Motivation Called In Sick, Discipline Showed Up

We explore why motivation fades and how discipline, consistency, and identity shifts build momentum that lasts. We share the ABC of intrinsic drive—autonomy, belonging, competence—and a practical formula to stop restarting and start rising.

• the limits of motivation as emotional fuel
• discipline as training your future self
• consistency hygiene for daily momentum
• why external rewards and fear fail over time
• the ABC of intrinsic drive: autonomy, belonging, competence
• aligning purpose with structure and routine
• identity statements that make habits stick
• managing fatigue, comparison, and perfectionism
• the CDP formula for sustainable success
• a one-week consistency challenge for accountability

Write in the comments: What is one discipline habit you will keep this week no matter how you feel
Share this with someone who's tired of starting over every single Monday and they don't know why

Chapters

• 1:12 Why Motivation Fades
• 3:07 Discipline And Consistency As The Engine
• 5:47 Emotional Fuel, Dopamine, And Refueling
• 10:25 Why Traditional Motivators Fail
• 12:54 Imperfect Paths And Staying The Course
• 15:09 The ABC Of Intrinsic Drive
• 19:19 Autonomy, Network, And Competence In Practice
• 21:47 Discipline Defined: Training Your Future Self
• 24:54 Align Purpose, Structure, And Identity
• 27:51 Consistency Hygiene And Mental Hygiene
• 30:42 The CDP Formula And Affirmations
• 34:04 Psychological Barriers And Gentle Pace
• 37:06 Mastery Over Motivation And Final Challenge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

And pursuing your wildest dreams. But sometimes that is not enough. And that is one question that a lot of people ask why doesn't motivation work? No, I started with motivation, but that was not always enough. And sometimes it doesn't work, or maybe it hasn't been working. Discipline is what you need to keep you going. It can't be motivation alone. Discipline is key. In order to be disciplined, you can't procrastinate. And you also must be consistent. When you have that intimidation, a slight bit of fear, and you overcome it and you still do it, that's where we grow. Sometimes the motivation can fall behind because we don't really have the discipline. And we stop being disciplined when we don't get the reward so instantly, so quick, if it takes too long. I know a lot of people during my doctoral journey, they would say, oh, 10, 12 years to do what you're trying to do, that's too long for me. And everybody can't do dreams that take a long time. And sometimes what you might be trying to do or invest in or learn or your path to elevation, it might take a little while. And that's when the motivation dwindles. You run out of energy, you run out of posity because you run into those hard days, those difficult days. Those days when you don't feel like getting up, you want to hang out with your friends instead, or you want to go to sleep. You're tired from work, so you don't have time to invest in your dream or yourself or your goals. And this is when the motivation starts to slack. At the beginning of the year, you we're gonna see a lot of people start off with the motivation because it's a new year, it's a new opportunity to elevate. Talk about it. So you definitely need more than motivation, discipline, consistency. These are the things that help us go from hood to hooded. Where in your life are you depending more on emotion instead of structure? Emotion is just like, oh, I want to do it, but you're not taking action. You're not writing your goals down, you're not waking up early, you're not like taking baby steps, you're just saying you want to do it, you feel motivated, or maybe you don't feel motivated. And then if you don't have motivation, discipline is nowhere in the neighborhood. You woke up feeling like, damn, motivation ain't enough for me. That's because you have to have something to back that up. I have to tell my patient it has to be more than just you feeling motivated to brush. You gotta have the knowledge of why you're doing it, why are you flossing? Because you don't want to pay expensive dental bills. So even with motivation, why are you motivated? Because you obviously want something more out of life. That's why you have motivation coming from poverty, coming from stereotypes, coming from a history that told me I can't do something. I'm in the mindset where you have to stay motivated, even during those times when you don't have it all figured out. Don't stop, don't allow outside noise, people, a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, a bad year, lost, losing people to get you in a shell where you just can't even get motivated no more. You don't even have the discipline, you're not willing to try, you're not being consistent, but you're complaining. I realize no degree can teach you that. It just has to be in you. You don't even need a degree to be consistent. You don't need a degree to be motivated. You don't need a degree to start a business, you don't need a degree to do a lot of things. If you have it, that's a plus. That's why the motivation hasn't been working, because you're not consistent. Now let's be honest with ourselves. We get consistent and then we give up. We get consistent and then something happens, and whether that's mentally, physically, emotionally, it's gonna knock you off your path. Let's learn how to lean on structure versus our emotions so much and be honest and show up for ourselves. Motivation is emotional fuel, it rises and falls with your mood, stress, and your circumstances. So it's not always the same. So that's why sometimes it doesn't work because it's not enough. Because it's just like fuel. Like when your gas runs low, and it does run low every now and then, you gotta refuel it. You gotta recharge it. It's the