Many people want to have success in life and start achieving their desires and goals. But some people achieve their goals, while others quit before even starting. These two categories of people differ in that some are motivated, while others lack motivation. Many people don't want to truly achieve what they set out to do. The right step towards achieving your goals is playing sports. They strengthen the body and spirit. In this article we will examine the topics: “What is motivation for sports?” and “How to motivate yourself and start achieving success.”
Why do you need motivation?
Many people think that they don't need motivation to do something, but their to-do list doesn't get smaller, it just gets bigger every day. Motivation plays an important role in sports and life. Without desire, as well as without good training, you cannot achieve success. Motivation is a push that makes a person go towards his goal.
To achieve results, it is not enough to just be trained and talented; you also need the desire to apply skills and improve them. There are cases when in sports competitions the one who is slightly inferior in preparedness, but has the desire to win, wins. Motivation is important not only for achieving global goals, but also for simple things.
Make a public promise
It’s great to be a full-fledged owner of your word: if you wanted it, you gave it, if you wanted it, you took it away! There is no responsibility for the guilty party, for example, for disrupting a run. However, once you express your intentions publicly, the rules of the game will seriously change. Try posting a photo of your new sneakers on Instagram and vow to try them out in a five-kilometer race. Believe me, you will have many sensitive and attentive judges. 
Aren't you afraid of cheeky jokes and rude comments? Include material penalties in the contract. Choose a happy “victim” and promise to pay her a certain amount for each failure to train. Of course, the figure should be high: for some a couple of dollars is enough, but for others the rate will rise to hundreds. And the “freebie recipient” will certainly follow your sports (non-)successes.
The effectiveness of this approach is confirmed by Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD, assistant professor of health sciences at Stanford University. Jeremy links to the popular website stickK, created by economists at Yale University. On the site, users can declare their intentions to bring their goal to life at any cost, write down a plan for achieving it and put their reputation or money on the line. Years of academic research confirm that greedy people do not like to lose money; such public contracts triple the chance of success. Moreover, long-term agreements have an advantage over short-term ones.
Preparation for training
Pre-workout motivation is an important factor in getting started with a little excitement. There are several types of motivation for preparing for training:
- It is necessary to answer the question: “Why do you need to play sports?” Some people want to get their bodies in shape for the summer, others simply want to lead a sporty lifestyle, and others are thinking of developing their character and willpower.
- You need to decide what sport to do. You should choose based on your goal. There are a huge number of areas for sports. If your plans are simply to maintain physical fitness, there is no point in going to the gym for an annual subscription; a simple morning jog and fitness will be enough. The second aspect in choosing a sport is personal preference. Do only what brings you pleasure. No matter what anyone says, if you hate lifting weights, you won’t be able to work out in the gym for a long time and efficiently.
- Find a company where you can motivate each other. The right environment is also the key to achieving your goals. Man is a social being, therefore he cannot live without communicating with other people. Everyone's opinion is based on the thinking of those around them. Therefore, you should surround yourself with the right people in order to move towards the same goal together.
Goal setting
So, you have decided to go in for sports, and you have the appropriate motivation and a certain motive for action.
But what is your goal? What do you want to achieve? It's time to talk about what a goal is and, in fact, goal setting. A goal is a visual image of the desired result, which determines the nature and direction of a person’s activity. A goal can be in the form of knowledge, an assumption, or even a feeling. In the psychological theory of activity, the goal in relation to the motive acts as its specific, visual form. The motivation for doing fitness in this case is the goal of looking like, for example, Jeff Seid (born: June 12, 1994, 22 years old). And a photograph of it can serve as a visual image to achieve the result (see photo).
Goal setting is the choice of a goal, with the determination of possible options for the course of events to manage the process of achieving it. Often, the process of choosing a goal is interpreted as a person’s understanding of his activities from the point of view of setting goals and achieving them by the most rational means.
If you combine these two terms into one, then simply put, it will sound like this.
Goal setting is a person’s desire to achieve a certain goal in the shortest possible time in the most effective way.
Now that you have added a very specific goal to your motivation and motive, you can begin to move towards achieving it, and for this to become possible, you need two conditions: determine your starting point and set your destination. You can't achieve what you want if you don't know exactly what you want. This is why it is very important to make your thoughts concrete. Motivation for sports should always be specific and have a clear form.
