My buddy Tim has an old school Hummer.
It’s a former military vehicle stripped to the frame, made non-street-legal, rebuilt and made road-legal again.
You can drive it damn near anywhere and no obstacle is gonna get in it’s way.
It’s a fun machine to drive around. It just goes – no questions asked.
But, it runs on a diesel engine.
That means if you try to use standard gas in it, it might sputter around for a second before coming to a halt (and maybe blowing some smoke in the air).
It’s a beast of a machine, but if you use the wrong fuel, it doesn’t go anywhere and doesn’t even get close to fulfilling it’s potential.
You might think it’s busted, a lemon, a waste of your time.
But in reality, the car is fine – you’re just using the wrong fuel.
Unleaded is great for your civic, but would kill your Hummer.
This is what most people think about motivation.
They have this idea, something big, something impossible, something that could be really, really cool.
But then they decide to run it on motivation.
Their project, with the potential to be really special, lurches forward every now and then, awkwardly making progress, but no where nearing it’s potential.
Then they wonder if something is wrong with the car.
But nothing is wrong with the car. They’re just using the wrong fuel.
If you’re using motivation as your fuel for your book/project/fitness/business/insert-life-change-here, you’re using the wrong fuel.
Motivation is fickle, intermittent and unreliable. It might be good for city driving, but if you want to go-offoading, you’re out of luck. It might feel good on occasion, but if you want to make progress and push your limits – you’re using the wrong fuel.
It’s dependable, consistent and it’s what great projects run on.
Get after it.
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Tim, by the way, is the man. Check out his latest startup MixMsg here.
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Jen says
October 4, 2016 at 10:32 amTimely stuff for me, and a cool vehicle too. Gonna finish writing my book now, disciplined! Thank you
Steve Teffenhardt says
October 4, 2016 at 10:42 amJoel,
I used to write a motivational quote for 8 years, and time and time again, I would receive emails from people who said, and I paraphrase;
“How did you know exactly what I needed to hear TODAY!?!”
Well, for once I am going to write to you this message from me, I am the sender, not the receiver….
“How did you know exactly what I needed to hear TODAY!?!”
I think you need both of these attributes, plus another skill, you need the motivation to get you to the starting line, discipline to run the race and then tenacity to get to the finish line, if there is in fact a finish line.
We all have skills in life, some more than others, some people are generalists, and some are specialists. There is one thing that is clear, we need others to help fill in the areas that we ourselves may not be stellar at, to accomplish the grand, over the top goals.
We all can feed and build up ourselves to be a master of some things, jack of all trades and possibly be a miserable failure at others. Guess what, NOBODY CAN DO ALL THINGS. Don’t be afraid to have the others in your life to help drive you to bigger and better things that we can be ourselves.
This is why I am so grateful for people like yourself that help us do this. Without people like you, and others, we are bound to our fairly mundane accomplishments. But, with help from others, we can really do some great things in our lives and hopefully impact others’ lives in a very positive manner.
Thank you for all that you do with your blog Joel.
Denise says
October 4, 2016 at 3:01 pmMotivation, and procrastination are the two sides of the coin I think. I am trying to be more motivated and productive in all areas of my life and this is not as easy as it sounds doable. Meditation is one way that I am trying to fit into my daily life with no exertion. Other healthy and productive habits like motivation is something to work on a good goal and having an intention to do something. No matter how small you think it is it is an accomplishment and helps habit forming for other tasks and chores or desires and goals. Thanks you are motivating! Love the jeep/hummer and I would love to have one I have said for the mountains around here in Cape Breton. Come and visit some time. 🙂 Cheers Denise
Mark McGlinch says
October 4, 2016 at 9:18 pmThere is a subtle difference between motivation and discipline, but to me, motivation is a more passive, external force…waiting for someone/something to give me a push to do something. Discipline is something more tangible that I can add to my calendar and carry out from within. Great post!
Madhushree Kulkarni says
October 5, 2016 at 9:51 amJoel you have really great timing! This was just what I needed.
🙂
Kathryn says
October 5, 2016 at 8:38 pmOn a day like today- this was perfect. Thank you.
Lia says
October 12, 2016 at 1:22 pmJoel, you did The Impossible and you woke me up from a major point of confusion in my life. Thank you for articulating this complex concept in such a a simple way. This idea jumpstarted my day in the most unexpected way. I agree with some of your readers; I think that motivation is the starter and discipline is the fuel of this interconnected engine that manifests dreams. Thank you for writing this.