Self-discipline vs. Motivation

Motivation; The first time I heard that word, used generously, was when I taught classroom music in a school for gifted children in the 1980s. It was starting to be a "buzz" word in classroom education for slower learners. The school served children with learning disabilities and recognized that many children were not able to develop tools that are necessary for success in life. It became commonplace to hear statements like, Jimmy could not finish the task because he was not motivated.  It was a gentler way of speaking about a student's learning challenges. 

Self-discipline helps an individual achieve by building constructive habits that lead to success in sports, arts, science, religion, or any other field of choice. Motivation is feeling pressed to do a task because of one's emotions. A boy is motivated to attend soccer practice because he will feel embarrassed in front of his peers if he stays home to play video games. That boy is motivated. A young girl gets up at 4:00am every morning to catch the bus to go to the skating rink, and practice by herself, before she has to go to school. This girl has self-discipline. Let's take this to the adult level.

A man is motivated to go into the office, to a mundane job, every day, because he doesn't want society to think of him as a bum. He is moved by his feelings. A young woman starts her own clothing design firm and with daily perseverance through many failures, and self-discipline, moves from a once-a-week small farmer's market tent to opening her own successful store in a popular town. She is self-disciplined.

Your grandparents called self-discipline, a good work ethic. What do you think of when you think about self-discipline? Some don't like the word and feel it is too harsh.

Like every teacher, I see self-disciplined children who do excel. But more frequently, I see children who will only do work if there is an emotional component; which means they don't progress as far in their education as they could. Only doing a task when one is triggered by fear, embarrassment, fun, companionship, peer pressure, or jealousy, is not a healthy path to success. Failure, in many areas, can start to set in if every task is approached only when the person relies on their feelings to motivate positive movement. 

When you practice self-discipline, good feelings come as you see yourself improving. Use self-discipline to bring honest feelings. Don't wait for your feelings to cause you to act. 

It is my opinion that the re-structuring of education, with motivation (doing work because of an emotional component) becoming more important than rewards of self-discipline, has produced lower standards in many fields of education. 

I have a theory as to why motivation continues to be stressed ahead of teaching self-discipline in education. 

We now have a generation of parents who were raised within an educational system that employed motivation strategies. (This is not the fault of today's parents.) These parents are now raising children using the tools they were taught which were motivational practices. 

Sometimes I see myself as a one-woman-band trying to guide students in how to succeed with self-discipline. I welcome any educator who wants to join me.