Why Motivation Might Be Actually Fooling You
Why Motivation Might Be Actually Fooling You
Are you feeling motivated? Ready to take on that goal? Not so fast. That urge or desire to do something might actually be the wrong path toward the goal you set. Motivation can’t be fully trusted. Yet you rely on it. Almost as if it was the sustenance you need for performance survival. Don’t believe me? Google it.
“How to Motivate Yourself”
"8 Psychology-Based Tricks for Staying Motivated"
"15 Tips on How to Be More Motivated in The Morning"
"30 Tips for How to Get and Stay Motivated"
I could keep going, but for the sake of getting to the point, I won’t. But trust me; there are millions of articles espousing every idea imaginable for how you can stay motivated. The problem is that while motivation sounds nice, we mistakenly believe it will help us achieve our goals.
It won’t
What’s your favorite sports movie? Take a moment and think about it. Think about why it’s your favorite. Part of the reason is because it evokes a particular emotion. As a kid, I loved the Rocky series of movies, The Karate Kid, and even Rudy. Every time I watched these movies, they ended with the same result—an emotional surge to be a boxer, take a karate class, or play football. I was the smaller kid with less talent, making these underdog stories more than relatable—I wanted them as my story.
Motivation is why you hope all dogs go to heaven.
In those ever-so-brief moments of emotional highs, I never felt more motivated to make something more of myself. But these insane rollercoaster-like emotional highs are not limited to childhood fantasies. Whether it’s a movie, story, church sermon, or Ted Talk, we use highly expressive language as a motivational tool to urge people to act, to change, or to take action.
If you don’t have the idea in your head just yet, think about the ASPCA commercials with cute yet sad dogs to “The Arms of an Angel” by Sarah McLachlan. See what I mean? Now, you want to jump on their website and donate. You were briefly motivated by an emotional response.
Using emotion to create brief moments of motivation is an excellent tool to manufacture an immediate and compulsory response. The ASPCA is just fine with evoking that kind of response. That’s precisely the point. And it’s incredibly effective.
But what about long-term success? You might have guessed—I don’t box, and I don’t do karate. So, what happened to my motivation? How could I have stayed the course to become the next Karate Kid (without avoiding school bullies and still getting the girl)? Motivation will never last more than a brief moment unless you know how to exploit it.
Motivation is rooted in emotion.
You should never make emotional decisions. Period. Full stop. That’s it. If you pick no other wisdom from this blog, get this one point. Wise decisions are rooted in logic and careful consideration. Emotional decisions are ripe with overpromising and under-delivering.
What’s true in life is often true in sports. This is one of those moments. Your growth in the gym, improvement on the field, or increased mental toughness are not emotional decisions you make on a whim. Instead, they are rooted in consistency. Emotions breed inconsistency—one minute, you’re on an emotional high and completely overcommitted; the next, you’re considering quitting.
An unpredictable, emotional attitude raises considerable questions as to what is actually motivating you. Are you inspired to commit and press forward despite opposition? Or is there greater motivation to quit and move on to something else? You probably already noticed that a highly emotional state would create confusion and stagnation.
There is a dark side to motivation.
We assume that motivation is the sole ingredient needed for our success. “If I’m motivated, I can be a great athlete, lose the weight, make the grade, or save the money.” My motivation will inspire change. But being rooted in emotion, there is also a dark side to it. It’s not always the positive outcome we hope for. Emotions can drive us in the wrong direction. You can be emotionally motivated to sit on the couch and continue to binge-watch Netflix when you ought to be outside at practice, at the gym, or finishing homework.
In other words, you can be motivated to be,
Happy or sad.
Grateful or critical.
Productive or unproductive.
The mistake is thinking you lack motivation or that you need more motivation. That is not right. You are motivated just in the opposite emotional direction.
Motivation won’t survive the whole journey.
Here’s how it goes:
Something triggers in your mind—a spark that moves you to make a change. A movie, a book, a song, or the success of another athlete you admire. Yes, even Rocky and the Karate Kid. It’s this moment where the emotional high of what could be in your life motivates you to start and make the change.
So, off we go. We get to the gym, spend extra time practicing, and do the extra workout. The feeling is great. You can almost feel yourself getting stronger, sense yourself getting better, and the goal more reachable than ever. That is, until it’s cold outside, you had a late night, and you’re tired. Perhaps you made yourself too sore. The excitement wears off, and that goal becomes real work.
Now, that high feeling of motivation has morphed into a drag. There are so many other things you would rather be doing. Before you know it, motivation has left, and complacency moves in. Your workouts are nothing more than just going through the motions. Instead of improving with purpose and intent, you’re just checking the box. Mailing it in.
Failed journey, here we come.
