Why So Many Young Athletes Struggle with Motivation Later in Life
No matter how much money a parent spends on nurturing their child’s talents, it won’t be enough without self-motivation. Self-motivation is doing the right thing (something important but not fun) without the need of a reward or punishment. A child could be on the best team, have the best practice partners, learn from the best coach, with access to the best facilities, face the best competition, and it could be all for naught if parents don’t invest in developing their self-motivation.
It’s tempting to shortcut the often difficult process of developing self-motivation. Many parents rely on carrot and stick motivation instead. Carrot and stick motivation often does work, albeit only in promoting short term behavior. If you need something done one time and one time only, carrot and stick motivation might be the best option. However, if a behavior has long term consequences parents should avoid using carrot and stick motivation at all cost.
Unfortunately, parents succumbing to the ease of carrot and stick motivation is usually why so many young athletes struggle later in life. As young athletes get older, and competition gets tougher, self-motivation is critical. After puberty hits, as well as talent, access to quality coaching and resources level out, self-motivation becomes the differentiator. What’s more, self-motivation doesn’t appear overnight.
If a parent motivates their child with rewards and punishments throughout their entire youth and high school sporting career, by the time college rolls around self-motivation is non-existent. As a result, a severe performance drop-off is not only likely, it’s inevitable.
Unquestionably, success in college is more important than success as a child, and success in life is more important than success in sports. Every parent understands this. However, every parent doesn’t understand that not having the patience to develop a young athlete’s self-motivation undermines their future.