Discipline Over Motivation (Life as an Entrepreneur Vlog)

Jul 26

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video transcript:

Discipline Over Motivation (Life as an Entrepreneur Vlog 6)

Today’s video is all about discipline over motivation. A few months ago, Nathan and I realized that we could no longer just rely on motivation in order to get all of our work done. So, instead of relying on motivation, we decided to instill some more discipline into our life. The reason being, is that motivation comes and goes. If you have a good day or a bad day, or simply just a low energy day, it can be very difficult to push through and get your work done.

However, if you put discipline in place – so that means systems, routines, strategies for what happens when you aren’t feeling motivated - that is so incredibly helpful. It has really helped keep us on track and keep moving forward – even on those days where we might not be so motivated.

Today’s video is going to be all about why we believe in discipline over motivation.

Set Your Wake-Up Time

One of the first things that you want to do when you’re adopting this new, disciplined lifestyle, is to set your wake-up time. You want it to be the same every single day.

Nathan decided to push the idea upon us to wake up at 5am. When he first told me that he wanted to do this, I honestly thought he was a little bit crazy, and, in my head, waking up at 5am was reserved for those hyper-driven people - and I didn’t feel like one of those people yet. So, it was a little bit crazy at first. It was very difficult to get up that early, but now I absolutely love it, and I actually try to convince other people to do it. (There are a few reasons why, but before I get into that, I’m obviously going to start making coffee!)

Getting up early – why would you subject yourself to that? There are a few reasons why. Personally, I love that the day feels so much longer - you just feel like when you wake-up you have this epic, really long day ahead of you, so that is one of the reasons. We can wake up early, we can go out for a coffee, and we can get so much work done in the afternoon. We can knock off at 5pm in the evening - still have had a super long workday - and be able to go out for drinks after work and have fun. So, that is one of the reasons – that it gives you a really long day.

It’s also really nice to wake up when it’s this quiet. It’s so nice and quiet in the morning, nobody is on the streets, and it’s still dark. It actually becomes a really nice, quiet time – you have your little morning ritual, so I really like it.

If you work from home, or you’re dreaming of working from home, you might think, It’s going to be so good. I can work in my PJ’s - it’s going to be awesome – but if you’re in your PJ’s you’re kind of lazy, you just want to go back into bed and watch Netflix, so instead of doing that, I actually recommend that you shower, you get dressed as though you have a regular job and that you’re going out of the house. Although that being said – you don’t have to dress up – I’m wearing a big comfy sweater and super-comfy pants. You can still be really comfortable. I also do at least some makeup, so this way, I’m ready for Instagram Stories and stuff. (It is so hard to talk and make coffee at the same time – how do people do this? You see them doing it on YouTube videos.) Anyhow, what I’m trying to say here is, I do a bit of my makeup and that way, throughout the day, I’m just ready to do an Instagram Story or film something, and it’s not a big deal. I would often avoid it, if I hadn’t done any of that and I didn’t feel at my best. So, that’s my first tip for this concept of discipline over motivation – get up early if you can, and, if not, just get up at the same time every single day - which means that you also have to go to sleep at the same time every day.

Add Structure to Your Day

The next thing I’d recommend is adding structure to your day. For example, every morning at 6am, we have a meeting and go through our plan of action for the day. We look at what needs to be done and then write down our to-do list for that day, in order, so we know exactly what needs to be done and when. This way, even on those days where motivation is lacking, we can just follow the list and tick things off one at a time.

Having all of our big dreams broken down into small tasks also helps us not feel overwhelmed. We know that, as long as we are getting these small steps done, it will lead to a big win over the course of the day. These three simple things – getting up early, having a meeting, and coming up with a plan - is our foundation for success. It may seem simple, because it is – but it really works and you can do it too. Comment below and let us know how you plan your day.

Our Travel Plans

I also want to let you know that we finally decided on our travel plans for the next few months, and they include a bunch of incredible entrepreneurial events that you might be interested in, so I’m going to tell you about that now.

For next month, we’ve actually decided that we are going to stay in Mexico City. We’re loving it - it’s got great internet, and, honestly, there are so many things that we need to explore – plus we are going to be doing a live 5-day challenge for you, so the internet is extra important. Since we’re going to be doing that and that’s going to be a lot of work and excitement, we’ve just decided that we’re going to stay in Mexico City – though we did decide to upgrade our AirBNB to a better one.

New York City - Marie Forleo

After we are done with Mexico City, we are going to be headed to New York City. I’m so excited - Nathan and I love it there. We will try to watch as much Broadway as we possibly can. We are headed to New York City and this is really exciting because Marie Forleo is hosting an event there. She is coming out with a book and she is doing a big launch event in New York, so I thought that would be super fun and inspiring to go to, so we’re going to go to that.

I just went to the website for Marie’s event so that I could share it with you, and unfortunately it is sold out. However, there are other tour dates. There are tons of other cities - Florida, Chicago, Seattle and more… so definitely go to one of those.

Boston – Mariah Coz

After two weeks in New York City, then we are headed to Boston. It’s actually the first time ever for both of us, so if you’re from Boston, definitely let us know if you have any recommendations of what we should do. We are headed there for an incredible 2-day event hosted by Mariah Coz.

I’m so excited about evergreen sales funnels. I do have a few funnels in place, but I always want to be learning, and I think Mariah is the best at this. I’m super excited to go and learn from her and make my funnels even better.

San Diego – Angie Lee

After Boston, we are going to be flying to San Diego – again, a first time for both of us. I am so excited about this one because I’m headed to Angie Lee’s Pays To Be Brave event. This is a huge conference for female entrepreneurs. It’s all about sales, marketing, and mindset, and I think it’s just going to be such an incredible event. She’s got the best energy ever. This is Angie’s event – The #1 Sales & Confidence Event for Ambitious Women – Not Your Grandma’s Boring “Business Conference.” I love that!

Thanks so much for watching our video on discipline over motivation, and we’ll see you next week.