If you have been following the productivity corner of Instagram or YouTube for a while, I am sure you will have heard someone say that in order to get things done we should rely on discipline instead of motivation. However, what I have come to realise is that actually, we need both. Let me explain.
Your Feeling Brain is in The Driver's Seat
Our brains are often described as having two halves: the thinking brain which is rational and logical and the feeling brain which is emotional and can be irrational. In his book 'Everything is F*cked', Mark Manson says to imagine that these two halves of our brains are little characters sat in our heads controlling where we go. The most important part of this metaphor is that he proposes that the feeling brain is the one in driver's seat while the thinking brain is sat in the passenger seat, holding the map and giving directions. While your thinking brain is the one that has the map and therefore logically knows which path is best to take, it is not in control. Ultimately your feeling brain gets to decide whether or not to listen to your thinking brain and has the final say in where you go.
Therefore, whatever it is we are trying to achieve, we have to persuade our feeling brain to get onboard. No matter how much we yell at it, if we cannot convince it that this is a good idea then it won't take us there. (Or it might take us there but be very grumpy about it for the whole journey which wouldn't be very fun.)
Motivation
This is where motivation comes in. Motivation is all about understanding why we want to do something so that we can get our feeling brain excited about the journey ahead. Our feeling brain will not listen to arguments like, 'Sit down and study because you should'. Instead it is much more likely to listen to arguments like 'Sit down and study so that you can be one step closer to graduating and getting your dream job' or simply 'Sit down and study because this is a super interesting piece of work that I know you will enjoy once you get started.'
Taking the time to identify what it is you truly want in life will help to you to work out which paths to take and will keep you feeling exciting about the journey. The more excited our feeling brain is, the faster it will take us to where we want to be and the less it will be perturbed by obstacles along the way.
We cannot get anywhere without motivation because our feeling brain is the one with a foot on the gas pedal. And if we do somehow managed to get our feeling brain to do what we want to do without truly being onboard, it might put its foot on the gas pedal but it will probably throw a tantrum the whole way and what is the point in a life where we tick off boxes but aren't happy.
What I have described so far may sound pretty doable: simply find true motivation and then drive towards your goals. Unfortunately, it is not this simple. The problem is how fickle the feeling brain is; after all, it's job is to be emotional. Left to it's own devises our feeling brain might decide to throw a tantrum or turn around at every road block or obstacle.
There are two solutions to this problem. The first to create a sense of motivation so strong that it is not lost every time we encounter an obstacle. Each obstacle may dampen or chip our motivation, but we can build it back up again before the next obstacle. The problem with this solution is that it can be exhausting to go through a vicious cycle of becoming upset by an obstacle and having to give our feeling brain a pep talk before we get to the next obstacle.
Discipline
The other solution then, is to be self disciplined. In our metaphor this means training our feeling brain not to get upset when it sees an obstacle and to continue driving straight ahead.
However, what I think most people miss when they talk about discipline is that it is not about teaching our feeling brain to sit down and shut up. Instead is about teaching our feeling brain to trust that our thinking brain usually knows what is best for us. It is about giving our feeling brain the courage it needs to tackle obstacles so that it can learn that most things are within our capability and that most obstacles are worth overcoming. Discipline is about training our emotional brain to love the challenges that life throw's our way, to see an obstacle and instead of throwing a tantrum, put it's food on the gas pedal, smirk and say 'Bring it on'.
The goal of self-disciplined should not be to lead a life of deprivation in which you never listen to your feelings but to become a more stable person who is less thrown by obstacles and learns to love every part of the journey.
Which Is More Important?
Ultimately motivation is more important, not only because it is more powerful but because what is the point in a life where we don't feel excited about the journey, after all we may get out of the car for occasional holidays or retirement but we are going to spend most of our lives on the road.
However, motivation is a feeling and is therefore fleeting. It is exhausting the constantly have to give our feeling brain motivational pep talks. It is far more practical to use self discipline to teach our feeling brain to trust that our thinking brain knows what is best for us and to learn not to be completely thrown by every little obstacle.
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