The mystery of the missing mojo
MOTIVATION - what’s yours?
Reflect honestly on what motivates YOU
… to find your personal key to staying motivated
I was inspired to write about this after a request from my triathlon club to provide a “single motivational tip” to keep people going during lockdown
I really struggled. I thought about it long and hard and realised that the reason I found it an impossible question to answer was that I couldn’t identify just one tip. There’s no doubt that many people have found the impact of the global pandemic and lockdown deeply disruptive and as a result are struggling with motivation to train. Everyone is different, and everyone is motivated by different things. So, actually my single piece of advice to keep people motivated is to identify what motivates you, as an individual.
That sounds like a bit of a cop out though, so it got me thinking about how we can work that out. It’s easy to talk about internal and external motivation, but those concepts are a bit nebulous, and I am a big fan of the concrete.
One of the best ways to retain motivation is by setting goals, but until you know what sort of goals are right for you, you’ll keep falling by the wayside.
I feel totally immersed in nature when I’m swimming in the River Thames, whatever the weather.
What do you enjoy?
Some people love being outside in nature, getting wet and muddy, adventure, new places or finding beautiful views. There’s not reason you can’t set a goal to find a new footpath or bridleway every week to explore, or a new hill to climb. You can even be more specific - in November my aim was to find and then identify a new wild mushroom on every run. This one isn’t just for those in rural areas - you’d be amazed how many mushrooms can be found in the “flowerbeds” around supermarket car park! Be imaginative, be inspired by what interests you and sparks enthusiasm. Perhaps commit to taking photos on every ride.
Use this time of year to your advantage - set a challenge to experience wind, rain, sun, drizzle, sunrise, sunset, moonlight. Take your pick and commit to experiencing as many different conditions as you can every week. You can make your list fit with your life and working patterns and you may find a new favourite. There is so much evidence that being outside in nature is good for mental and physical health (think of all that Vitamin D!)
Perhaps you enjoy that feeling of pushing yourself so hard that you have puddles of sweat on the floor of your garage under your bike on the turbo trainer, thrashing out high intensity intervals accompanied by your favourite tunes? In which case, set goals related to the number or duration of sessions a week, a new FTP, or incorporate challenges on virtual platforms. Maybe even take some time to freshen up your playlist, or set your sessions according to the length of the tracks if you’re finding other structure boring.
Whether you enjoy variety or familiarity, you can utilise your preferences to your advantage and to influence your plans and goal setting. For example, for those who like repeating sessions, perhaps have some key sessions you love and aim to repeat them every few weeks to assess your progress. If you love trying new things, aim to scour the internet for a new session to try every week - there are a gazillion options out there!
Why are you doing it?
For some people, exercise and training is enjoyable in and of itself, and that’s enough. For some, the reason is general “good health”, for others it might be specific, such as controlling high blood pressure or to help manage diabetes, or for healthy joints. Remember, the foundations of good health are plenty of quality sleep, a varied balanced diet that is largely unprocessed, and movement. That doesn’t necessarily mean exercise, it means being physically active including walking. So, aim to get these things right if health is your motivation, and set small achievable goals, changing one thing at a time, to help keep you on track:
Bedtime
Reduced screen time in the evenings
7 portions of veg & fruit a day
Change your sitting position frequently if you have a sedentary job (set an alarm on your phone, experiment with sitting on the floor e.g. squatting, kneeling)
Get up and move around at least every hour
Focus on making good quality movements throughout your day, starting with posture
For others, competition and races are what drive them to train. If this is you, then in the absence of races you can still harness that competitive spirit. You can identify local loops for some benchmark runs or rides, and set yourself challenges to beat. This could also be how long it takes you to climb your favourite love/hate hill, or how many times you can get up it, or it might a different Strava segment every month. Plenty of event organisers have virtual challenges or races where you can win medals or badges. Make the most of these.
Remind yourself what you’re trying to achieve, whatever that might be, acknowledge that it might not be the same as your mates or family, and that’s just fine. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
What do you need?
This is important. So many people find exercise and training their solace and tonic. Some people need to escape from home and work, and desperately need solitude on their daily run, whereas others miss the social aspect of training and yearn for those group rides and swims again. Don’t be afraid to turn down company sometimes if you need to go solo for your own sanity.
The time will come when we’re able to meet in groups together again, for a shared love of swim, bike or run.
Reaching out to local social networks might link you up with someone very close to you who’s looking for an exercise companion, so removing the worry of travelling to train with existing training buddies. You may even find a new friend.
Virtual networks like Zwift can link you up with your clubmates and friends, and whilst not the same as real life group training, it’s an option that can work for many. Tri2O has a virtual run club which has been fantastic to keep people engaged.
If you need this, then remember it’s okay to compromise on running at a certain pace or heart rate sometimes, if it means you can nourish your mental health by spending quality time with someone.
Think about what your real priorities are.
What’s your timescale?
One of the things we’ve all had to learn to cope with over this last year is uncertainty. The mantra of “control the controllables” has never been more relevant. For this reason, setting longer term goals is challenging right now. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, as many of us really need that long view, but it does mean that you can and should be a little more flexible and imaginative about those goals. For once, the “S” in SMART goals may not be that helpful! Specific targets can set you up for failure and disappointment in a world where so much is uncertain in the future, so make sure you have contingency plans.
Now is the time to think short term. If just taking it one day at a time is all that you can manage right now, then set yourself a small daily target. Once you’re nailing that, a weekly goal is potentially achievable, and so on.
In the moment, tips for that “I really can’t face it” feeling …
We’ve all experienced those times when it seems to take the most monumental effort to rouse to action, and that the last thing in the world you want to do is go outside in the wind and the rain to run or ride or swim. First, you need to work out if you’re truly exhausted and actually need to take the day off (in which case, be kind to yourself and do some yoga or foam rolling instead), or whether you’re just feeling like a bit of a lump. If it’s the latter, here are some of the strategies some people find helpful:
Tell someone else your plans in advance. It’s harder to back out if you’ve both verbalised it and committed to it “publicly”.
Message a friend and tell them how you’re feeling about it. We all have that person who we know will say what is required! (You know who you are!)
Get your kit ready and lay it out well beforehand e.g. the night before a morning session, or in the morning for an evening session. It’s much harder to ignore.
Just to get changed. Don’t think about the rest of it. If you still end up staying on the sofa in your running kit, you probably made the right decision not to go.
Set yourself a mini goal with a get out clause e.g. “I’ll just go for a walk to start with and see how I feel”, or “I’ll give myself 10 minutes and come back if I’m not feeling it”. Refer to point above for likely outcome!
Ask yourself how many times you’ve regretted doing a session, and compare that to the number of times you’ve been glad you did it.
Remember that consistency is the name of the game when it comes to endurance sports.
More generally, there are some little tricks to help you keep your goals in mind and this can help you, day to day, to complete what you have planned.
Write your goals down - with a pen and paper. There’s evidence that the physical act of writing (as opposed to typing) sinks in more.
Display your goals in prominent places like the fridge, your desk or the kitchen noticeboard.
Tell your goals and plans to other people. It makes it more real, and it gives you someone to be accountable to.
Some people have even found that having a coach can help!