Praxis
The podcast where practice makes purpose…
Praxis
The Pillars of Practice - Motivation (mini-episode)
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Motivation forms one of the essential pillars of practice, supporting our commitment through challenges while revealing the crucial balance between internal and external drivers. In this mini-episode, I discuss how:
• Intrinsic motivation comes from within (joy in the process, self-improvement, personal satisfaction)
• Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources (recognition, money, validation from others)
• My running journey evolved from park runs to marathons, challenging my belief I wasn't "sporty"
• Finding your authentic "why" provides resilience when challenges arise
• External validation can kickstart a practice but internal motivation sustains it
Listen, subscribe, and share your thoughts about your own motivational balance in your practices.
Introduction to Pillars of Practice
Speaker 1Welcome to Praxis , the podcast where practice makes purpose . I'm Mikey and I'll be interviewing people about the practices that reveal and create purpose in their lives . Welcome to a mini episode of Praxis , and in this episode , I want to talk about one of the pillars of practice , as I want to call them , which are beliefs , structures , mindsets , things that support our practice , wherever that might be . Before I begin , I just want to say thank you to those people who have given me lots of lovely feedback on my recent episode with Sam . I loved interviewing him . I learned a lot about his yoga practice , and thank you for those who have given me helpful feedback , especially regarding sound . I'm hoping to get a bit better at editing , as I'm doing this all on my own , although I did have some help from my neighbour , johnny , at the weekend . So shout out to him . Thank you very much , but hopefully the sound quality will be a little less crunchy , shall we say , going forward . Yes , so I would like to introduce what I call the pillars of practice . Now , I think there are lots of different things that can support us in our practice , that can help us go through challenging times , that can motivate us , that can help us show progress , improve over time in the long run . And the first five pillars , because I'm sure there are a lot more than what I've come up with , but the first five pillars , because I'm sure there are a lot more than what I've come up with , but the first five pillars that I would like to talk about over the next few mini-episodes are motivation , which will be the focus of today's mini-episode , space , both physical and mental space , both physical and mental , compassion , discipline and community . And over the next five , six , seven weeks or so , I would like to have a mini episode devoted to each one of those pillars of practice . And I'm going to start off today with motivation .
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation Explained
Speaker 1Now , there are two types of motivation intrinsic and extrinsic . So extrinsic motivation is when you seek validation from the outside , so that could be accolades , awards , recognition from your peers , it could be money , so financial motivation . Whereas intrinsic comes from the inside , so it's motivated by the joy of doing something . It could be to prove something to yourself . It could be the love of doing something . It could be to prove something to yourself , it could be the love of the process . Um , you know , if you are a painter , you might be intrinsically motivated to produce beautiful art for the sake of producing art rather than for the desire to put on a gallery show or to sell your work . Now , I believe that both are actually necessary and I think , if we're honest with ourselves , we are all motivated by external rewards and from something more internal .
Speaker 1Now I would like to talk a little bit about my running journey , and it's interesting that I didn't actually think of running as one of my main practices . You know , I've associated my main practices meditation and my spiritual stuff . Friends actually said oh , I'm surprised you don't think of running as a practice , when actually it is . You know , it's something I dedicate some time to . I've seen progress over
My Running Journey Begins
Speaker 1time . I run sometimes when I don't really want to , because I know that there's benefits to my running .
Speaker 1Over time , and I think I became a bit of an accidental runner about five years ago . So , during during the 2019-2020 pandemic , when it was at its height and we were in lockdown , I got into some really bad habits regarding eating , exercise , and I think that , to be honest , I think that was pretty common for a lot of people . We couldn't go to the gym there's not a lot to do so food was one of my pleasures at the time and I got into some really bad habits . I wasn't treating my body very well and you know I was fortunate enough to be able to have an online PT shout out to Tom and I slowly , over time , developed a healthier awareness of nutrition , exercise and all that good stuff . I joined a touch rugby team based in South West London and through that I eventually started going on park runs with a couple of the rugby people and I'd never really run before , but I saw a couple of them running before rugby practice on a Saturday and my friend , stefan , kind of invited me to go along with him .
