3 Motivation Tips for Aspiring Athletes
While you can find info on what the professionals do for motivation, it is harder to find good, actionable advice to get aspiring athletes going. You may find generic advice or vague visualisation techniques that don’t really go in depth on how to use them to accomplish your goals. In this article, we’re going to give you 3 motivation tips for aspiring athletes. And none of them require spending a fortune or doing anything dangerous.
Get Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is when you’re the main driver pushing yourself to go literally the extra mile. Extrinsic motivation is anything external to yourself that motivates you. It could be the person saying you can’t do it, so you work harder to prove them wrong. It could be a parent cheering you on the sidelines, saying that you can do it.
Or It can be a desire to earn as much as the top athletes. For example, someone pushing themselves to work another two hours after learning about former Laker Lamar Odom net worth is an example of extrinsic motivation. When you find yourself inspired by something like this, print out the facts and figures that motivate you and put them where you’ll see them when you think of stopping.
Recognize What Destroys Your Focus
While distractions are all around us, what we need to figure out is what distractions truly impact us when we’re training. What is it that distracts you? What pulled your attention away from a coach, causing you to miss a critical cue? What happened to make you lose focus and miss the shot? Make a list of your most common distractions. Then create a strategy to refocus.
It could be repeating a statement that they’re all cheering for you, allowing you to ignore the other team’s insults from the sidelines. It may be a mantra that you’re going to let go of the flub so you can focus on the next play and help the team win. By telling yourself to let go and move on, your performance doesn’t deteriorate because of one mistake.
Determine Where You Need to Improve
Create a new list of the top three or four things you need to work on in order to get better. Work on the most important skill or moves first. Take the time to improve through a variety of practices, helping you to stay focused instead of finding your motivation sapped by boredom. For example, soccer players could challenge a goalie with trick shots instead of simply kicking the ball the coach rolls to them, while basketball players can play three on three with friends at the park instead of formal practice games at school.
Once you master it, work on the second important skill or move on the list. Mastery builds confidence. other areas.
Motivation has become somewhat of a buzzword and it can be the force that drives aspiring athletes longer, harder and higher. Instead of aiming for a vague feeling, analyze your actions and reactions so you can sustain the drive and not lose focus so you can stay with it.