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Speaker 1: This is Tim Staten with Tim stating the obvious.

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What is this podcast about? It's simple.

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You are entitled to great leadership everywhere you go, whether it's a church, whether it's

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to work, whether it's at your house, you are entitled to great leadership.

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And so, in this podcast, we take leadership principles and theories and turn them into everyday relatable and usable advice. And a

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Speaker 2: quick disclaimer. This show process or service by trademark, trademark manufacturer, otherwise,

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does not necessarily constitute and reply. It endorsed by anyone that I employed by or favors in the representation.

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The views are expressed here in my show are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or

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reflect those of any employer. Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Tim's stating the obvious.

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I hope that you've been enjoying the insightful conversations we've had so far this year.

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Now we've had some fascinating guests like Russell and David sharing their perspectives on leadership

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coaching and the importance of building an inner solid circle.

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If you haven't caught those episodes yet, do yourself a favor.

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Go back and watch those and listen to them.

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You're not gonna be disappointed in either of them.

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Russell did a 4 part mini series and David, did a episode about the importance of inner circles.

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And it was really, really, really great content and insightful, ideas from both of those gentlemen.

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So go check those out. And I just wanted to dive a little bit deeper into why it's important to surround yourself with the right people.

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You know, you become the sum total of everyone that you keep close contact with.

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Now you rub off on them and they rub off on you and their problems become your problems and vice versa.

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Successful people and the most highly successful people handpick, craft, monitor, and care for their inner circle.

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In fact, I know some people who actually have, like, a little mini board, like, a little board of directors.

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And, you know, they actually look into the people that they're bringing into their lives.

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Like, hey, does this person have the same goals and motivations that we currently have?

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Are the people that we're bringing into our lives, are they gonna enhance our lives, or are

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they detract from our lives?

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And if they add enhancement and it's mutually beneficial enhancement, it's not just like a one-sided

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enhancement, Then usually, they become friends. Right?

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They become, friends and they get adopted into their closer, inner circle.

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Otherwise, they just remain acquaintances and they're cordial with each other, but they're not like friends. They're more like acquaintance.

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So I'm not saying that everyone needs to incorporate this type of extreme vetting.

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You know, but the larger your circle is without vetting, the more you will attract things into

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your life that you don't want, or you will attract the right things in your life and that you do want.

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So for example, what I mean by that is is that if you are constantly trying to just grow your

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neck, Like, I wanna have a bunch of close friends, and you don't properly vet or check either

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either of them to check their goals or true goals, motives, objectives.

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What do they wanna do? What do they wanna achieve in life, what's their work ethic, what's their family ethic like,

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how are their parenting styles? If you don't check-in all of that and you bring them into your life and you just constantly

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grow and growing and growing, you're gonna bring in, things that you don't want.

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And just like if you properly check it out, you're going to enhance your life.

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You're gonna enhance their life, and it's gonna be mutually beneficial.

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And you're going to attract the right things in your life that will be mutually supportive.

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So that's that's kind of like what I wanted to add on that topic.

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And, you know, it's super important, for men not to remain isolated, for men to actually have an inner circle.

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And I know I say men because typically men nowadays are isolated, and they typically isolate

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themselves because they feel a lack of trust from other people.

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Now women, women naturally gravitate towards each other, and they naturally have this supportive,

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sisterhood or supportive motherhood of whatever you wanna call it amongst each other where they

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actually support and build each other up. And then in negative ones, they tear each other down and becomes incredibly, catty.

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But we're not really talking about that. But it and what I'm really here to say is, what you've already said, is that if you attract

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the right things, you're gonna have a much better time being successful by having a stronger

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inner circle to keep you accountable.

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Because you need to surround yourself by people who are not just gonna be yes people.

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They're gonna be people that tell you the truth and not the truth that you wanna hear, but the

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truth that you need to hear. To let you know that, hey, you know what?

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Maybe you doing, you know, this trip or whatever is probably not a good idea.

