How do you motivate yourself when there’s
nothing to be motivated for? author:- Brendan Maher,
Sport is a clock stopped right now. But the athletes are still there, the second hand trembling, struggling to get going again. The global hiatus made them all civilians, but gave them nothing of our leeway. They can stop but they cannot relax. They can redial it but cannot log out. If the whistle blows, they should be ready.
The Irish Times registered with four of them. Practice different sports, live in different countries, get confused with different situations and personal settings. Each of them emphasized that they felt lucky and that there were much bigger problems in the world than their own little worries. However, all four try to answer the same question. How do you motivate yourself when there is nothing to be motivated about?
Ciara Mageean, Athlete
There is a pattern for virtually everyone's response. Like the others, Ciara Mageean had no real problem with motivation at first. The crisis offered an opportunity, in fact. The world may be upside down, but here, finally, there was an offer of one thing for which there is never enough. Hour.
"It was very," Look, that's how it is, "says Ciara Mageean." "We just have to continue." I was still quite motivated by my athletics. I was excited to have another year to prepare for the Olympics and even the fact that there were not going to be races this summer was fine.
"Then when it started working, I definitely started to have a little bit more decline in how I felt and struggled a bit for motivation. It is when you realize that it will be very, very long. I'm basically doing next year's training now and it's a broad training base. And that type of training is what tires you. You are doing more miles, you are doing longer things. So I am pretty tired most of the time. And that weighs on you.
There
are no dates in the calendar. There is no calendar, full-stop. The reset
targets are so far away in the future as to feel unreal. Just being able to see
Everest off in the distance doesn’t make you a mountaineer.
“I
would be lying if I said I was finding it easy or that I’ve kept my motivation.
There have been days when I have felt quite low and not wanted to go out and
train and thought, ‘Well what the hell is the point?’ I’ve been tired at the
end of a hard training week for nothing.
“Sometimes
I worry a little, just because I don’t like it. I don’t like this feeling. I
find that if my motivation for athletics starts to lag, then my motivation for
other things goes the same way. I might be learning to play the guitar and if I
don’t feel like running then I don’t feel like doing that either. Or even
simple things like I’ve been meaning to tidy my room and hoover that floor and
in my head I’m going, ‘I’ve been meaning to do that for a week, why haven’t I
done it?’ And then suddenly you start being annoyed at yourself for not doing
basic tasks.
“Then
I chat to my coach [Steve Vernon] about it and he says all the things I know to
be true. ‘It’s miles in the bank, it’s going to stand to you next year, it's
going to make you really strong.’ And I’m going, ‘I know these things, Steve.
I’m not stupid.’ But it’s one thing knowing the facts, it’s another thing
feeling what you feel.
“Having
honest conversations is important. I’ve said to Steve, ‘Look, I know what
you’re saying is correct. But really, honest to God now, I’m not enjoying it.
I’m feeling sad, I’m feeling down, I miss home, I miss my boyfriend. And right
now, Steve, my motivation is at an all-time low. And you know what? Right now,
I really, really don’t need anybody to tell me to keep my head up and be
positive and this will all stand to me. I know it’s all true - but right now, I
just want to be sad.’”
The
key is to know that’s okay. To really know it - not to just say it and wallow
for the lack of anything else to do. She’s long enough at this now to know
herself. She can let it wash over her without drowning in it.
“On
the days I don’t feel motivated, I remind myself that it is discipline that
keeps me the athlete I am in this sport. Some days I am going to lack the
motivation to get out and fully enjoy it. But I tell myself, ‘I want to do
this. I am going to do this. I am going to get myself out the door.’
“Routine
is fantastic. The body and the brain love routine. For me, sometimes when that
starts breaking down, I make myself start a new routine. Something as simple as
just writing a list for the day. Or just being a bit more focused on, say, two
tasks and being happy with that.
“Whenever
it does happen, it can make you feel down and worried but I do tend to feel
that it’s normal and that it’s important not to beat yourself up about it. And
to remind yourself that you’re in control of your own emotions. It’s okay to
let that little rollercoaster wave go through and then to get it back on the
other side.”
Scott Fardy, Leinster rugby
If
there is an upside to the crisis, it is manifested in Scott Fardy’s body. It
has gone 10 full weeks now without being pummelled and it would like to thank
the global pandemic for this unexpectedly pleasurable spring. His mind, not
unreasonably, takes a different view.
He has no more clarity than the rest of us over when and where and how rugby will start again. But he has his gym programmes and his team meetings and his personal responsibilities to uphold. It’s not always easy. No point claiming otherwise.
“The
uncertainty is what makes your motivation wane. At the start, you were thinking
we were maybe training to play at the start of May. And then it’s June and then
it’s later and later. And in your head you’re going, ‘What am I preparing for?
What am I training for? Should I just have a couple of weeks on the drink?!
Those sort of thoughts go through your head. Should I rest now? Where’s my head
at?
“My
motivation wanes, like anyone’s. You wake up in the morning and you’re not
feeling the best. Some days you can feel quite hopeless and other days you can
spring out of bed and get straight into your training or whatever you’ve got in
your day. Like anyone, it’s a very testing time without that structure that we
usually have.”
The
lack of a team setting is the real downer. Fardy has a two-year-old son to
chase around the place so the days don’t feel too long - he thinks he’d
struggle a lot more if he was one of the younger lads with only a PlayStation
for company. But he has the sense not to punish himself. The bad days will
come. The bad days will go.
“I’d
say once a week I have a moment where I’m not motivated. But that’s probably
normal. You’re sitting there and you’re exhausted even just from something like
looking after your child. You’re tired and you find yourself doing something
you normally wouldn’t, like looking too far ahead.
