The Myth of Self-Discipline and Motivation

Many people believe that self-discipline and motivation are the keys to success. They think that if they just have enough willpower and motivation, they can achieve anything they set their minds to. 

However, some research shows that relying solely on discipline can lead to burnout and failure because we’re relying on good decision making and relying on motivation means you may never get started. In this article, we will explore the limits of self-discipline and the problem with motivation and what to do instead.

The limits of willpower: why self-discipline fails

Willpower is often seen as the key to self-control and achieving goals. However, it is important to recognise that willpower is a finite resource that can be depleted quickly. Relying on discipline alone can lead to decision fatigue and poor choices, making it harder to stick to our goals.

For example, most of us have experienced trying to eat a healthier diet. You start off strong, and as the day, or week, or month goes on and you are faced with more food choices, your willpower starts to wane. In the end, you give in to temptation and indulge in unhealthy foods.

The problem with motivation: why it’s not enough

Similarly, motivation is often credited as the driving force behind success. We believe that if we are motivated enough, we can achieve anything. However, motivation is often fleeting and can be difficult to sustain. Without a deeper purpose or reason for pursuing a goal, motivation can quickly fade.

Let’s say you are motivated to start meditating every day. At first, you are excited and determined and as you face setbacks and get busy, you forget for a few days and your motivation starts to wane.

Why habits win

Habits are automatic behaviours that we do without thinking. They are formed through repetition and can be both positive and negative. By focusing on creating positive habits, we can make lasting changes in our lives because we’re not forcing ourselves to do something.

Unfortunately, traditional wisdom states that to create a new habit, do it for 30 days… using willpower and motivation. And we run into all of the problems we’ve already discussed.

Enough of that approach, instead, focus on the elements that create lasting behaviour change.

Small Achievable Habits Create Lasting Behaviour Change

Implementing habits that are small, simple actions that we can incorporate into our daily routines, we will have more success at creating positive changes in our lives. 

Behavioural scientist BJ Fogg popularised this concept in his book Tiny Habits. The philosophy behind tiny habits is rooted in the understanding that our behaviours are driven by our habits. Habits are automatic responses that are triggered by cues in our environment. By intentionally creating and practicing tiny habits, we can rewire our brains and create new, positive behaviours that align with our goals and values.

The role of the brain in habit formation

Habit formation is a process that occurs in the brain. When we repeat a behaviour consistently, it creates neural pathways in our brains. These pathways become stronger and more efficient with each repetition, making the behaviour more automatic and less conscious. 

By starting with tiny habits, we can tap into the power of our brain’s neural plasticity. When we consistently practice a small action, it creates a new neural pathway in our brain. Over time, this pathway becomes stronger and more automatic, making the behaviour easier to perform.

Brushing your teeth is a great example of this – do you think about when and how you’re going to brush your teeth? Or do you just find yourself in the bathroom at certain times, toothbrush in hand?

Start with the Goal, then Identify the Right Habits For Your Goals

When identifying habits, choose actions that align with your goals and values. This ensures that you are working towards something meaningful and increases the likelihood of long-term success.

Start by getting specific with your goals. For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “I want a more positive mindset,” you could set a more specific goal like “I want to be more mindful of all of the great things in my life by noticing them each day.”

Breaking down goals into small, manageable steps

Once you have the goal then identify the habits and actions that will move you towards the goal and desired outcome. Without a clear direction, it can be challenging to identify the habits that will help you achieve your desired outcome.

Break these habits and actions down into small, manageable behaviours. This makes them more achievable and increases the likelihood of success.

For example, if your goal is to read more books, you could start by setting a habit of reading for 1, 5 or 10 minutes before bed each night, whatever feels small enough to be achievable to start with. Even 1 minute reading takes you closer to your goal than not reading at all. Plus, it’s much more manageable than trying to read an entire book in one sitting.

The 4 Steps to Creating Great Habits

Staying consistent with new habits can be challenging, especially when life gets busy, or we face obstacles. However, there are four strategies that can help us stay on track:

1. Anchoring your habits
2. Make it easy to action
3. Identify an underlying motivation
4. An instant/short-term payoff

1. Anchor your habits to something you do every day

Creating an anchor for your habits means you’ve assigned a specific trigger for the behaviour. It becomes easier to remember and incorporate into your daily routine.  To build a habit, it’s easiest to practice the behaviour consistently, ideally every day. This helps to reinforce the neural pathways in our brain and make the behaviour more automatic.

