The Sports Mastermind
The Sports Mastermind is the premier sports psychology podcast. We break down and lay out step-by-step instructions teaching you how to implement the fundamentals of sports psychology. Each segment focuses on breaking down a specific element in 10 minutes or less.The content is relevant for young athletes all the way to the pros. The mental development of athletes applies to all sports, genders, levels and abilities. We break down complicated topics into easy to digest and implement segments. Internationally recognized expert Laura Ratto combines her experiences as a former professional athlete with her experience in the domestic and international sports industry to help athletes reach their full potential and optimize performance. She utilizes her Master’s Degree and CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) to develop programs for Olympic training centers, college curriculum and published works to help individuals in their quest to excel at every level. Laura Ratto teaches at several colleges including Cyamaca, Southwestern, and USK where she developed curriculum for an emphasis in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology for Kinesiology majors.
The Sports Mastermind
E45: How to Self-Motivate (Increasing Internal Motivation)
How to self-motivate (increasing internal motivation)
45 - How to self-motivate (increasing internal motivation)
In this series we are taking a look at motivation and providing you with some tools and insight as to how to stay motivated in difficult situations and how to motivate a teammate. Today we'll talk about how to self-motivate and ways to increase internal motivation.
When I work with clients on motivation, I ask them to think about the following questions before our session:
1. What is your definition of Motivation?
2. What is the most motivating thing for you when you play your sport?
3. When do you find it hard to be motivated? Try to provide as specific a scenario as possible.
4. What is one question that you have about motivation?
In episode 2, we answer the question about the general definition and breakdown of motivation. We also discussed the answer to why do you play your sport? Is it for personal reasons or are there external, or outside factors that make you do what you do. People play sports and participate in activities for both reasons outside or external and reasons that are internal. Internal reasons are things such as getting better at your sport, learning a new skill or simply because you enjoy playing. External or outside influences are things such as winning a championship, Awards, trophies, or to get the approval of someone else.
A couple of weeks ago, we went over staying motivated in a difficult situation and last week we touched on how to motivate a teammate. Today we are going to discuss a question that comes up frequently: How do I stay motivated or how do I motivate myself? We are going to focus on internal factors, also known as intrinsic motivational factors, as they have been found to lead to increased confidence and performance and decreased stress when a mistake is made.
We are going to look at four factors:
- Focus on improving performance
- WHY
- Set Goals
- Be Mindful
- Focus on improving your performance
You want to remember to compare yourself to your past performance and only YOUR past performance. A good way to do this is to look at stats or keep data from previous practices or competitions so that you can track your improvement across time.
- “WHY”
When you feel like you are losing your motivation to play your sport ask yourself one question WHY? Why did you start playing your sport? Why do you do what you do? Can you remember that feeling when you first started playing? Go back to that feeling. This helps to give you a sense of purpose and can aid in continuing your progress and development in the sport.
- Set Goals
It is important to set goals that are challenging, yet still able to be accomplished. If a goal is to easy then you will not feel like you accomplished anything by achieving it. It'll go list too hard then you can lose motivation because it seems like it is not attainable. It is also important to both short-term and long-term goals. For information on goals and how to set them, check out the goal setting series.
- Be Mindful
Mindful means focusing on the present moment while also being aware of your surroundings. This can be done with the help of things such as psychological skills training. Learning to prepare psychologically can help you to stay focused and motivated. Tools such as self-talk, Focus, imagery and goal setting can help you to create the mental toughness necessary to excel in your sport.
Today we talked about internal motivation and how to move along the spectrum. To review, the Focus Four for this episode:
- Focus on improving performance
- Remember your WHY
- Set Goals that are challenging and realistic
- Be Mindful and use tools to enhance mental toughness
Now that you have the internal motivation snippet, which one are you going to start using today to increase your motivation? If you are interested in improving your overall motivation or for additional tools to help move your motivation along the continuum toward a more successful style, contact me at RattoConsulting.com or email Laura@RattoConsulting.com.
“Find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” ~ Attributed to a smart old teacher
