Discipline is not the same as devotion

The pursuit of your goals should feel less like a struggle and more like a joyful act of dedication

I read somewhere recently that when you start to view discipline as devotion, everything changes. Currently on a journey of reinvention, I couldn’t agree more.

Discipline vs. Devotion

Discipline is the practice of training your mind to act in the name of self-control and consistency. It’s the ability to do what’s necessary in pursuit of a goal or objective. The outcome of discipline tends to create structure, build habits and leads to some sort of improvement of skills or accomplishment.

Devotion, on the other hand, signifies a profound commitment or love towards someone or something. In this case, it’s some thing or activity and is best described as a heartfelt dedication and loyalty to a cause that makes the effort feel less burdensome and more purposeful.

In other words, discipline is the slow but steady churn of the engine while devotion breeds as the powerful, emotional “why” to what you’re doing. It’s more than just a temporary spark though. I view devotion as the north star and the true ‘engine’ behind my motivation.

Discipline or devotion: which one is better?

If discipline is creating the systems and structures to achieve a goal, then everything that I’m in pursuit of requires some level of discipline:

• Lifting a certain amount of weights at the gym

• Achieving a certain asana pose in my yoga practice

• Running X km a week

• Writing and posting one Substack article each week

• Creating more and sharing more of myself online

• Setting a timeline of 6 months to “figure out” my reinvention. (If I’m not a university student, a proposal writer, or a product marketer at my last company, than what and who I am?)

These pursuits are all achievable, but only if I set up the systems to help me do so. If I want to hit a certain PR at the gym by the end of summer, I need a training plan to get me there. If my goal is to do pincha mayurasana by the end of the year in two variations, I need to allocate time each day to building endurance. If I’ve set a timeline to navigate my current reinvention, my schedule needs to allocate time to do so. And finally, if experimentation and learning is the north star during this uncomfortable, ambiguous time in my life, I should be tackling no more than 1 or 2 creative outlets and seriously making time for those.

How you do one thing is how you do everything

Find your devotion

So with this new lens, ask yourself: does this change how you pursue your goals? Do they change the goal itself? Or does it eliminate certain pursuits altogether?

For me, treating yoga as a devotion rather than an act of discipline has been transformative. By showing up every day on the mat to practice even for 5 minutes, I’ve not only trained my mind to practice (discipline), but I also experience joy (devotion) in being able to step on my mat. You don’t have to move, you get to move.

If there’s ever a shadow of a doubt to why you need to do a “thing” on a random Tuesday, ask yourself this question:

Are you approaching this activity with discipline or devotion? Why?

If your answer is strictly discipline, try asking yourself a second question: what is it lacking in order to receive the full heartfelt dedication and loyalty that it would otherwise receive if it was for devotion?

There’s nothing inherently bad about discipline. It’s incredible when built to be consistent, humming in the background to fuel your dreams, goals and aspirations. But without devotion—and the why you’re doing what you’re doing—discipline alone may not take you very far or with full contentment.

I’ll leave you with one final takeway—summarizing the comparison.

In essence, discipline is the how—the consistent effort and adherence to a path. Devotion is the why—the deep connection and love that fuels and sustains that journey.

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