Our days are full of habits already that we can use as a trigger and these can be extremely simple, for example:

• Brushing our teeth
• Going to the bathroom
• Eating breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Our first morning tea/coffee

Make your own list using this worksheet from 101Planners.com based on James Clear’s work in Atomic Habits. It will help you identify all the possible triggers you have in your day. You can take it one step further to identify if you want to keep them or change them.

For example, if you want to start keeping a gratitude journal you might set and anchor that every morning while you wait for your tea to brew, you’ll write down three things you’re grateful for.

2. Make your habit easy to do

Don’t make it hard to complete your new habit, make sure that you have what you need to action the habit available and visible to you. It’s hard to start a new habit if you don’t have what you need to get started and it’s harder to remember if it’s not in your line of sight. 

To continue the journaling example, put your journal/notebook and pen beside the kettle.

3. Link your habit to an underlying motivation

We’ve talked about linking our new habits to our goals. Use this link to stay motivated with your new behaviours. Be clear on how this action aligns to your goals and values and consider the long term benefit of the new habit. 

By reminding yourself why the habit is important and how it aligns with your goals and values, you can stay motivated and committed to practicing it.

4. Identify a short-term payoff

Finally, make sure your new habits have a short-term payoff for you. Identify how it makes you feel good or link it to a reward so that there’s an instant benefit. This ties into your motivation while also ensuring you are growing those neural pathways that create lasting behaviour change. It doesn’t matter as you start if you need to have a reward for completing the new action, just make sure it doesn’t conflict with the overall goal (for example, if your goal is to improve your health by regulating your blood sugar through diet; don’t reward yourself for eating well all day by eating a huge slice of chocolate cake). 

To go back to the journaling example, it might be that you feel instantly happier for thinking about good things and that’s enough of a reward. Alternatively, you might make it reward based by only having your first sip of tea after you finish writing down your three things.

Putting it together

Take a moment now to define your new habit:

Anchor: When I ___________________________, I will ___________________________,

Make it easy: to make it easy I’ll _______________________________,

Motivation: because _______________________________________,

Payoff: and I’m rewarded by _________________________________.

Making Bigger Changes

Momentum plays a crucial role in habit formation. When we build momentum with our habits, it becomes easier to continue practicing them and make progress towards our goals.

One of the key principles behind starting small is the power of small wins. When we set small, achievable actions and consistently achieve them, it creates a sense of accomplishment and builds momentum. This momentum can then carry us forward and make it easier to tackle bigger challenges. Once you’ve established a small habit and it has become ingrained in your daily routine, you can start to scale up and build on it for bigger changes.

Scaling up

Scaling up involves gradually increasing the difficulty or duration of the habit. This helps to challenge ourselves and continue making progress towards our goals.

There are several strategies that can help us build on our tiny habits for bigger changes.

An easy first strategy is to set new, slightly more challenging action to achieve your goal. For example, if your first habit is to walk for 10 minutes each day, you could gradually increase the duration to 15 minutes, then 20 minutes, and so on.

Stacking Habits

Another strategy is to identify new habits that align with your goals and build on your existing habits. For example, if your new habit is to meditate for 5 minutes each morning once you’ve embedded this, you could add a new habit of journaling for 5 minutes immediately after. Read more about Habit Stacking in this great article from James Clear.

This is a great way to build a new morning routine or other block of activity that will help you achieve your goals.

Conclusion

Relying solely on discipline and motivation is not enough to achieve success. Instead, we need to focus on creating positive habits. By incorporating these habits into our lives, we can create a sustainable path to success. So, let go of the myth of discipline and motivation, and embrace the power of habits.

Start small and focus on one habit at a time. By starting with a tiny habit and gradually building on it, you can create a solid foundation for lasting behaviour change.

If you want to talk to us about how we can support you to change your habits and build success, , we’d welcome you to book a discovery call to talk about what Transform and Lead Australasia can offer you.