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You need to stay home. Or, hey, you know, buying this thing is probably not a good idea for you.

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You probably should hold off on that. Or, hey, you know that business idea you were thinking about?

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I think it's a great idea, but maybe probably not the right timing.

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Let's hold off on that, and let's take a look at it. And I know I'm not involved in your business.

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I'm just saying from another perspective, it probably doesn't look right.

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You might wanna double check that. And so by having people in your life that care about you enough to hold you accountable and

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to support you through the things and to tell you the truth even though you don't wanna hear it.

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You know, that's gonna keep you out of trouble. And now speaking of keeping you out of trouble, today, we're gonna be diving into the topic

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of this debate between motivation versus discipline.

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And this is something that's come up recently, and I think it's very applicable to everybody listening.

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If you have a teenager in high school or in college, this is a great episode for them to listen to.

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If you are a young adult and you're just like, you know what? I'm doing my best.

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I just can't figure things out right now, but I'm gonna do I'm on the right track.

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Well, I'm here to tell you I'm gonna challenge everything that you believe about motivation

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because there's some things that I've been hearing lately like, oh, yeah.

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I'm when I get motivated to do that or I'm motivated to do that. Yeah?

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Well, if you're motivated, why aren't you successful?

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If you're motivated, why aren't you doing more?

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If you're motivated, why aren't you doing x, y, and z?

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If you're motivated, where's the fruits of your labor?

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So we're gonna talk about that. You know, so it's a question that's puzzled people on their journey to success, which is, you

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know, what's what is better? Is it staying motivated, or is it instilling discipline and cultivating unwavering discipline

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in your journey in life? And this is applicable to anybody and everybody anywhere no matter what you're doing.

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So let's start off by, you know, painting a clearer picture of what I mean by motivation and discipline.

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Motivation is the inner fire that sparks, that ignites our desires to take action.

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It's the fuel that propels us forward, especially when we're brimming with excitement inspired by a new goal.

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And on the other hand, we have discipline.

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And discipline is the steady hand that guides us through the storm.

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It's the unwavering commitment to our objectives even when we're in the initial burst of a motivation

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of of, you know yes. I'm motivated and I'm sparked out.

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But when that fizzles out, discipline is what keeps you going.

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Discipline is about controlling our impulses, emotions, and actions, and our day in and day

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out to achieve our desired outcomes.

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So the case for motivation. How do we build a case to say, well, motivation is important.

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And and I don't disagree. Motivation is important.

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Motivation can be very powerful. It's a very powerful force.

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You know, it it's kind of like if you think about it, if you're gonna go, cliff diving or you

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got that flying squirrels, suit on suit on.

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I forget what it's called. You know, kind of like the Batman suit.

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It's the wind beneath your wings that's gonna push you up to soar you to new heights.

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You know, when we're fueled by motivation, tasks feel more meaningful and more rewarding.

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It infuses us with bursts of energy and creativity, making challenges seem like exciting new opportunities. So it's important.

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And I used to tell people all the time, especially soldiers, if, you know, what's better?

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False motivation or no motivation? And they would say, well, well, I wanna be true and honest, so no motivation. I'm like, no.

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False motivation is better because it requires effort.

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You're pretending to be motivated about something because you're putting an effort into being motivated.

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So how do we make a case for discipline then?

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So while motivation can be, you know, the most exciting of all of these feelings that we have,

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it's discipline that really, you know, stands the test of time.

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Discipline is the backbone of consistency and habit forming.

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It's the silent force that keeps us on track, you know, when the going gets tough.

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It's what separates the dreamers from the doers and the ones who merely talk about their goals

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and those who roll up their sleeves and make things happen.

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And this is huge because all too often, I hear, you know, people talking, I'm gonna do this,

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and I'm gonna do this, and I'm motivated to do this, and I'm here to do this.

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They don't do the things behind the scenes that are going to propel them to greatness and whatever

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endeavor it is that they're setting out. It's the discipline behind what you're doing that propels you forward into success.

