I had a therapist a while ago that spent a lot of time talking with me about how discipline and motivation aren't real. His point was that lots of people lose before they start by feeling like they aren't disciplined or motivated people inherently. And ultimately, the only way to measure motivation or discipline is to measure something else - "I was motivated to stay fit because I went to the gym"

He also spent a lot of time with me on understanding that motivation and discipline are most times just thin wrappers around what people actually want. Thinking less about "If I were just more disciplined I would be able to do this" and more about "If I actually wanted to do this I probably would", and then focusing on what you actually want, or why you don't want something, is probably a much more valuable of a use of time for some people than thinking about motivation or discipline.

I am not posting this to say "If you're a disciplined person, you're wrong" - but moreso "If you're a person that believes you struggle with motivation/discipline, maybe you can rethink those concepts".

I took a Jocko (he's a famous navy seal) quote and made it my mantra, it's similar.

He said "Be tougher."

To paraphrase the context: mental toughness is a choice, and if you aren't as tough as you want, you just have to be tougher. Choose it. In each moment when you are tested.

Thanks for your comment. For a while I had been wondering why I couldn't focus, wasn't able to accomplish some simple long term goals, etc. Be tougher was my fix, and your comment expands on some ideas in a way that makes sense to me.

As other commenters have pointed out, environment and context of an individual are often stronger than the individuals themselves. I thought I was tough, resilient and mindful. Then the pandemic came and I couldn’t choose not to feel stressed and distracted.

I think it's different for everyone, and I think finding what piece is preventing you from moving forward is important. For some people, they just _want to want_ something, rather than actually wanting it. Identifying that you don't actually want something can help you move forward. Whether that means building the skill of "cultivating the ability to do things you don't want to do", or just abandoning a task in favor of doing things you actually want - either is usually fine. Most people just stop at "I am unable to move forward with this thing because I am an unmotivated person."

While I agree that the so-called inherent motivation is an important aspect to take care of, some skills that help remove external distractions and help you focus better could be equally useful. No matter how motivated somebody is, if they have a poor mental hygiene of constantly distracting themselves with social media, or don't have separate areas for work and for entertainment in their apartment, or as a more extreme example, is constantly disrupted by noise, they will likely suffer from suboptimal productivity. Both aspects are worth being taken care of.

I'm not sure why you feel the need to say this, as the purpose of my post wasn't to challenge any of the other assertions in this thread - rather to provide more information.

I'm not going to debate you because there isn't a debate.

Thank you - I am motivated to want what I want - so solve the wanting of the motivation / willpower.

Yeah if I didn't schedule things and have task lists I'd never get anything done.