When Motivation Feels Like Weather & Discipline Becomes the Journey
A reflection from a train journey…
As a trainer, traveller and someone who still believes in the poetry hiding between life’s everyday rituals, I’ve often tried to trace the difference between people who dream beautifully and those who build quietly.
And somewhere between a cup of irani chai at a small-town station and an early morning train to “where am I really heading?”, a line struck me with a force stronger than caffeine:
“Motivation is a mood. Discipline is a decision.”
It didn’t land like a motivational poster. It landed like truth.
One of those rare ones that don’t shout—they sit next to you like an old friend and simply nod.
This blog is written from that nod.
Motivation is a mood. Discipline is a decision.
Some days, motivation arrives like monsoon clouds over a thirsty heart—unexpected, cinematic, seductive.
It makes us believe today’s the day we’ll move mountains… or at least clean that forgotten bookshelf.
But somewhere between platform No. 3 and a sunrise in a city I don’t yet know the name of, I realised:
Motivation is seasonal. Discipline is migratory.
Motivation visits like a long-distance admirer—beautiful, exciting… but unreliable.
Discipline is the one who wakes up beside you even on days you feel unready.
It doesn’t ask, “Do you feel like it?”
It simply whispers, “We’re doing this.”
I’ve met people who wait for the perfect mood to begin.
And I’ve met travellers who pack their bags in the middle of storms—and somehow reach somewhere meaningful anyway.
Maybe discipline is romance in its highest form.
Not the fireworks, but the daily commitment.
Not the dramatic yes, but the quiet wake-up call to the soul.
So today, I’m not flirting with motivation.
I am choosing discipline—
not because it excites me, but because it completes me.
If you’re reading this and delaying something “until I’m in the right frame of mind”… may I gently nudge you, as the professor does while adjusting his spectacles:
“Start. Not because the mood is right. Start because you are.”
And sometimes, the rhythm arrives after the step.
🎒🖊️ Final Thought
Maybe the real journey isn’t about waiting for emotional sunshine.
Maybe it’s about beginning anyway, with umbrella in hand, heart slightly unsure, but feet moving.
Because moods shift.
Decisions shape.
From a moving desk—a train window seat, fields racing past, evening settling slowly.
With love, with purpose,
~ Rakesh ✍️🚆