same way with motivation. You have to refuel it, you have to recharge it, keep your mood high so you stay motivated, not stay stressed because stress and motivation don't go together. Even if you go through different circumstances in life, it can snatch your motivation away for a second. That's when you lean on the discipline and the passion that you have to keep going. I know people who go to the gym consistently, it doesn't matter what type of day it is, it's raining, they go to the gym, they just do it. And even if they fall off sometimes, they know how to refuel. It's the same way with motivation. So if you won't eat with your motivation today, this is your emotional fuel, you know, it's probably because your mood is off, you stressed out, maybe, your circumstances aren't in the best position. But does that mean you stop? Does that mean you don't keep trying? No, because motivation is tied to dopamine, a chemical that spikes and fades when things become routine. So if you're doing something that's routine, you've gotten comfortable, you're acting like you're a tree, you're stuck in one spot, you can't move, you're stressed out, worrying about everything on the news, propaganda. Yeah, it's just so much, and it's time to refuel. Motivation is temporary, it is not meant to be something permanent in your life. That's why a lot of people have been asking, dang, why motivation doesn't work? It's not meant to be permanent. Is it time for you to refuel? Is it time for you to go and find what makes you passionate? Has life taking your passion? Has a system of oppression taking your passion? What is taking your passion? What life storm have we gone through or are we going through in the United States, especially, with all of the politics? We're not gonna even get into that today because that could be something that's taking your motivation away. Fatigue from working, inflation, rent prices higher, everything is out of control. That's stressful. That could take your motivation away. Rejection, have you been rejected lately? You know, I mean, rejected like in a relationship or business, I don't know, from school, anything. These disrupt your emotional energy. And remember, emotional energy is tied to your motivation. Your goal is not to chase more motivation, it's to build systems where you don't really need it. That's when discipline comes into play. Consistency comes into play. When I show up here, sometimes I'm not completely motivated, but I know that the consistency is gonna carry me. Even when I don't feel like it, I still move like it's already mine. I need you to say that in the spirit. Even when I don't feel like it, which means sometimes you don't have the motivation, you must still move like you it's already yours. That's how we're moving in this season, like it's already ours. Even without the motivation, whatever your goal is, it's already yours. Why traditional motivators fail. We were raised on rewards and punishment systems. That's why we think success means chasing validation from other people. This is how we were raised. Rewards like money, likes on social media, somebody praising you, and fear, failure or judgment, which does happen on live or the internet. This can push us too, but it can't sustain us. Money can't sustain you, the likes can't sustain you. Somebody praising you, the fear, it that definitely can't sustain you. That's why traditional motivators fail. If you're going by the money, it can't sustain your happiness. Sometimes that is not enough to motivate you. What I mean by that is sometimes I've had jobs in dental offices where they paid good, but the environment was not allowing me to be who I am or do dentistry in the way that I want to do it. So the money was not a motivator or a million likes, but say you get a million likes, but it's not really tied to any monetization. It's like, you know, that can't be motivating or people praising you on the internet because you're gonna have just as much judgment on the internet, so you can't even go by that. Doing these type of things creates burnout, creates self-criticism, and perfectionism. We gotta get out of the stage of perfectionism. So perfectionism means this is a person who wouldn't start because they're not motivated. They already feeling like they don't want to do it, so they just not gonna do it. Because they want everything to be perfect. That's why, if you think this way, a lot of times you won't ever accomplish your dreams because the path to doing that is highly imperfect. I mean, you could face so much while going towards your dreams: homelessness, brokenness, loneliness, heartache, heartbreak. There's so many things that you're gonna go through during the route that you won't be motivated. I always tell the story of me crossing the stage at this moment at Maharry Medical College, then having to be sick at the point where I couldn't get out of a bed. Taking this drug called Lupron, like a chemo drug, had my body on fire, going through clinical state of menopause, having a surgery, while going through this celebratory moment, not being done because of this, having to go back to school, be homeless, go through all of that, then move, give everything. It was just so dramatic that it was so imperfect. But guess what? It's other things that must push you during these moments where everything makes you want to quit and you're not so motivated. What is going to push you? For me, I know it was like a promise made to my mom. I'm gonna do this. So that kept me fueled. For me, it was just knowing that I had nieces and nephews and family members who were rooting for me to break a generational curse. For me, it was just knowing that all the odds were not in my favor. And when you want to go from hood to hooded, that's the first thing you gotta know is that the odds are not in your