006: Sparks and Flames
I haven’t felt like running this week.
I’m not really sure why. I’ve quietly felt a bit out of sorts the past week or two, but that’s beside the point. Either way, it’s been easy to find reasons to put off running.
Too much work to do. I’d best stay at the desk a little later.
It’s cold.
It’s wet.
Those particular shorts I prefer to all the others aren’t dry yet.
I even nearly convinced myself I deserved a night off.
But for all the forces that conspired to keep me stationary, I ran anyway.
I ran, but not because I felt motivated.
Motivation had faded, reduced to a wisp trailing from the candle of my willpower.
I ran because a run had to be run, because neither a lack of motivation, nor an abundance of it, gets a say in the doing of what has to be done.
That mindset has another name:
Discipline.
Scroll through your feed and you’ll see plenty of seemingly motivated people.
Motivation gets all the attention.
It’s striking. Cinematic.
It’s the montage scene in a movie when the hero has a spark of inspiration.
The arrival of new running gear.
The training plan for your next race, freshly printed and pinned to the wall.
That playlist that begins with three epic songs to start your run.
Motivation gets you started.
But it’s not what gets you to the finish line.
Or out the door at 7am in sideways rain.
Or past that point just beyond halfway, where your legs request a meeting with your mind, and neither are all that happy.
That’s discipline.
Discipline doesn’t wait for the right conditions. It just shows up.
Boring.
Steady.
Silently relentless.
And it gets stronger every time you use it.
Discipline is the version of you that keeps promises.
You don’t need motivation to build something great.
You need a system.
A rhythm.
A way to show up, again and again, until showing up becomes who you are.
Because growth, real growth, doesn’t come from the days you feel like a hero, but from the days you don’t feel like anything at all… and yet you go anyway.
That’s not to say motivation is useless.
We all need a spark.
We need the big moments.
The race entry.
The goal setting.
The inspiration of watching someone else do something brilliant.
But sparks don’t keep you warm.
Motivation lights the fire.
Discipline keeps the flame alive.
So if you’ve made it this far and you’re wondering, what do we do when motivation doesn’t show up?
We run anyway.
It won’t feel magical or even memorable.
But that’s not the point.
The point is: when you run without motivation, you build something invaluable.
Trust in yourself.
You prove, quietly, in the grey drizzle of a Thursday evening, that you are someone who follows through.
Someone who honours the plan.
Someone who shows up for the preparation, not just the payoff.
And maybe that’s one of the most powerful tools you can carry.
Because the finish line won’t care how you felt after mile one.
But you will.
Let your motivation inspire you.
Let your discipline define you.
And if you’re reading this and you don’t feel like running...
If you’ve lost your mojo and you’re just not feeling it…
Go.
Tie your laces.
Step forward.
Your motivation may or may not show up.
But you will.