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So it's it's whether or not you're committed.

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Let's say, you know, you've had a goal this year to lose weight.

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Well, that's your goal, and you say you're gonna get up every morning to go to the gym before work or before school?

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Are you getting up when you say you're going to get up?

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Or is somebody forcing you to do it?

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Or is nobody forcing you to do it and you're just not doing it because you don't lack the discipline.

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But you're controlling your nutrition, so everything is gonna be fine. Right? No. Wrong.

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Because you lack the discipline. The discipline is what will propel action.

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Discipline is when you're like, you know what? It's super cold outside.

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I don't feel like getting up, but you know what? I'm a do it anyway.

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Discipline is when you're so stinking tired from working your 8 hour shift or your 12 hour shift. You drive home.

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You you hang out with your family, you spend good quality family time, and you're like, you know what?

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I haven't invested the time in immediate today.

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I'm gonna take an hour or 2 to invest in my side projects and make sure that I, you know, propel

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my family forward by doing the things that I need to do.

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That requires discipline, and you can do it.

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It's just doing it every day. It's doing the small things every single day. Consistency builds discipline.

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So how do we find the balance? I don't think we need to choose between motivation and discipline all the time.

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I will say I will choose be personally disciplined over motivation every single day of the week.

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But the sweet spot here lies in between striking a balance between when you get things started

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and you have that huge uptick of motivation to start the journey, that's when you instill the

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small incremental disciplinary steps that you need to do to propel yourself forward.

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So that way, when that motivation starts to fizzle out, you've already built a habit.

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You've already built the muscle memory into your daily routine, which then will instill discipline

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when doing it when it's no longer fun to do.

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That is what makes a difference. And that's where I find, you know, the the happy medium here, the sweet spot.

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As you get a project, let's do it exciting, and you start running off with it, and then it starts to fizzle out.

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But if you if you're not doing those small disciplinary steps throughout the day to maintain

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that, then when the newness wears off and the shininess of the new toy wears off, you're not

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gonna you're not gonna be able to stick around for the long haul.

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Here's some real world examples that I just wanna bring up about highly successful individuals

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and how they balance motivation and discipline into their lives.

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First one is Elon Musk. Right? The visionary entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX and now x formerly known as Twitter.

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He's driven an unwavering passion for revolutionizing industries.

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His ambitious goals are fueled by his relentless discipline, A commitment to pushing boundaries,

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setting audacious targets, and demanding excellence of himself and his teams.

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He leads by example in that. You have Serena Williams.

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This tennis icon epitomizes the marriage of motivation and discipline on the court.

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Her love for the game fuels her relentless pursuit of greatness with her disciplined work ethic.

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Her rigorous training regimen and her mental resiliency propels her from victory time and time

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again because she knows that if she doesn't maintain the discipline first, she is not going

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to get the fruits of victory at the end. Right?

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Then we have Angela Duckworth, the pioneering psychologist who embodies the power of grit when

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it comes to passion and perseverance. Her motivation stems from a deep seated desire to unlock the secrets of the human potential

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while her disciplined approach to research.

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Her tireless work ethic and unwavering commitment to our goals drives her groundbreaking discoveries.

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So when, you know, even in an academic world, you you're you've gotta put in the work.

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You know, it's always awesome to have the the elevation of and the drive to wanna discover new

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things and to find new things and to unlock human potential.

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But unless you do the studying behind it, which is lots and lots and lots of reading and lots

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and lots and lots of talking to people, and lots and lots of writing, and lots of tireless endless

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nights doing the things that nobody else wants to do in the dark of the night to produce a product

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that is worthwhile for the rest of the world to consume.

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It's the discipline that drives the train.

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Motivation can help carry it, but discipline drives the train.

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So here's some practical tips of how we could daily, you know, start to implement and cultivate

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discipline into our own life. So again, if you have a teenager or early college student, if you're a young adult who's never

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kind of been to anything, and you're like, you know what? I need some more discipline.

