Counterpoint: You Don’t Need Motivation
One could argue that motivation is a must to get anyone to do anything uncomfortable. Indeed, the first thing I tell clients who hire me to work with an athlete is that mental skills training must start with motivation or it won’t work.
However, I don’t approach motivation the way you would think. The way I approach motivation is to change one’s mindset about the need for motivation. In most cases, needing motivation is a problem not a solution.
Having a mindset that you need motivation implies that the motivation you need will come from something external. This external motivation will then energize you to do something you don’t want to do, to get something you want to have. You are centering your mindset on the outcome you want, but the reality is that you don’t enjoy doing the work that gets you that outcome. This is a problem.
Therefore, to solve this problem I teach clients how to flip this around by changing from an outcome mindset to a process mindset. Motivation no longer comes from the outcome. Instead, mental skills training teaches you to find what brings you joy in the process of working towards that outcome.
If an athlete or team you know needs help with this process of changing their mindset on motivation, let’s talk about how my coaching program can help. Contact me here.