Your motivational bucket
Within this article Coach Alan reflects upon his observations of the varying response of athletes’ motivational state during the pandemic. Read on to find out how you can change your mindset and grow through this time and become a mentally robust athlete.
Whilst some elite athletes have taken steps back from their Olympic plans or varied their regular schedule for fun or to take up new earning opportunities, amateur athletes are also left with fewer ‘possible’ events to choose from. By comparison, an elite athlete can significantly scale back their ‘work’ and still be doing a lot of exercise when compared to an amateur athlete. It is not the case that this is any easier to handle but it certainly is different. Amateur athletes are also left with fewer ‘possible’ events to choose from. I have mixed observations of the behaviour of age group athletes. I have seen;
Motivation dipping
Motivation disappearing
Motivation increasing
Motivation staying relatively stable
For many amateur athletes, their main motivation is racing. Suddenly, without their usual motivation, athletes are seeking the real purpose behind their training, and this has left me thinking about motivation in a little more detail so I’ll try and share some of those thoughts with you here.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation?
Why has the response been so varied? Beyond the obvious answer that “we are all different.” there are lots of motivation-based variables that have changed. Motivation can be split most simply into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Those of us who are highly extrinsically motivated are boosted up by external rewards money, fame, praise, trophies or simply to avoid punishment. There is always a ‘point’ or an ‘outcome’ with those who are extrinsically motivated. It is also essential to recognise that social pressure and conformity can be a factor in extrinsic motivation, it is easier to follow the trend.
What does motivation look like without a finish line?
Intrinsic motivation differs as it can often be merely the ‘process’ of doing something enjoyable and fun; something is done because you would like to do the ‘thing’ itself. You might want to learn something as the process is satisfying not because your job requires it. You might enjoy running as exploration is enjoyable and interesting. Additionally time outside is pleasant. in essence there is no reward for the intrinsically motivated activity.
In recent times the removal of social interaction and the removal of race days are the most significant motivational changes. So almost all extrinsic reward and recognition has been removed. There are no trophies, no results, no external comparisons and we are only left with getting a kudos-type response from our devices or a well done from those we live with or remotely from a coach. For athletes who are strongly externally motivated their bucket of motivation has suddenly sprung a rather massive leak.
Task vs. Ego?
‘Task’ or ‘ego’ orientated athlete also described as ‘mastery’ and ‘performance’ motivational orientations. The types of motivations have significant interaction with how an athlete sets their goals, is therefore motivated and therefore reflects upon their progress and achievements. The primary motivation for athletes who set goals around task mastery is learning and mastery of the task on an intrinsic basis, in other words just to enjoy that process with no external outcome. Comparison to self, rather than others, is the only assessment of progress or performance.
A different athlete who is motivated by ‘ego and performance’ may base their goals upon measuring progress and achievements relative to others via comparison, what is normal, or results, did I beat them? As you can see again those who are more ego and performance-orientated or whose goals are more ego and performance motivated have also lost a lot of motivation at the moment. Whilst those athletes with a large bucket of internal motivation and willpower have stayed relatively stable. These athletes may be more likely at the moment to want to reach out to social media or virtual racing to measure themselves.
We are all somewhere on a spectrum of task to ego and intrinsic to extrinsic motivation. Neither of these is right or wrong they are just different and may have very good reason to be different depending on our personal situation. The current environment we find ourselves in gives us all opportunity to observe and reflect upon our motivations and ‘sporting why’s’ all too often these can be overlooked, but knowing them and working with them is essential in realising your potential.
Willpower Quota?
Thanks to one of the athletes I work with the idea of a ‘willpower quota’ or ‘willpower bucket’ has come to mind and has worked well in visualising that a leak in the bucket of motivation, will mean a resulting struggle in motivation from time to time.
We can also all vary in our motivation in different situations; we may be incredibly motivated to swim but not to run. Also, this may vary at different times; one day we may feel great, and the very next day not - this is normal! It merely means that we have used up some of our bucket’s content or quota somewhere. Getting through life on a day when we feel tired after an inadequate sleep uses up the bucket in all areas. But what if at that moment you recognise your resources are drained? What if you work with yourself (and your bucket) rather than fighting? Would life be a little more consistent and a little less hard-going?
Equally, if we can recognise that our willpower quota is low, how can we work on this, and how can we develop this area? Triathlon can be tough and when we ‘train’ for it rather than do it as a form of ‘exercise’ willpower is required to do those little things that dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Think about the discipline you find challenging to master or the niggle that you can’t quite get on top of. All those bits that on race day you wish you had done a little better. Can you work with your ‘type’ of motivation to nudge your performance along a little? If I consistently run four times a week for the next 12 weeks I will buy myself a new running top can work wonders for example. The trick here is not be too fixed about completing types of sessions. Overdoing things and completing an intense or long run on a day when you should just do a 30minute jog can be just as detrimental as inconsistent running.
Willpower can be as simple as choosing to do something, but if you aren’t sure why you are doing it or what motivates you to do it it make the whole process hard. We are in extremely challenging conditions and how we respond to them in terms of motivation clearly can be drastically different. Still, perhaps by re-thinking how we are setting our goals and reflecting upon this process we can enhance our mental toolbox.
Nevertheless, willpower alone has been consistently shown to fail when it comes to getting things done. Changes in habits and mindset are challenging to achieve simply through external motivation or internal pressure. Success often comes from a much more personal value or interest or enjoyment of doing something, and it is in this area that I believe athletes have a tremendous opportunity to learn about themselves at the moment. When we strip away the external motivation, when things get challenging and when nobody else is looking, what do you want to do for you and why?
Is having fun a significant motivating factor? What is is that makes triathlon fun?
Reflect, reassess and reset…
So, in conclusion, it isn’t surprising that motivation has been rocked by the pandemic. Most of us set our end of the line goals around races and they have been removed from the certain schedule. Not only that our plans have been upended without clarity or choice, autonomy, on when or what we might be able to rearrange our goals around. Therefore my immediate suggestion is to look at why you do Triathlon and try to explore some of those motivations in different ways. Could exploring local routes or simply ticking off routes on Zwift work for you to gain that sensation of achievement or is it something else? Above all else set your goals around things that you can do, control the controllables and work with you can.
It is really important to remember that Triathlon can be for fun, you can buy that expensive or do that race because it is fun and you would like to and not because it is the next logical smart objective. But if you want to perform and you want to achieve, making a very deliberate choice to action that dream and understanding why can be incredibly empowering. However diligent work, patience and consistent commitment to the process are critical to success.
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