Guys, a lot of you advise people to find their motivation and break through the cycle with the allmighty and allpresent “sheer willpower”, or “ambition”, whatever you want to call it.
My experience tells me that’s worth shit, especially in the long run (and that’s what we all are aiming for).
Willpower is highly depending on your mood. Sure, if you can win a fight with yourself, only using your willpower, you will feel highly rewarded afterwards, stronger, and that feeling might last a few hours, days, hell even weeks. And then you are in a bad mood, something happens, and woops, you relapsed.
And then you feel like shit. You beat yourself up. How could this happen, this was a better you, what about that willpower, it’s obviously all gone, oh no, you are such a shitty person, everything gone to waste.
It will never stop, you know? For a very small amount of supermonks among us that might be the solution, but the rest is just human, and humans will always feel, and feelings will always change and sometimes get us on the wrong foot.
Instead, try to rely on something that lasts. Something you can learn. Something you can build. Something you can train like a muscle.
That something is discipline.
It’s the thing that let’s people go running even if it’s raining or storming.
It’s the thing that let’s people sit down and practice scales on the piano for 4 hours a day.
It’s the thing that let’s people endure 10 hours of hard work, six days a week.
They don’t think: oh, today I’m so motivated because I want to become the next Lang Lang, or Usain Bolt.
On some days the might. And on others they think: Shit no, I want to go back to bed. But whatever man, that’s how it is.
Of course, those are extreme examples. I don’t want us all to be the most disciplined guys in the world, and become the next Lang Langs and Usain Bolts. But right now, we lack the tiniest bit of it. It’s the one thing PMO robs us from, self-control. Endurance of short lasting non-pleasure.
So let’s get it back. It’s something that takes time to acquire. But if you did, it’s difficult to take away!