you don't need motivation

Motivation is a myth

Why do you want to do medicine? What are your motivations for pursuing this course? This question inevitably came up in all my medicine interviews in one form or another. I would reply with something along the lines of I want to help others, and/or that science interests me, but something didn't sit right with me whenever I was asked that question. Surely most applicants and to-be medical students are as motivated as I was to get into medicine, if not more, but then why do some studies show 10-15% of doctors leaving 2 or more years after graduation? I'm certain it has very little to do with their abilities or their 'drive' in this subject. 

When you have something that has to be done (or something you would like to do), most of us tend to use motivation to try and do it. Motivation implies a particular mental or emotional state is necessary to complete a task, you need to feel like doing something before you can do the thing. The implications are dangerous. See it this way: "...you don’t wait until you’re in Olympic form to start training. You train to get into Olympic form."

I am motivated to become a doctor, sure; I love science, and I love the intricacies of research that goes on behind every medical intervention and drug prescribed. I want to help individuals and patients; to make an impact on others' lives. Sounds reasonable right? But will this be enough to carry me through the long years of medical school, and post-graduate training? The figures speak for themselves.

Cultivating discipline

Discipline (v) is to train by instruction and exercise; drill whereas motivation (n) is the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. By definition, motivation only exists as a noun, but discipline has a verb form. In other words, discipline is something you do, and choose to do whereas motivation is a thing that comes and goes, something which you cannot choose to do or control. Motivation is a delightful thing to take advantage of when it comes around, giving us thrilling abilities of focus and productivity. But motivation is finite and unpredictable, and like other fickle things, we shouldn't rely on it. Even when you are working on something you love or wanting to start something new, the excitement and novelty will only carry us so far, and there will always be parts of it that are necessary but are not particularly interesting, especially in the field of healthcare where the burnout rates are high. To depend on a fleeting feeling is a bad idea. 

Discipline as a way of living is not new, going back thousands of years in Buddhism and stoicism, and is something we have to actively cultivate. Just like how buff athletes work out to build their muscles, it isn't something we are inherently born with (think about how hard it is to get young children to do their homework). Discipline is the significantly more unpleasant option because it isn't fun it's not something that makes you feel good especially compared to the premise of motivation. We want the easy way out, instant gratification, to believe we just have to wait to feel like doing it. But often, instant gratification is just that. A quick fix. Discipline is a system, habits, constant intentional behaviour choices that you make even when you don't feel like it rather acting on a whim as motivation implies. This allows you to make the real major changes achieve what you truly want. You get to feel good afterwards; in other words, delayed gratification. Your future self will thank you.

It is important to have a drive and an interest in the things you want to do, but remember that nothing in life will be smooth sailing. Almost everything you will want to do in life will have some unpleasant aspects, letting what you truly want to do go away just because you didn't feel like doing the difficult bits is a pity. Everyone wants success, but only the disciplined follow through with what they want rather than the smartest or most talented and achieve success. Do the difficult things. Form systems and cultivate discipline. Live life by design, not by default.

A few notes:

In this day and age, I find that I have been told many times to find something that truly motivates me, and especially since I didn't know what I wanted to do until very recently, I didn't have the 'motivation' to study for much. I liked science, sure, but was in no way passionate about it, and I didn't particularly like sitting down for long hours studying. However, I had the feeling that I shouldn't wait for the motivation or passion to work hard, and I'm glad I didn't wait. I do love the field of medicine, and I think that stemmed from my understanding and experience in science; discipline to working hard helped guide my interests and eventually lead to the motivation to do medicine. As someone that isn't particularly 'intelligent' or 'passionate', I think discipline is more important to doing well and achieving success than having strong passions or motivations or even being more 'intelligent' or 'talented'; although being smart does certainly contribute. I hope that you found this interesting and helpful. 'Cheers'☺

Some housekeeping:

• Screw motivation, what you need is discipline (a blog post for further reading)
• The Procrastination Doom Loop—and How to Break It (more on the procrastination loop)
• The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win (I have yet to read this but I hear it is good!)