03/22/2019
WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
As a coach and educator I have come to realize that MOTIVATION is the driving force behind great achievements in sports, academics, professional careers, or any other pursuit where work is required. In most cases, motivation is the deciding factor i athletic contests between two equally skilled opponents. For this reason, most coaches would choose to work with the athlete who has the self-motivation to do off-season workouts, who shows up for practice every day, works hard to improve his/her technique, and chooses to use every bit of talent that he/she possesses. Unfortunately, those athletes are rare. In reality, most young athletes want to win badly but lack the drive or knowhow to do what is necessary to achieve sucess. More often then not, they are motivated by extrinsic rewards like trophies and media attention than they are by their own inner drive to succeed.
Successful coaches understand that they play a very important role in the motivation process of athletes. Lets start out with the coach's enthusiasm. A coach's enthusiasm will rub off on his/her athletes. Enthusiasm, or lack of, is contagious! This isn't always easy since coaches are not immune to human tendencies. They too, will have days where they need to find inspiration to maintain their focus.
I've always thought of motivation as the energy source that sustains success. That energy flows from the coach and through each athlete on the team. It should be every coach's goal to excite athletes about what they are doing and to provide them with opportunities to fulfill their ambitions. While there is no magic formula when it comes to motivation, there are methods and tools that will help you to focus your energies toward achieving success and sharing it with your athletes. One strategy is to model positive behavior and to promote a positive thought process to your athletes. By doing this, you can expect positive results.
While motivation has been defined as the energy source that sustains success, there still seems to be a sense of vagueness regarding its origin, where does it come from and can everyone have it?
My thoughts on this matter are very clear. Through the grace of God I believe that everyone has the gift of choosing whether not to use their talents (motivation) to make a positive difference in their or someone else's life. While the amount of talent that each person possesses may vary, the extent to how we use it is totally dependent on how we see ourselves as masters of our own destiny. We alone, determine our ideals (A mental concept of what we conceive as good and worthy of expression.) and how we will act on them. James Allen captured the source of motivation when he said; "Whatever your environment may be, you will fail, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your wisdom, your ideal aspiration." We can then say that the source of motivation comes from choosing to rise with our thoughts and acting on them and that everyone has the choice of following their convictions and ideals.
Ultimately, each and every individual is given the power to determine whether he/she wants to be happy or not. Abraham Lincoln stated; "We will be as happy as we decide we want to be." Clearly we do not always have control over what happens to us, but we definitely have control over how we perceive our own self-worth. Eleanor Roosevelt supported this sentiment; Nobody can make me feel inferior without my consent."
The first step to being a sucessful and happy person is recognizing that we can alter our quality of life by altering our attitudes of mind.