I’m sure you’d like to think that despite the struggle, there is victory in perseverance. In time, you will create a new habit, keeping that motivation alive. Instead, it’s currently on life support. Something minor happens that derails your entire scheme. Your workout partner didn’t show, the gym was closed for repairs, you were low on gas, or you caught a slight pull or injury.
Motivation is not what gets you to the gym.
Here is the part where you start negotiating with yourself. You know, that inner voice that tells you one day off is no big deal, that you’ve worked hard and deserve a small rest—let’s call it a reward. Yes! You deserve a reward. Sound familiar?
Yeah, it’s not negotiating. It’s lying to yourself.
There is also the amateur scientist or personal trainer version. “I really need to give my body time to recover.” This is where you convince yourself that taking this time off is best and, therefore, part of the plan all along. But we also can’t forget the reductionist lie. “To get where I want to go, I don't have to put in this much work. Three days per week is plenty.” Instead of putting in the maximum effort, you look for the easiest path forward. And finally, the redirect excuse. “I really need to spend more time (insert other important option here).” Yes, of course, you need to balance between a job, your family, friends, and your team. But when you rationalize your time away from what will get you to your goal, you are leaning into the wrong side of motivation.
So what do we do? First, we do not rely on motivation; we simply decide. The decision is what gets you to the gym. All you have to do is decide to go. It doesn’t matter if you are sick, tired, slightly injured, or without your partner. Simply go. The resolve an athlete has to commit to improve makes it all work. To be resolved to do something takes you far beyond merely emotional motivation. Being resolved is to set a firm course of action, to be determined—you will stop at nothing to get to your goal. Being resolved is a conscious, rational choice altogether void of emotion. Whether motivated or not, going to the gym is a decision, not an emotional whim based on which way you are currently motivated. Your resolve is rooted in a decision to act. How you feel has no weight.
Forget motivation; employ the rule of thirds.
If you want to tackle big goals, use motivation properly, and not allow life’s emotional ups and downs to control your destiny, try applying this simple rule. It’s something used across a variety of disciplines, from business to athletics.
Filmmaker and runner Alexi Pappas, described in a 2022 Inc. article, Use This Olympian's Rule of Thirds to Chase Any Big DreamIf you don't feel lousy a third of the time, you're probably not aiming high enough, says Alexi Pappas, that to chase and accomplish your dreams you should feel great about a third of the time, just okay about a third of the time, and lousy about a third of the time.
In my personal experience, showing up and working out when I feel lousy were the days I felt like I was making my best progress because I always felt significantly better after the workout. One, because getting the workout done releases endorphins that make us feel physically better, and second, because toughening up and moving forward despite adversity always made me feel proud of myself.
Alexi goes on to explain that “If you feel too good all the time, you're not pushing yourself enough, and if you feel too lousy, you might be burning out or having a mental-health challenge and need to reevaluate.”
Do you see what happened there? We took emotions out of the equation. Why? Because we planned good days and bad days. We planned the normal emotional highs and lows of life. And when you plan them, you remove their power to affect your overall movement toward your goal.
By employing the rule of thirds, we are helping you commit without the need for motivation and replace it with a decision. Just deciding to get to work has a confident attitude about it. It’s choosing the path of greater resistance instead of lesser—and doing it intentionally. So, the going gets tough; you don’t care because you have already anticipated those moments.
The rule of thirds does one other thing. It’s kind of a bonus. It pushes you. It takes you beyond what you thought was your limit. When you plan for the lousy days—the days you are tired, the days you are sore, or even a little injured—you keep moving forward. When you do, you suddenly realize you can actually do more than you anticipated. You taught your body a different limit.
Commit without the motivation.
Personal growth, especially athletic, only occurs when we dedicate ourselves to the process. If you want to take this journey with our guys, it will hurt. You will, no doubt, feel the thrill of the initial motivation. But that motivation will fade after single-arm swing number fifty. To succeed, you must remain decided. The kind of resolve and commitment that does not require motivation. Because, in the long run, we don’t trust motivation.
You will get more blisters than you have ever had before. You will feel stale and sore more often than fresh and crisp. Even your swing will get worse before it gets better. This is the course our guys navigate, and so must you. We hit blistered, stone bruised (a giant painful hard black callused bruise on the palm of the lead hand), tired, sore, and well past exhaustion. Our guys, in the off-season, consistently work 4-6 days per week for 4-6 months, both in the cage and in the weight room—building up their bodies and swing. As grueling as this process is, they love every second because staying on this course produces results.
So don’t be fooled into thinking that motivation is the key to success. It’s not. It might be enough to get you started—to take the first step. But it will never be enough to carry you to your goal. That comes from the conscious decision to embrace the pain and fully commit to the grit required.
For a deeper dive into content like this check out my book. “BASS The Path to Elite Level Hitting.”
See ya on the field.
Coach Leo
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