The simple answer: a little of both.

Let me explain. Picture it: it’s December 20th and you can feel the new year is coming. You are excited for all the changes you’re planning to make to your lifestyle in the new year, and you couldn’t be more motivated. You are ready! (We’ve all been there before, right?) So, the new year starts- you’re feeling great, you’re motivated, and making the lifestyle changes is coming along so easy.

But then a week passes; then two weeks, and then three. And before long, you’re wondering where all of that wonderful motivation disappeared to. You feel frustrated because you know how good you were doing and wish you could get that motivation to come back.

But the bottom line is that the motivation you felt as you were starting that lifestyle change will likely not come back. Motivation is great to get you started, but it is not meant to last forever. Motivation comes and goes, and it will leave you when you need it most. The good news is that all hope isn’t lost just because you stopped feeling motivated. This is where dedication and discipline come in.

Discipline is, “the ability to make good choices and act on them, time and time again; your ability to avoid distraction”; it is your ability to do what needs to be done, even when you may not want to do it or when it is challenging. Whereas dedication is, “being devoted to a task or purpose”; it is your desire for something and allowing that desire to keep you working towards it.

Discipline and dedication can save you when you are not feeling motivated, but that usually takes a little more work. The days where you really do not want to exercise, for example- those are the days where you must rely on your discipline and dedication and get yourself to the gym.

The moral of this story is that if you started the year strong, and your motivation is nowhere to be found at this point, you are not broken. You are not abnormal. And you are not destined to fail. Quite the contrary actuallyyou are very normal, and you absolutely can keep working at your goals, but you now must rely on dedication and discipline.

So, the real question is: how badly do you want it?