Cem Hurturk
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Discipline vs Motivation: The Love-Fear Spectrum of Action

Discipline vs Motivation: The Love-Fear Spectrum of Action

Discipline beats motivation, but love wins all. Our actions are driven by two big emotions: love and fear.

The Two Sides of Motivation

When you’re working on a cool software project that solves a real world problem, you’re operating from love. This intrinsic motivation is exciting. Compare that to a 9-5 job done just to maintain a lifestyle – here fear of losing financial security is the main driver.

Personal Experience: Enterprise Sales Journey

My own experience with enterprise sales is a perfect example of this internal conflict. I’m good at building and selling software products but enterprise sales felt like a soul-sucking experience. Long, boring meetings. Trying to convince dispassionate stakeholders about a solution they barely understood.I committed to enterprise sales for a full year. Surprisingly I did well. I closed high-ticket deals multiple times. But something was missing – the joy, the excitement was absent.

The Courage to Choose Love

Despite financial success I made a big decision. I stopped doing enterprise sales. Was I leaving money on the table? Absolutely. But I got back something far more valuable – my life’s enjoyment.This wasn’t about being weak. It was about being intentional. I realized I wasn’t acting out of love but out of fear of missing out on potential revenue.

Experimentation: The Way to Authentic Choices

Never decide without trying. Yoda’s wisdom is true: “Do or do not, there is no try”. But I interpret this differently. Trying means fully immersing yourself, not half-heartedly attempting.By fully trying enterprise sales I got clarity. My gut feeling confirmed what my rational mind suspected – this wasn’t my path.

Comfort and Growth

Doing things out of love can trap you in a comfort zone. Growth requires pushing boundaries. But that doesn’t mean forcing yourself into perpetual discomfort.The sweet spot is intentional discomfort – choosing challenges that align with your broader personal and professional goals.

The Decision Framework

  1. Try it fully
  2. Listen to your internal response
  3. Are you motivated by love or fear
  4. Choose consciously
  5. Be willing to pivot

Discipline is important but shouldn’t feel like a permanent torture. When discipline is in love it’s effortless mastery.

My Random Thoughts

Failing Is Human, Not a Flaw

Failing Is Human, Not a Flaw

We all fall behind sometimes—miss deadlines, lose motivation, or just feel off track. In a world that worships hustle, it’s easy to forget that failure is normal. In this post, I share four things that help me reset when I’m struggling: intention, action, resilience, and self-kindness. If you’ve been hard on yourself lately, this one’s for you.

9/22/2025
Readme.txt

Readme.txt

My name is Cem Hurturk. I’m a self-made software engineer and serial entrepreneur. I’ve been writing code since I was in high school and working in the software industry since the early 1990s.

1/4/2022
It’s Not About The Outcome

It’s Not About The Outcome

Most people don’t achieve their dreams because they focus on the outcome. Like Neo trying to bend the spoon in The Matrix, the more we try to force the result, the more it slips away. When we focus on the end goal we create mental barriers that make it feel impossible.

11/4/2024