I feel the desire to push myself despite my undeserved exhaustion.
It's presumed that the most disciplined people have an endless amount of motivation that burns from an unknown energy source from within. It's as if they aren't plagued by sways in emotion, mood, or 'realistic' thoughts. This assumption does not truly depict nor understand what a disciplined person is made from- a prolonged period of running on low morale, motivation, and energy storage.
"The moment to strike was of course a piece of deliberate irony.”
- William Styron.
I am no psychologist and have no medical knowledge certified with an advanced degree. I am, however, tired and feel as if I am frequently. Now, I refuse to claim that as my identity. I am not tired. I am disciplined while experiencing a feeling of tiredness. Tiredness is not my identity; being disciplined is. That doesn't mean I won't feel tired; it almost guarantees it.
You will feel tired regardless. You will never avoid the feeling of tiredness; you may only control how frequently you feel tired and what you do when that happens. Part of that is acting in your best interest when fatigued.
I feel tired all the time. How can I be disciplined?
Disclaimer: First, ensure you are maintaining a healthy diet, sleep patterns, and anything else a doctor recommends. Now, what can we do about that mindset and your actions? There will always be outside noise. If being tired is why you won't, you will find another reason not to when you have the energy. If you habitually allow excuses about physical elements to halt your actions, you will be at the mercy of life for life.
Do not condition yourself to weigh the deviation from your internal equilibrium too heavily. Just because you don't feel 100% internally and your external environment isn't ideal doesn't mean you should weigh that factor so much in deciding your next course of action. It shouldn't prevent you from doing what you want. The gap between how you feel internally and the conditions of your external environment can be overwhelming, but don't let it be an overwhelming factor in your decisions. Persist.
Let the Snowball Roll. Don't Hold Back.
Who needs motivation when you have momentum?
How easy is it to be disciplined when you have momentum?
You have a goal. You want to get there, but you're tired. You're passed the low fuel mark and are running on fumes. How do you get to the destination? Momentum - go far while in neutral. You are a car with no gas, but your destination is at the bottom of a hill. So all you need is a push, a jolt, something to get you going, and gravity will do the rest.
When we weigh tiredness or lack of energy too much, we don't think about the effect of momentum. If you start, it's easier to keep it moving. You don't gain any energy, but you're going further and faster. So allow yourself to let go of control of the situation and get moving to the next step.
Time to Do, Let's Get it.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca
Our mind magnifies whatever it has focused on. Thinking about your fatigue makes it larger than life, an unbeatable barrier. Part of this can be attributed to confirmation bias. We only see and read into what we perceive the situation as. We ignore what contradicts our beliefs. I'm not asking you to lie to yourself with some mind trick, saying you're not tired and then promising that the exhaustion is magically replaced with energy. I'm asking you to focus on your goal, and how you can get there in basic steps, basic is the keyword. This will make the task seem the least daunting, and step one will be something you surely have enough energy to do.
Want to go to the gym? It starts with standing up.
Want to write something? It starts with pressing one key on the keyboard and a mouse click.
The goal here is to bet on momentum. If I can rack up multiple basic steps, the sum of my work will produce a mindset that will carry me further than I thought I would.
Once you're focused, leave all else blurred in the background. A camera will take a picture focusing on an object. This object is clear, but the background is blurry. The photographer doesn't want you to concentrate on anything else, but it doesn't deny that anything else exists in the background.
You may be tired and external factors are negatively affecting your desire to work on your goal.
Remain focused on your goal; all else is blurred in the background.
Don't focus on what isn't clear; all else is in the background for a reason. Let it be.
You don't need everything clear to get the whole picture. The picture is better because everything else is unclear except for the one thing you're focused on.
Leave distractions in the background when you can't ignore their existence.
The backdrop isn't black emptiness. There is an external environment, but we're not letting it distract us from what we want to focus on. What we want to focus on is clear as day. We aren't worried about deciphering the unclear factors surrounding it. Instead, we focus on what's clear, what you know you're supposed to. Why waste energy trying to enhance what is unclear when we can focus on improving what is clear with less effort?
Playing possum, it's not what you think. When opossums are repeatedly exposed to the same predators, they become calmer and less fearful. This is because they have developed a physiological adaptation that allows them to ignore fear, making them less likely to be bothered by the same challenge or opposition each time they encounter it. Additionally, this adaptation allows them to save energy, as they do not have to expend extreme amounts of energy on fear responses.
The more you ignore the fear, tiredness, or lack of motivation, the less it stops you.
You waste energy focusing on 'why I can't' or 'why I haven't.'
By learning to ignore the feeling of tiredness, you can stay motivated and keep working, even when feeling tired. You will start to see the hold on you isn't as strong. Develop the psychological adaptation that allows you to minimize what was once magnified, the feeling of tiredness. This requires repeated exposure - which shouldn't be a problem if you're 'always' tired - and forming a habitual response of staying the course.
You Stayed Disciplined Despite Fatigue
This is an important lesson to remember when feeling tired. You don't have to succumb to tiredness, allowing it to determine your following action. Instead, you can focus on your goal and let momentum lead the way. It's possible to minimize the feeling of tiredness and build up a habit of staying the course, despite feeling fatigued. This ultimately allows you to become more disciplined and complete the tasks that you have set for yourself.
Remember you are not tired. You are feeling tired. You are disciplined. You focus and keep going despite what you think.
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