Lacking Motivation Doesn’t Make You a Bad Employee

Motivation is cyclical, but discipline is a mindset. I’ll be the first one to say I did not feel like coming to work today. I felt overloaded, tired, and have a lot going on both personally and professionally. I slept in too late and didn’t feel very much like doing anything.

This isn’t my every day. There are plenty of days that I come to work ready to conquer the world. I bring the fire extinguisher in ready to put out all the fires that I’ll be tasked with in my day. But it’s okay to realize that this is tiring over time. It’s hard to keep the only fire I want burning lit and that’s the fire inside. The fire to keep showing up every day and giving it my all.

Sometimes, that makes me feel like a bad employee. I feel like I’ll let my team down or I’ll be called out for not performing my best one day. But I have to remind myself, that motivation is not always going to be there. It’s not supposed to be. Instead, you have to be disciplined enough to show up, even on the days you don’t want to.

It’s just like working out. Often people feel inspired by some story or movie, and they want to start their fitness journey or get back into the habit of working out which may have fallen off somewhere along the way. People start on their first day, inspired and full of vigor. Many will return the next day to continue this effort in their “new life”. But so many of us fall off the wagon. Other things come up, the motivation to go work out fades. It becomes a chore. It becomes something that we should do, but just don’t because of everything else happening. The motivation fades and along with it the discipline dies.

The difference between those who stick with it, stay in shape, and show up every day and the others is discipline. I can tell you that there are many people who consistently work out 4-6 days a week who do not want to go to the gym or go for a run. They would much rather rest on the couch or sleep in before work. They force themselves to go because they are disciplined. They focus on the daily effort and make it an obligation and a habit. If it’s not a choice, then you have to do something. That’s how the best athletes and fitness gurus make it happen. It is a lifestyle, not a goal. There is no choice of doing something else, there is only the fact that the routine must be followed. Those are the people that see results.

Now, I’m no David Goggins. I fail more than I’d like. I intend to go for a run or make it to the gym and some days, it just doesn’t happen. Some days I’m tired or don’t feel well, and I choose to rest instead. But for the most part, 3-4 days a week, I am doing some sort of exercise. On my off days, I still try to get a 30-60 minute walk in and I feel better for it. I’m showing up and putting in the work consistently. I’m maintaining the discipline to make it happen.

I pale in comparison to my wife who gets up every morning before 6:00 AM and gets a workout in at her gym 6 days a week. She has more discipline than I do and I stay in bed more than I’d like to when she’s getting up and getting after it. But that’s just a difference among our schedules and intentions. I work from home and often have time during the day to get a workout in or go for a walk. My wife works at an office and if she doesn’t go in the morning, then it’s harder for her to get there. She stays disciplined to her schedule because it holds her accountable. She doesn’t rely on the fact that she has all day. She gets up and she gets it done. While I am also disciplined in my own right, I also have a different daily structure. I have other things that I want to focus on. For my wife, going to the gym is her outlet. That’s her happy place. Somewhere she has a community and friends that boost her confidence and encourage her achievements.

For me, I find solace in other activities. While I enjoy working out, it’s something that I feel I have to do and stay after consistently. There are many days I’d rather read a great book or work on my business. I’d rather watch my favorite movies or go to a concert. I have other things that I find as my outlets, and that makes working out harder to place on my list compared to my wife’s which always has the gym at the top. But at the end of the day, we are both consistent despite the fact that she’s more consistent than I. We both make it a point to keep our fitness and health as priorities and even on the days when we lack motivation, we still show up (most of the time).

This same ideology can be applied to the workplace. You aren’t going to have the same first day jitters forever. You can work at an amazing agency with endless opportunities and your best friends, and still have days that you want to stay home. You could work at a $100 million dollar company changing lives with technology and still feel like staying in bed. You are still going to have days with too little sleep and too much frustration. That’s okay. That’s part of being alive.

All you have to do is show up. I never had a workout that I regretted when I finished. I never had a hard day’s work I regretted either. You don’t have to be a rockstar every day. You don’t have to stop 50 cars, write 100 tickets, and take 10 people to jail in order to be a worthy employee. You just have to keep showing up and doing your best. You have to stay consistent at the effort of being there and putting in the work. You have to stay disciplined.

When you show up, answer your calls, and support your teammates, you are doing what is asked of you. You are a good employee. When you go the extra mile and you have extra motivation to do the job well on your good days, those are highlights that should make you feel proud. But that can’t be everyday. Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes you will mess up and feel like you should have just stayed home. But that’s the difference between a high-performing employee and a mediocre one. The best employees show up, even when they don’t want to. They put a smile on and they get after it even when they feel like doing the opposite. They stay disciplined because discipline matters more than motivation.

If motivation ruled the behaviors, half the shift wouldn’t show up. But warriors are disciplined. The police are disciplined. And the fact that you are there putting in your time and effort means you are valuable and your employer is lucky to have you. On the days you don’t feel motivated, keep going. And on the days you do, raise the bar and uplift those around you and motivate them to perform at your level.