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Here's how we can do it. Here's how we can instill it ourselves.

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You need to set clear goals for yourself.

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I I use SMART goals, but I think that, you know, you should definitely, start with that. Start with SMART goals. Hit some clear goals.

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What is it that you wanna do? What is it that you want to achieve?

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And then set up a small plan of how you're going to create them.

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Then you need to create a routine. You need to establish a daily routine or schedule that includes dedicated time for the most

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important tasks and self improvement.

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And here's why I say that. I say that because if you don't use the Pareto principle, if you're not exercising that 80 20

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rule, which is 20% of my tasks are gonna equal 80% of my outcome or my achievable things.

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And the other 80% that I'm doing is only gonna equate to percent of it anyway, so don't put

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much energy and effort into it. It's not gonna yield much results anyway.

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But you just gotta put the effort and time into things that are going to achieve you the biggest results.

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So that's why routine is essential when it comes to prioritizing, you know, how you're going

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to get after achieving those goals. Then you gotta prioritize your task. Right?

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You gotta have identify what are the most important three things that you're gonna do every

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single day to accomplish your goals. And I mean this, what are you going to do every single day?

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If you do nothing else, what are 3 things that you're going to do that is gonna drive your goals,

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that's gonna drive your time management, that's gonna drive you to doing what you need to do?

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Because even if your goal is to be the most prolific and most profound YouTuber ever, guess what?

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It still takes discipline to do that.

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It takes recording and editing and failure and doing and repetition.

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And until you establish enough muscle memory and repetition to find the thing that works, your

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motivation's gonna fail way before your discipline will. So prioritize your tasks.

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Then you gotta practice self control. Right?

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How are you going to delay immediate self gratification for long term success?

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Think about that for a second. How were you going to delay immediate self gratification for long term success?

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And this is harder for many of us because we live in a society where instant gratification is instant, literally.

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If you don't like what's on television, which I don't even know who watches television anymore

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because you can watch Netflix. You can pick and choose whatever you wanna watch.

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You can pick and choose any streaming service out there and pick whatever show you wanna watch, when you wanna watch.

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And if you don't like any of those, you can get on to YouTube and watch shorts.

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Go on to Instagram and watch reels. You can go on to TikTok and watch TikTok all day long.

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You're going to feed whatever it is that you're going to look for immediately.

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If you're hungry, you can go get fast food. Get it immediately. Not nutritious.

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It's not good for you, but it's what you want. You are hungry. Right?

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Or you can heat some microwave food up, which also isn't good for you. Cooking takes some time.

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It's also better for you. But anyway, how are you going to practice self control and delaying that immediate self gratification?

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Then you gotta break things down into, you know, manageable steps.

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How are you going to eat the elephant?

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And I tell my oldest son this all the time.

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You got this elephant in front of you. How are you gonna eat it?

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One bite at a time. If it takes you 2 years to eat that elephant, it takes you 2 years to eat it.

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How long it takes you to eat the elephant is determined on the size of the elephant in that goal.

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And if you think you're gonna eat that huge £2,000 elephant in 2 days, you need to readjust

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your timeline on your goal scale because you're not gonna do it.

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You're not gonna get there. It's not gonna happen. So adjust your timeline.

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You need to eliminate distractions. You need to minimize what is coming into your environment and maintaining focus and productivity.

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And that's why I talked about your inner circle up at the up at the front of it.

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What are you going to do to help you stay committed by eliminating all the external things that don't matter?

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There are things that matter, but the things that don't matter, who's helping you eliminate those?

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Keep those away from you. You got a whole you got a practice consistency.

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How are you learning to establish habits every day?

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You have to establish a habit by doing it and doing it and doing it. It's repetitious. It's monotonous.

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It's boring, but it's required.

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And then who you gonna how how are you gonna hold yourself accountable?

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Again, we talked about that inner circle. We gotta have accountability.

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You gotta you've gotta be consistent. You gotta be accountable.

