Staying Motivated During The Holidays

Posted by Zach Smith on December 27, 2020

Hey there all!

Hope everyone is staying warm and having a good holiday season. With New Years coming up, it might be a good time to think about resolutions. As for mine, I’ve been staying busy the last couple of weeks, but I’ve run into something that always seems to be an issue during the holidays: a lack of motivation.

I’m not the first to face this issue, and definitely not the last. But a few days ago, while scrolling through a programming community on Reddit I read something that has been fresh on my mind ever since. To paraphrase, what I read was this:

“I realized that discipline beats motivation every time.”

How true this is! I’ve been thinking about this idea ever since. Motivation comes and goes, and I know it’s especially difficult to keep up around the holidays. Routines are much more dependable. Even when looking back at my own life, I can easily say that the most confident times were the ones when I was keeping to a consistent routine.

I admit I am not the most structured person naturally. But setting up a set time each week to code, job search, or even write this blog will be a huge step toward being more productive and happy.

So for my New Years Resolution this year, I am going to strive to rely more on discipline and less on motivation. What’s yours? Whatever it is, I hope it brings you good things in the times to come. Good luck out there!

Zach Smith