.
So how does one acquire the discipline to do what has to be done? How does one get the discipline to do what must be done where motivation is nowhere in sight?
Habits Build Discipline Builds Success
As discipline builds success, what builds discipline? Habits.
Habits are what you do on repeat, but more importantly habits are you on autopilot.
Discipline is the autopilot. Discipline is what gnaws at you to do something when you do not want to do it.
Remember, according to the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, it takes a minimum of twenty-one days to create a habit. However, it takes 90 days to create a lifestyle.
You must have the habits to continue to achieve the success that comes from being disciplined.
To obtain and keep the habits you need to succeed, the very ones that will drive you to be disciplined, start developing some habits such as:
- Waking up early (yes, even on the weekends)
- Create a daily routine (to include the weekends)
- Go radio silent (no phone, no doom scrolling, no electronic tethers whatsoever)
- Get physically moving (every day, including weekends)
Notice how these habits are NOT specific. The specifics are up to you. You have to define what works for you. You have to take charge of your growth and progress. You have to develop the habits that will lead you towards discipline.
The discipline you achieve will take you to the level of success you want to accomplish. However, remember when it comes to discipline to success the ratio is 1:1. This means that for every ounce of discipline you have that is the same amount of success you achieve. Have very little discipline you will have very little success. Be highly disciplined you will be highly successful.
When it comes to getting things done, nothing beats good old-fashioned discipline. The discipline you have now can always be improved upon. Your ability to create the habits that will create the level of discipline to lead you to success solely rest all on you. This means if you want it bad enough you will do what it takes to achieve the level of discipline to get you what you want.
However, a word of caution (or advice) if what you want is a relationship with another person. There is nothing you can do, there is no habit, and no amount of discipline will get you the relationship you believe you should have. Human relationships are different and difficult. They are different in that it requires both sides to put in the work, both sides to be disciplined enough make it work. No one side should ever have to force the other side. It is difficult, in that at one point, we do not know what the other thinks or wants. That’s where the work comes in. Put in the work but when it’s over, it’s over.
As for anything else; fate is on your side. So long as you are willing to overlook the motivation and be disciplined to do the work.
– Dave Guerra