Are you struggling to stay motivated throughout a lengthy season?
Have you ever thought about what you might do to boost your motivation?
You’ve undoubtedly struggled to get pumped up for a challenge or push through the grind of training at some point.
As your season came to a close, you may have blamed a lack of drive for your poor performance.
What exactly is motivation?
In sports, there are two forms of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is defined as athletic activity that is fueled by internal or personally significant incentives, such as opportunities to explore, acquire, and realize one’s full potential.
Intrinsically driven athletes participate in sports for a multitude of reasons, including the pleasure of the sport, the thrill of competing and attaining new personal goals, skill growth, prospective exploration, and so on.
Intrinsically driven athletes are usually focused on improving their skills and developing as athletes.
Extrinsic motivation is defined as an athletic activity aimed at gaining external benefits or avoiding punishment.
Extrinsically driven players engage in sports for a variety of reasons, including external incentives (medals, scholarships, media coverage, and honors) or the avoidance of undesirable repercussions (being benched, falling out of favor with a coach, disapproval of parent).
Extrinsically driven athletes are more concerned with the results of sports competitions.
Is intrinsic reward better or extrinsic?
Extrinsic incentives are an important part of competitive sports. Imagine a pro football season without a Super Bowl. Or removing ESPN from the equation to limit the amount of public attention paid to athletes? Or what if college athletic scholarships were no longer available?
When utilized appropriately, extrinsic incentives may be helpful to athletes.
Extrinsic incentives, on the other hand, can demotivate you and have a detrimental impact on your performance if you utilize them too often or dwell on them too much.
When an extrinsic drive is your major motivator, you may feel more competing stress and anxiety, compare yourself unfavorably to other athletes, discount your self-worth, and find it tough to cope with failure, or perceive your sport as more “work “than” game
You want the most of your inspiration to come from within.
You will be able to concentrate better in the present if you improve your intrinsic motivation. Throughout the season, you will be able to keep a steady level of enthusiasm and determination.
During training, you will be more concentrated. When things go wrong, you will feel less stressed. You’ll be more self-assured, and you’ll love your sport more.
As a result, selecting more effective motivating techniques can substantially affect your confidence and experience on the field.
Some tips to increase your level of intrinsic motivation:
Tip #1: Set personal performance goals and benchmarks that are relevant to you. Each practice or training session set a goal to enhance one element of your performance such as technique, conditioning, physical skill, or mental skill.
Tip #2: Get involved in sports for the right reasons–you enjoy competing! Pursue the goals you’ve set for yourself. Take charge of your athletic life once more!