Motivation: How to get your drive

We all know that feeling of needing to do something or get something. This drive that we experience is motivation. We might be motivated to win a match, break a record, or become one of the greats. This leads us to behaving in certain ways to reach that target.

Essentially, motivation is the driving force that makes you take action to get what you want. Athletes will use the motivation for their desired outcomes to be disciplined in their training, stay focused on their goals, and get through difficult moments of their development. Motivation comes in 2 main forms.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic

Motivation that comes from within the individual, e.g., passion for what they do, enjoyment from mastering their skill, or personal satisfaction for achieving what they set out to achieve. People that are intrinsically motivated find joy from the process itself, not from external rewards, e.g., money.

Extrinsic

Motivation that comes from things outside of the individual, e.g., money, medals, recognition, etc. These forms of motivation are often more associated with short term motivation. The drive for more money or the medal can be useful, but things like ‘love of the game’ generally are more lasting in motivation.

The 2 types of motivation have different impacts on well-being and motivation. Athletes who mainly use intrinsic motivations tend to be more resilient, have more confidence and have stronger identity/purpose with their goals. For example, the enjoyment of the process is inherently rewarding, you are going to want to keep going when you love training or playing the sport anyway. However, extrinsically motivated people tend to lose motivation sooner when rewards don’t meet expectations, e.g., winning the medal didn’t feel good enough, so you question why you play the sport, which leads to negative thought patterns etc. You’re more likely to struggle to develop and improve if use mainly use extrinsic motivation to get you going.

How do we build intrinsic motivation

Take Ownership

Personalise your training programme so that it suits you. Make sure that it is effective for your progress, sustainable and enjoyable. You’ll want to continue the process for longer when you take charge and make it work for you.

SMART Goals

For the people that have followed the blog will know I love SMART goals. Setting out targets that are suitable to you makes the process of development much easier. When you know what to do and how you’re going to do it, your intrinsic motivation will grow.

Growth Mindset

Having the right framework around difficult moments makes a huge difference. Treat challenge as a learning opportunity, develop the love of mastering something. All that good motivation will fall into place.

Celebrate Effort and Progress

Recognise when you’re putting in the work and the developments you see in yourself. You’ll probably want to keep it up and see where you can get to. It’s important to pat yourself on the back for what you do, it keeps the machine going.

Whilst both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation both have their uses for progress, making full use of intrinsic motivation is the way forward. Build those motivational platforms to help you chase your dreams for the longest time. If you foster your intrinsic motivation, you’ll thoroughly enjoy the journey getting there.

---