favor. You're gonna start 10 steps behind and you gotta work 10 times harder. So it's already the imperfect suit. That's already gonna give you a lot of self-criticism, a lot of self-doubt, fear, judgment. It's gonna create burnout in your mind before you even start. But guess what? This is where consistency, discipline, and you knowing your purpose will play a big part in how you move when headed to the next level. Are you gonna just stay where you're at because it's not perfect? Because you ain't really set up completely, or are we gonna walk towards what's scaring us? We're gonna talk about the ABC of intrinsic drive, what drives us intrinsically. Number, well, not number A is autonomy. You thrive when you choose your own path. We know how history has oppressed, especially the knee, the melanated people of Turtle Island, aka America. They kind of take away that autonomy, the freedom for you to choose your path. Oppression gets real, it counts you out, investing yourself, retirement, it just counts you out of a lot. So you must have autonomy to thrive because you chose your path. When they said, Oh, child material, you're not gonna be a doctor. You came from a teenage mother, you went through all this yada yada yada. You don't have the setup to do this. In my head, I had the autonomy to choose a path and to thrive in that path. Because no one can tell you what you can't do. Now you can tell you what you can't do. You can count yourself out of a dream, you can be not motivated and have no discipline and no consistency and waiting for a perfect moment instead of just going. But when you have autonomy, you're just going to like ignore anybody who gets in your way. And you're gonna figure it out through all of the good days, the bad days, the fear, the judgment, whatever you go through, you're gonna keep going and use these as learning experiences. That's true. So, this is that network. Your network is your net worth. This is why for me, streaming is important because where else can I reach people in Harlem like this? Where else? Where else can reach my family in the southeast are other knee um to inhabitants from Turtle Island? People living in the 5D versus the 3D. How can I do that? How can I feel connected or feel like I belong? This is gonna increase your intrinsic drive when you feel connected to people and not connected to negativity. And C, competence. Confidence grows when we see our progress. So my confidence grows the more I show up, the more I get out of my way and get over the fear and the jitters of being live, you know, or even grows as a dentalpreneur. As I see, okay, we did year one, now we're on year two, okay, year three. What I didn't know about entrepreneurship or business, now I know so much more. My competence has increased. I feel like I'm a part of a network. I feel like I have autonomy. I didn't let someone else choose my path. Or I didn't work forever for someone else's empire and never put a seed. I never planted one seed for my own. Just think about that. There are people who didn't plant one seed for themselves in 60 years, but went every day to plant a seed for someone else because they didn't want the autonomy, they didn't want to thrive and choose their own path. They just fell into whatever was in the path. They just said, I don't have the motivation. I'm just, I don't know why I ain't motivated. I ain't even gonna figure it out. There's a lot of excuses that you can have instead of being autochthonous, having autonomy, taking control, driving the car, you behind the wheels, stop letting other people drive you around with their ideas. And what what do you want to do? What is your path? What you truly want to do? Stop waiting for perfection. Yes, we should plan. Yes, we should try to prepare, but should we try to be perfect? No, absolutely not. Every route that I took along this journey was hella imperfect, from I mean, even from a child. All right, but yes, you should stay connected so you can feel like you belong and increase your competence along the way and see how much we grow once we plant just that one seed, just one. We need more, but at least one. Patients don't floss because they're scared of cavities, they floss when they value their smile. That's intrinsic motivation when you value yourself. That's just an example of it. You're not going to go towards whatever goal you set for yourself unless you value yourself, unless your thoughts, you value your future, you value your legacy, you value your soul, your spirit, and you're not just gonna be like, Well, I'm just a lost soul out here. Uh like you just I'm just sitting here looking crazy. No, man, we sit in here leveling up, not waiting for people to level us up. That may never come. You be waiting forever. What's going on, y'all? Perfect comes from doing, absolutely. A little bit more. How can one overcome all of that? That's a great question. The way that you overcome this, definitely by doing. You just gotta do it. That's that's the true answer. So, by doing, if you're doing it, that means you automatically discipline because you're doing it. That's what discipline is, is doing it. Staying committed to doing it. Discipline isn't punishment. A lot of people view discipline as like punishment, like eating healthy, being disciplined with that, or working out, it feels like punishment because your body gets a little bit more, I don't know, that quick burst of happiness and joy when you eat bad, because it tastes good as hell. It knows that all salad, you haven't really trained your brain to think of this is an investment for myself. I value myself, versus the quick little taste bud feeling where after you taste it, nothing good comes from it. Discipline isn't punishment, it is training your future self to trust your present action. I mean, repeat it. It's training