Speaker 1Long story short I don't want this to be too self-indulgent , but long story short , I became a bit of a runner . I enjoyed doing park runs . Eventually that graduated into me doing 10Ks and Stefan asked if I wanted to do a marathon . And if you would have asked me five , six years ago if I'd ever be a marathon runner , I would have honestly laughed , because I've grown up thinking that I was rubbish at sport , that I would never be good at anything sporty Probably messages from when I was a teenager , as a little gay boy in Liverpool , when the only sport we did at school was football and I was absolutely awful at that , but yeah . So I internalised these messages of not being good enough at sport and I think one of the motivations I had was to prove to myself that I could do something , to challenge myself
Three Marathons, Three Different Motivations
Speaker 1to something . That was a huge goal .
Speaker 1A marathon is not easy , no matter your level of fitness . I think even seasoned marathon runners know that it is quite an ordeal , and I've done three marathons so far . I'm currently training for my fourth and I want to talk about how I actually have different motivations for each of my marathons that I've done and kind of the impact that it had on me , on my training , on the results . It had on me on my training , on the results and how I felt during and after each , each run . So my first marathon was in Amsterdam and that was in October 23 , and my motivation was actually just to do it , to prove to myself that I could do it . And okay , it's nice to get a medal , it's nice to get a good time , quote , unquote . But actually I just wanted to do it and my only goal was just finish without stopping . I didn't want to walk any of the way .
Speaker 1I wanted to say that I'd run my first marathon , running all the way , um , and 10 minutes before the start I I lost my headphones , so I had no music or audiobooks or podcasts to listen to , and I finished it in just under five hours , which you know for my age wasn't an amazing time , but I was really proud that I'd done it . I was so happy to cross that finish line and I and I thought you know what I'm going to do another one so signed up for Paris in April 24 and my motivation then was to beat my previous time . So , again , I'd say that was an internal motivation , even though it's measurable . It didn't really bother me what anyone else thought . I just wanted to finish and show that I've made progress in the in the six months or whatever , since my last marathon . I really pushed myself in Paris , um , and I managed to knock off , uh , about half an hour , which I think is pretty decent . To be honest , I was really proud of it , um , and I cried at the end because I'd given it my all , and I was just relieved . I had so much pride .
Speaker 1And then my most recent marathon was in Ljubljana in October of 24 . And for some reason my motivation was more external , more extrinsic , and in my head . I was like do you know what I've done ? A couple of marathons now I should be able to get sub four hours , and I don't really know where that came from . I think I've been reading a lot of marathon blogs , I've subscribed to some running influencers on Instagram and for some reason this , this four hour mark , just became a bit of a benchmark for me . And about three quarters through the marathon , you know , I was looking at my watch for my pace , my distance , my speed , all that sort of stuff and I realized , actually , do you know what I'm actually ? Do you know what I'm going to do ? This ? I'm going to get in just under four hours .
Speaker 1The last two , three kilometers were rough and I had to basically talk to myself throughout the whole three kilometers at the end just keep going , just keep going , just keep going . And it was pure willpower that got me through the very last bit of that marathon . And I checked my watch and I clocked in about 3.55 , 3.56 , something like that . I crossed the finish line and I actually felt empty . I felt numb , I had no runners high , I had no tears , I had no joy . It was so bizarre how weirdly empty I felt . And when I checked the time online on the website , it said I'd done it in four hours 11 minutes and I was absolutely gutted and the friends who I'd run with they cheered me on . They're all faster than me , so they finished before me , so they cheered me on at the end and they were there at the finish line . You know , really happy for me that I'd finished it .
Speaker 1And when I found out that I hadn't done it in in the four hours , I got so angry , I got so upset and actually it kind of ruined it for me and I'm sure it ruined it a little bit for them as well , because there was my negative reaction , there was my moodiness , completely disproportionate to to what should have been a really happy occasion . I'd just done a bloody marathon in a pretty decent time as well . You know , four hours give or take , it's still really good , I think . And you know , when we later checked again , it did transpire that I was right , I did get it in 3.56 , but to be honest , the kind of the shine had gone and it didn't really matter as much anymore and I think because I've relied on an external validation as my benchmark , my motivation , when I did achieve it , it felt kind of empty and a bit meaningless , whereas in my other marathons I'd had something more internal to drive me .
Speaker 1And I'm training for my fourth marathon now . I'm going to be running in Montpellier in April and I'm genuinely motivated to just be a little bit better than I was last time and , to be honest , if I don't get a better time , that's also fine . I'm sure I'd be a bit disappointed because , you know , runners spend a lot of time thinking about pace , thinking about speed and all this other stuff . But actually , as long as I've given it my best , I think that's enough . Um , you know , I do have when I , when I started running , I did have some other external motivating factors as well . You know , I want to lose a bit of weight , I want to look a bit more attractive to other people ,
The Army Study on Motivation
Speaker 1and that is still true , I think , but I think that is also fine as well .