Top 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
After you have completed your first training session, the motivational charge may either increase or completely fade away. Now let's look at the techniques for restoring it:
- After each workout, do something nice for yourself. If you like watching movies, go to the cinema or spend 1-1.5 hours watching your favorite TV series. Don't worry, these methods will only be necessary in the beginning, then you will love training and will enjoy just the fact that you played sports today.
- Argue with someone. This method is no less effective. If you are limited in finances, offer a bet to someone who works with you. Its essence is that if a person does not come to training without a good reason, he gives a certain amount to the person present.
- Praise yourself and think positively. Notice your successes and simply rejoice in them, and perceive any failures as a challenge or obstacle and try to overcome it. You will be pleased to see your achievements and this will add motivation.
- Sign up for a group training session. Working out with a personal trainer is an excellent choice, however, if you feel that the desire to exercise is disappearing, try this method. Don't forget about the human factor. A competitive spirit will only add strength to you, because no one wants to look bad compared to someone else.
- Wear sports clothes. If you do physical exercises at home, when you come from the street, immediately take off your clothes and change into sports clothes. When you are in a shirt and trousers, it hampers movement, and there is no desire to change clothes to exercise. When you are ready, it eliminates excuses and adds motivation.
Work for results
Motivation to train appears only when there is a clear plan of action. It is important not to just come up with a goal in your head and mentally build a plan to achieve it. It's important to write it all down. List the actions you need to take to achieve your goal. Distribute these steps for each day. Even if they are not global, we should act more carefully than do nothing.
Every day, check your list of necessary actions and cross out unnecessary ones. When you see that there are fewer and fewer points left, this will give you a motivational charge and you will move forward, ultimately getting not only the desired result (a beautiful body or good health), but also moral satisfaction.
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Motivating factors
To increase your interest in sports, you can use the following motivations:
- Playing sports helps to take your mind off surrounding problems. What is the ideal holiday? Change of activity. When a person performs the same type of work for a long time, he gets bored and quickly gets tired due to the monotony. If you work in an office, sedentary job, you simply need to take breaks. And don’t just close all work documents and start checking your social networks, but do some physical work. A simple warm-up or exercise will be enough.
- Exercising improves your mood. During physical activity, a happiness hormone is produced, which helps you enjoy life and fills it with new colors.
- Physical activity improves sleep quality. When we sleep, the body is restored and filled with energy for a productive day. What will happen to the body if it is not tired during the day? In this case, it can be compared to a filled glass into which they are trying to pour water. The water begins to overflow. Likewise, the body, which is filled with energy, begins to overflow with it and because of this, various problems arise, such as drowsiness, headaches.
- Exercising increases energy. If you feel tired in the middle of the day, don't rush to take a break or take a nap. It is better to do light exercises for the whole body. During physical activity, the functionality of the lungs and heart is normalized, you receive more oxygen and gain new strength to continue activities.
- Playing sports increases confidence and improves self-esteem. Any sport implies self-development and doing something new. During each workout, you will do something you couldn't do before. This will add confidence. You will understand that if you work hard, you can do anything. Look at professional athletes. Their movements are confident, their speech does not contain sudden changes. These are the hallmarks of a confident person.
Self-discipline and self-improvement
Motivation is good, but it only helps you start playing sports. To continue and not quit requires willpower, character and self-discipline. Most people cannot play sports for a long time because they do not have these qualities. A person must be able to control his body and desires, and not indulge them. Sports help you learn these skills.
Overcoming the “breakdown” stage
While playing sports or doing something else for a long time, a person begins to have thoughts of quitting everything. This happens because the result is not visible. It's more pleasant to work when you see success. When the result is not shown, the desire begins to disappear.
At such moments, it is important not to break down and overcome the desire to stop there. It is important to understand that there are long-term goals that take a long time to achieve. Don't expect instant results, especially at the beginning. To achieve global goals, learn to wait.
Another piece of advice in this situation: ask yourself the question: “Why did you start this?” After all, when you decided to train, you expected to achieve results. And it was not our plan to stop midway.
And lastly, visualize. Visualize yourself in the end. To look sporty, imagine the final result. This will also add motivation.
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