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So when you're not being consistent, somebody tells you you're not doing it and then held hold you accountable.

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There's a way to do it in a loving way to let you know that you're off track. Right?

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But we all need it. And then what are you doing to celebrate those short wins on your way to success?

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You know, The Rock, he has a cheat meal every week.

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His banana, French toast, bread. Right?

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That is his cheat code. That is that is his cheat meal every day. Wait.

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He's like, I wanna maintain the most rigorous and ambitious workout schedule and diet nutrition

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or schedule I can find, but at the same time, every week, I'm gonna eat these banana French

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toast on his brioche bread.

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So what are you doing to set yourself up for an award for doing what you need to do and to stay

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positive and to build in that motivation. Right?

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So we start with the discipline, and we build in the motivation to do the things.

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And that's why I say it's not motivation versus discipline, which is better.

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So I'm here to tell you I'm I'm here to tell you that anyone was telling you, oh, you're it's motivation.

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If you're not motivated, you're never gonna achieve anything. I claim BS.

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If you're not disciplined, you're never going to achieve anything because motivation happens. It ebbs and flows.

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You can listen to this podcast, and I hope you got motivated by it.

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Probably gonna last you 15, 20 minutes, if that. Realistically, 15, 20 minutes.

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Not gonna last you much longer than that. And then what's gonna happen? You're gonna lose interest.

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And if you're not disciplined, you're not gonna do what you're supposed to do.

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So we just talked about, you know, the things, the steps that we need to do to establish daily consistency discipline.

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And then, you can you can tweak it. You can up it as you develop your discipline.

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And so wrapping it up here, the motivation is good.

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It provides you a temporary boost of of effort and energy, but discipline is what really carries

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you through the long haul and the late nights, the early mornings, and the moments when we're

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faced with adversity and challenges.

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The moments that were everything in your life seemingly is falling apart, not working out well,

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but yet you still are doing the things that you need to do to be consistent, to get after your

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goals, to do what's important, to do what is required.

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So the next time you find yourself lacking motivation, remember this.

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It's discipline that sets champions apart from the rest of everybody else.

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It's discipline that turns dreams into the reality and aspirations into achievements.

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So embrace the power of discipline and watch it as it transforms your life in ways you've never thought possible. Think about that.

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So when you don't wanna get up in the morning because it's cold, because you don't feel good,

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because you sniffle, guess what?

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The rest of the world feels exactly the same way you feel.

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I guarantee you, every single person that you look look up to in life, whether they're a celebrity,

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non celebrity, whoever it is, when they wake up in the morning, I'm pretty sure something hurts.

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I'm pretty sure they don't feel pretty good.

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I'm pretty sure some of them are even depressed and don't even wanna wake up in the morning. But guess what?

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They do it because they're disciplined and you look up to that.

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But you don't see that. You just see the rewards of discipline which then provides you some motivation, but only lasts

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15, 20 minutes if that. So you need to really work out your discipline.

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And once you work on your discipline through things, then everything else will start to fall into path.

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So as always, I want to thank you for stopping by and listening to this episode, and I hope you really enjoyed it.

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Before we go, I'd like to ask a favor of you if I could.

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If you could please share this episode with 1 or 2 other people who you think might like this topic.

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If you haven't followed or subscribed on the platform that you're listening to this on, please

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hit all the bells, whistles, icons, you name it, since you know when we post another episode.

21:51

We've been posting, 2 episodes a month.

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And then if you go to timstatingtheobvious.com, we have our website up there, which we have

21:59

a blog post, which further enhances each episode, into more detail.

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It talks about them, kinda bringing it more to life, and it's also a place where we can collaborate and talk.

22:08

If you get some value out of this episode, please leave a review or comment on the show on whatever

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platform you're you're leaving it on so that other people who haven't found the show can actually

22:17

find it, because they're interested in the same topics that you are.

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So again, thanks for stopping by. I'm Tim Staton, stating the obvious.