“I get over it pretty quick. It’s probably something that I’m pretty good at, personally. But it’s something that you’ve got to work on every day as well. I think you have to allow yourself get frustrated, to have a bit of a bitch to your partner or whoever you’re with and to know that it’s not a normal situation.”
In
North Carolina, the back-to-back National Women’s Soccer League champions are
waiting and wondering just like everyone else. They may or may not get a chance
to start their three-in-a-row season. Their salaries may or may not get
hammered. The league itself may or may not survive in its current form.
For Denise O’Sullivan, the team’s two-time MVP, the uncertainty can be crippling. On Wednesday, they were finally given the go-ahead to start training as individuals using club facilities after several false starts. That would appear to be the first step towards getting some actual games played but, in truth, nobody really has a clue. Staying motivated takes every ounce of professionalism she can muster.
“I
think that’s the worst part really. You’re in the unknown. You don’t know
what’s going to happen, when pre-season is going to start, nothing. It changes
every hour here. You get phonecalls saying we’ll be back on this date and then
another later in the day saying it’s pushed back another week. That’s the
hardest part - not knowing when you’re going to be back with your teammates,
not knowing when you’re going to see them again.
“My
mindset right now is really just that I believe that pre-season is going to
start in three weeks. That’s what I’m telling myself. So every day I’m going
out training, running, doing ballwork by myself - that’s my motivation.
O’Sullivan’s
world has been shrunk to the basics. Her partner, the training she does on her
own and the daily Facetime calls back home. Staying connected keeps her spirits
up, be it to her Mam in Cork or her Ireland teammates dotted around the place.
The 26-year-old is one of the best midfielders in the world but women’s pro
soccer is no paradise and nothing is guaranteed. Some days, she gets motivated
out of pure necessity.
“On
unmotivated days, I probably feel a bit more down in myself. It would be a day
where I’m missing my family, that would be the big one. Or missing my teammates.
But I think no matter how unmotivated I am, I just always find a way to pick
myself up and go out and get the work done.
“Our
coach sends us a programme for the week. There’s a lot of running in it, a lot
of ballwork too. It’s our responsibility to go and do it, even if it’s just by
yourself. It’s our job to keep in shape.
“I don’t worry. You just have to try and get one with it and do your best. I still have the goal to be the best version of myself. I want to arrive at the start of pre-season in shape. I just have to do the work and do anything I can to stay positive.”
Every
night before bed, Brendan Mayer opens the Notes app on his phone and reads
through at the day’s schedule, ticking off the things he got done from the list
he set himself the night before. When he’s done, he writes up the next day’s
list. The alarm pings at 7.15 the following morning and he goes again. When
hurling comes back, the schedule will be different. But the habit of doing it
up and ticking it off won’t change.
“It gives me a sense of accomplishment and a bit of self-satisfaction to say, ‘You got a bit out of today. Today was a good day. You did something worthwhile. You got done what you set out to do.’ That’s what works for me. It gives me self-satisfaction, coming through those little daily wins.
“There’s
still physical goals I’ve set myself, conditioning goals that I’m working on in
the gym and in terms of my running. The sporting goals or the hurling goals
that are not there anymore in any immediate sense, I have replaced them with
personal, daily goals.
“They
could be something as simple as telling myself I’m going to powerhouse the house
tomorrow. Even something as small as little daily jobs like that can help.”
Routine
is everything. In a rootless, anchor less world, Mayer takes it upon himself to
build himself some structure. He’s job-sharing a teaching gig so there’s plenty
of Zoom work to get through and he has a gym business in Bobsleighs that he’s
in the process of migrating online. He has no trouble filling the days.
Hurling
is out there in the ether for him somewhere and he won’t go a day without
spending some time puking against a wall. In normal times, Tipperary would be
headed to Walsh Park this weekend for their Munster opener against Waterford.
But really and truly, hurling is too intangible right now for him to say he’s
motivated by it in any focused kind of way.
“I
am exercising, more than training. You still have that goal of, I want to be
physically fit whenever sport returns. But really, on a day-to-day basis, my
motivation is to stay fit and healthy so that I’m performing better in terms of
my work and getting the best out of myself off the pitch.
“The
group interaction is a big loss. The Zoom meetings are grand but it’s not the
same. The thing about a collective is that nearly without trying, it acts as
motivation. You push yourself not to let a fella down or to compete with him oryou see a fella flagging and you push him. There is a collective buzz therethat just naturally helps with motivation and so you do feel the loss of that.
“But you can’t be feeling sorry for yourself either. It’s a sh*t situation. It is! But perspective is very important. There are people in far worse situations than us and I have to remind myself that I’m lucky. My fiancee is a front line worker. She’s as physio in the regional hospital and at the end of a week’s work on a Friday, she puts her scrubs in a plastic bag and brings them home with her and they have to be washed separately at a high temperature. So little reminders like that tell you that you’ve little to be giving out about.”
6 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You Just
Can’t Even, According to Science
Three Proven Ways to Motivate Yourself
Right Now
Leaders, including Steve Jobs, understand and cultivate the link between inspiration and motivation to innovate.
Get inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit we are seeing in the wine, tourism and hospitality businesses right now. Few industries are being so affected by Covid-19, or are reacting so creatively and entrepreneurial to its limitations. It is a long way to go, but witnessing his spirit of motivation despite the difficulties translates to me as a motivator in himself.
How Happy You Are Click Link:-
https://kstuitionclasses.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-happy-you-are-motivation.html
Post a Comment