your future self to trust your present action. That's discipline. Saying, I'm gonna work out because I trust that this action that I'm gonna take today is only helping my future self. Whatever action you taking today that you're disciplined about is not really for you today. It's for your future self. When you plant those seeds and you invest and you go and learn about it, and you go and learn how to not have excuses, then you become disciplined. This is gonna step in when you don't have the motivation. That's when discipline steps in. I'll give another example, like studying for a board exam. We have to do those as dentists, right? So some days, I'll say, no days really, do you want to go and sit for hours and study? You're not really motive, you can be motivated because you know you don't have a choice. So that's the motivation. But after that, it's just like, okay, I just gotta come here, sit down, and just at least do step one. And then all the rest will follow. But making excuses when you know you must do something, that's not discipline. And we all tend to do that. I do that, but most people do that in one area or another. We're not disciplined in every area. We can try, but we gotta be honest. Discipline builds habits through repetition, not emotion. So it's not all emotional like motivation. When people say, I don't know why the motivation is not working, it's because you're not disciplined. So discipline is repetition, doing it over and over again until it becomes a habit. And now, when you make loving on yourself a habit, when you make self-care, self-awareness a habit, do you know how empowered you become? When you become disciplined about yourself, not emotional, because remember, that goes up and down, but when you become disciplined about who you are, it rewires your brain to always associate positivity with who you are. It always associates you with the type of person who shows up for yourself. You're gonna be disciplined regardless. That is really hard to master, but that is the cure for the lack of motivation and why we don't feel motivated because sometimes it's just not gonna have it's not gonna be there all the time. You gotta have other things in your toolkit that can help you on those days when you don't feel like you're motivated. The next thing you can do is urge your purpose with your structure, align your goals with why you're doing it and how you're going to do it. Because if your purpose isn't aligned with the structure of your life, then it's impossible for those two to meet. And you kind of need a purpose to even put the structure in place. For instance, if we take it back to studying for a board exam, if I know that I must do this to become a doctoral candidate, then I don't really have a choice. So this is the why. Because it's tied to my passion to help people, to serve the community. So I have to do this. That's the why. This is bigger than me not wanting to do this at the moment. Because if I don't do this, I can't become my future self. Sometimes you do things now because they are required for you to become your future self. They're required for you to step into the next level and break the curse of procrastination, break the generational curse of doubt. The cure is aligning your goals, your purpose with your structure, with your discipline. If you want to be this healthy guru, then you can't do that without discipline. There's it's impossible. I don't care how motivated you are, you can't do it without discipline. Instead of I want to work out, say, I am becoming a person who honors my body daily. Or saying, I want to start a business, say I am becoming a person who honors my legacy daily. Instead of saying, I want to um have healthy teeth, I am becoming a person who brushes and flosses my teeth daily. You gotta do this how often? Daily. What are you waiting on? No more small talk, no more selling yourself short, no more underestimating yourself, no more shrinking to fit the room. It's time to get in alignment. So, how do you do this with the consistency hygiene? That's all just like you brush and floss every day. Hopefully, I know a lot of people don't brushing and flossing twice per day, hopefully, that keeps the decay away. That's like showing up for yourself every single day. Guess what? It keeps the doubt away. If you never show up for yourself, the doubt is gonna ruminate and fester like a poison until it takes over your whole mind. And now you just label as somebody who just never gonna make it. They're just gonna be comfortable settling. And if you a settler, like the settlers back in the day, then you know, it is what you have to believe from the inside out, intrinsically, tie your goals to your routine. If your routine don't align with your goals, then your goals are impossible. Point blank period. Your mental hygiene matters just as much as your dental hygiene. So that's consistency. When you realize this, oh, my mind matters. Like, yeah, I gotta do something with it. Use it, grow it, teach it, you know, nurture it, not give up on it, do things to help stimulate my thinking, do things that help stimulate my time so that I'm not giving my time away from money. I'm actually creating with my time. I'm actually making my time so valuable that I don't even have to turn in myself to a system to make money. I can just go to sleep and make money. I got multiple strings of income. I planted so many seeds because I start believing in myself from the inside out, not from what I'm wearing, what I got on. No, from the inside out. I value myself, I know what my purpose is. This is what you must accomplish in order to be consistent, be disciplined. A couple ways we can do this is to create daily habits that align with who we want to become. Expressing gratitude. Like practice the CDP formula. The CDP formula is consistency plus discipline minus procrastination, that equals success. Without it, it's kind of impossible. You notice in that formula that I created that there is no motivation in the formula. Because motivation kind of like cherry-ums. Yeah, motivation plus you consistent and you discipline. Oh my goodness, I'm scared of you. And you don't make excuses. Oh my goodness, I'm so scared of you. That's dangerous. But in a good way, though. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. Let's go over a couple affirmations. I don't wait for energy. I create it. Say it with me now. Say it in the spirit. You can type it, you can say it in the spirit. I don't wait for energy. What? I create it. We create it. We create the energy. The next one is my future self depends on what I practice today. My future self depends on what I practice today. So practice discipline, practice consistency, practice self-awareness, honesty, truth with who you are in this lifetime. There are psychological barriers when we are on a healing journey. You can have fatigue, you can have fear of failure, comparison that's the thief of the night, unrealistic expectations that suffocate your progress. That doesn't mean you're lazy. Sometimes you're overwhelmed or misaligned. Before psychological barriers that Impede our healing. So taking mental rest, setting boundaries with yourself, setting boundaries with your family and friends. That is the importance to give yourself grace during your growth process. That is of importance. You can't heal in the environment that taught you to rush. Slow progress is still progress. So rushing is not the goal. Discipline doesn't mean rush. Discipline means consistency, routine, daily, and knowing how to balance it. Sometimes what you're trying to do don't require daily. So whatever the structure is that you set for yourself, make sure you stick with it. But know that you can't heal from an environment that didn't really teach you what you needed to know to grow. You just can't do it. You just can't do it. Remember slow progress and still progress. In summary, motivation is a visitor. Discipline is the roommate. Motivation is temporary. Consistency is something that can become part of your daily permanent routine. What discipline habit will you keep this week no matter how you feel? Write in the comments. What is one discipline habit you will keep this week no matter how you feel? Just one. And give yourself a one-week consistency challenge. I no longer chase motivation. I'm not chasing that. I cultivate mastery. Mastery of my life, of my mind, of my time. And we should all aim to cultivate the mastery of self. So comment your consistency habit below. Share this with someone who's tired of starting over every single Monday and they don't know why. Motivation is not enough. They wonder why they can't stay motivated. Even when they want it so bad. And how important discipline, mental hygiene, identity shifting can create more success. This mindset is perfect for creators, entrepreneurs, and dreamers ready to start getting to the best life. Stop restarting and start rising, rising above and achieving self-mastery that I know was so capable of. It was my mom and just having that moment with her speaking to me and saying, You're gonna be a doctor. That was the moment that held me through this whole entire time, whether I was happy, sad, crying, missing her, that was the motivation to bring that dream to fruition, knowing that she gave me this challenge. I don't give a damn what I have to go through. I'm still gonna do it. So that's why, and what motivation means to you, is whatever that energy fuel that you use when you just need to push through. When you're being disciplined, when you're showing up consistency consistently. Obstacles are gonna come every day, day and night, all the time, until you're old and gray. The purpose of trying to succeed in life is to create preventative methods, financially, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, that can be a barrier to you having to feel that the big woes of life, the big ups and downs of life. That is the purpose of trying to increase your quality of life, staying motivated, having discipline, showing up, not feeling sorry for yourself, not playing the victim, taking accountability, realizing that you are the prize of your own life. Your mindset dictates your future self. The things and the actions you do today, the root routines you develop today, they will determine the outcome of your future self. If you continue to do the same thing, and if it's not working, it's not getting you happiness, it's not aligning you with um financial freedom, it's not aligning you with emotional freedom, which colonization and oppression tend to take that away. And it is a fight. So we all know that that is part of the fight, but we just can't go down without a fight. We can't go down without at least trying to savage what is left of our mental health after oppression, after racism, after all of the negative things that try to conquer our mind and control our time, still our soul, and deny us legacy, longevity, generational wealth versus generational curses. We have to break away from the things that deny us love, peace, happiness, growth, and that keep us demotivated. Align with things that are going to fuel your motivation, give you a purpose, drive your passion to infinity and beyond, of course. So you don't have to say, damn, motivation ain't working. Well, when motivation don't work, you run out of fuel. You know, I have to be disciplined regardless. I must show up regardless. The excuses I don't even want to be associated with them. I don't even want to be associated with nothing that is going to decay my dreams. I don't want to be associated with nothing that is going to decay my mind, decay my time. Time decay.