Do You Know Your Why?
The first time I meet a new client one of my most important goals is to set their expectations, especially when it comes to their results and motivation. I tell them ‘its not now that you need me, its three months down the line when your motivation starts to drop’. They look at me like I am crazy and say ’but I promise you I am so motivated right now I am going to stay committed!” , it’s not that I doubt their level of commitment or motivation in that moment, but more that I know from experience and knowledge that level of motivation can never stay for the long term every single day.
So herein lies the issue; people know when they are motivated or unmotivated but not necessarily what motivates them. And they key to any long term success is understanding what motivates us and whether it is essentially intrinsic (inside) or extrinsic motivation (outside) so that when the going gets tough we know why we are set the goal in the first place.
What Is Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation?
Extrinsic motivation looks outward and is usually driven by a reward such as an award, money or recognition. For example doing a photo-shoot (common extrinsic motivation for me) or a bodybuilding competition. It can also be motivation for being ‘punished’ if a certain goal isn’t achieved, for example not making it to stage for a body building competition if you are not ‘stage ready’ or not fitting into a certain dress or bikini in time for a holiday.
Intrinsic motivation on the other hand comes from within and is usually driven by our internal values and goals. We do something because we enjoy it and find it interesting.
In general extrinsic motivation is short term, whereas intrinsic can be more long term. This means in an ideal world we would have a mixture of the two to help us with a short term burst of motivation when we need it but something fuelling the fire longer term too.
We can also have these motivations towards certain foods or diets. When we eat a food we like our body releases dopamine (an instant reward for eating that food - extrinsic motivation), whereas we take that food away and replace it with something bland and unpalatable we have no immediate reward (unfortunately we don’t suddenly jump on the scales and become 10kg lighter or 10% leaner) so intrinsic long term motivation is needed to see the long term picture. Otherwise all the pleasure is taken away and you are left with nothing immediate from it.
So how do you overcome this? You start by forming new habits and behaviours until they become motivators. Progression can be a huge motivator long term whatever the goal, and changing habits every day is what gets this result.
And forming new habits might not be quite as difficult as you think. The key is making small changes and replacing certain habits with new ones. Want to know more? Read my blog on Breaking Old Habits and Forming New Habits here.