Speaker 1I don't think you should have purely intrinsic or purely external motivation . I think you need to strike the right balance . So there was a study done um back in 2014 I believe , and it looked at us service people who'd signed up for the armed forces , and it measured about 14 000 people over two decades , and it looked at the intrinsic and external motivations for joining the army . You know , some of the external motivations might have been pleasing family it's a stable job , generally well paid , career progression whereas some internal motivations might have been a sense of national pride , a sense of doing something for the country , a sense of honour . And it found out that the people who motivated more by internal motivation they're more likely to stay the course , whereas those motivated purely by the external , by wages , by family approval , they suffered burnout a lot quicker .
Speaker 1Um , so what am I blathering on about ? I think you need to find and this is such an American expression , I do apologize find your why or your why's plural . I think identifying
Finding Your Why and Final Thoughts
Speaker 1what truly drives you and it could be more than one thing , and this will evolve over time , probably as you progress in in your certain practice . I think identifying the why and sticking to that as a bit of an anchor , as a bit of a core that you kind of work around , I think that's going to provide more fruit in the future . And as part of identifying your why or your whys , I think we need to be honest with ourselves and look at how much of our drives are about proving something to ourselves or to other people . You know how much of our motivation comes from the external validation of our peers or people we look up to .
Speaker 1And if I'm brutally honest with myself , I think I still have something to prove when it comes to running . You know , when I'm running I still sometimes think , oh , I'm not as good as the person running ahead of me . Or you know my running buddies that I run with on a Saturday morning . They're all better runners than me , they're all faster , they all do a better distance distance running and I still think to myself you know , if I just get this time , then I'll be a good runner . But I'm learning to ignore that voice a little bit more . It's still there and I think I will always crave some external validation , but as long as I hold true to the core of why I decide to run honoring my body , developing a healthier relationship with my body , with exercise , with diet .
Speaker 1Having the ability to run distances is a gift . You know , not everybody gets to run . For lots of different reasons I am able to run , and when I'm going to run like I did this evening , I did an 8k after work and when I can feel my feet hitting the ground , when I feel my lungs working hard , when I feel the sweat , the blood pumping , I do genuinely feel more connected to my body than I have been most of my life , I think , and I'm genuinely grateful for that gift . And I'm genuinely grateful for that gift . You know , even the recording of this podcast has brought up issues of the internal versus the external motivation . So I've been looking every day at the count of downloads , you know , trying to see if I hit this magic number . You know , trying to see if I hit this magic number . And obviously , you know , very , very new podcast um , not not loads of downloads yet , but I found myself checking quite often how many downloads I had . I was like , actually , is this my motivation ? I don't think it is . So I'm trying to stop myself from doing that , at least on a daily basis .
Speaker 1So , balancing the internal and the external , as a kind of a closing to this somewhat rambling but I hope you'll indulge me sort of episode , I think if you're relying on external validation , if you're relying on medals or money or fame or accolades , well , what happens when you've achieved that goal ?
Speaker 1What happens when the applause stops ?
Speaker 1What happens when you've got that gold medal ? Then what next , when you've got that gold medal , then what next ? And I think a lot of people who rely on the external do grieve a little bit once they've reached that goal , because they've reached the pinnacle and they've got nothing of more depth to fall back on . I'm not saying that's true of all people , but if you're only relying on the external and you don't have any sense of internal motivation , then your connection to that passion , your connection to that practice will fade over time . So , closing thoughts , motivation is not static . It will change over time , it will evolve over time .
Speaker 1And to create sustained progress and to stick with a practice , to develop resilience and grit over time , having strong internal motivations that you have identified and that you return to time after time will bear fruit .
Speaker 1The external motivations can be a kickstart , they can be the call to adventure if I hark back to the hero's journey they can be the initial spark that sets you on the path . But if you're relying on the external and don't have a core grounded internal motivation for your practice , I think you're setting yourself up for failure in the long run . As a bit of a challenge , I would like you to think about your own practice and try to identify an area of your life where external motivation is the dominant factor could be your work . It could be in your personal life . It could be a creative project that you have . Try to identify the externals and the internals and can you shift the balance to more internal motivation , and what would that transition look like ? Thank you for listening to this mini episode . Please subscribe , share , keep practicing whatever you are practicing and I will see you next time .