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what an amazing quote

3,448 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by 2001%er
bagger05
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AG
Reading a blog last night and saw this quote. Someone asked a message board poster called "theangryviolinist" on a message board "How do you keep yourself motivated to practice?" His response:
quote:
F##k motivation. It's a fickle and unreliable little d##kf##k and it isn't worth your time.

Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. force yourself to do things. force yourself to get up out of bed and practice. Force yourself to work.

Motivation is fleeting and it's easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you, and you don't have to chase after it.Discipline is reliable, motivation is fleeting. The question isn't how to keep yourself motivated. It's how to train yourself to work without it.

Sounds very wise, and maybe this angry violinist stole it from somewhere else. This was basically hammering home the point "show me someone who works out when they're motivated, and I'll show you someone who is out of shape and doesn't work out very often" (coincidentally I see that guy in the mirror every morning).

Fits in to what my dad told me one time about running. He's not a big runner who does marathons or anything, but he does go jogging for general fitness purposes. He gets irritated when people say "I would go jogging but I just don't really like it." His response: "I don't really like it either but I do it anyway."

I'm not in need of some drastic lifestyle change to keep myself from keeling over dead, but I have plenty of extra fat that I could stand to lose and I've been very successful at finding excuses to not work out. Hopefully I can take this quote to heart and remember that the difference between someone who is really fit and healthy and someone like me who isn't in great shape is that they don't decide whether to go to the gym based on whether or not they feel like it.
whoop91
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bagger05
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AG
Ironically I found that quote very... motivating.

I think the key is using motivation as a tool to help you forge discipline. But at the end of the day, the guys who are in the gym that are fit and strong probably don't want to go to the gym every day, but they just suck it up and go anyway.
AggieChemist
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dave99ag
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JoeOlson
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AG
About 5 minutes after reading this, my little brother started talking about how he missed working out and feeling healthy but just couldn't drum up the motivation.
Frozen Concoction
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Well said.
yeahtoast
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AG
Well said, I like it.

Some days I'm motivated to go hit the workout hard, other days I just don't feel it at all and have to drag myself to do it and I'm ALWAYS glad I do.


...except for the days where I eat a bag of cheeto puffs...that's not really motivating...or disciplined...
bagger05
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AG
quote:
Some days I'm motivated to go hit the workout hard, other days I just don't feel it at all and have to drag myself to do it


A half-assed workout is infinitely better than a skipped workout. If I did a half-assed workout all the days I skipped in the last 3 months I bet I'd be five pounds lighter today.
mid90
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iloveAP
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Hoosegow
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bump

Tailgate88
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2001%er
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AG
Calls to mind the rider (reasoning)/elephant (emotion)/path (circumstances) analogy in the Heath Brothers book Switch. The more deliberate you are in planning to optimize your circumstances (put workouts on the schedule, set clothes out the night before, etc), the less you ask of the elephant and it'll go where it's told with less work by the rider. The people with the best self-discipline don't actually have to use it that much in the moment because they plan out their circumstances. Don't put ice cream in the freezer and you won't eat it at 2am.
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