Finding Motivation From Within

Life is full of reasons to celebrate. It serves as a moment to enjoy your hard work. Maybe you got a promotion, smashed your 5k run time, or even made it through a stressful day in one piece. Celebrating feels great and can even set you up for future success. Taking pride in your achievements, big or small, helps build confidence and self-esteem, and highlighting your wins can even influence others to celebrate their achievements too!

Is rewarding yourself the same as celebrating? Not exactly. While they do share many characteristics, they do have subtle differences. A reward suggests you have reached the end of a task or process and have earned a prize while celebrating is more about appreciating the process and highlighting the wins that come with it.

We often create motivation using rewards. Extrinsic motivation is when we are compelled to complete a task to receive an external reward. This reward could come as money, a prize, a gift, and so on. The danger with this is when the reward is removed, the motivation to do the task disappears too.

Intrinsic Motivation is the motivation that comes from within. Instead of focusing on an outcome or reward, this type of motivation comes from shifting your focus to the process or effort needed to complete the task. When we find intrinsic motivation, we tend to engage in a task for the joy of doing so, even if there is no reward at the end.

Healthily celebrating success enhances positive emotion around our efforts which further increases our intrinsic motivation. We develop a sense of pride in what we are capable of and reinforce the desire to continue and improve.

How do you celebrate healthily instead of using external rewards?

1. Celebrate with others.
Share your achievements with people you care about or people who supported you along the way. Show genuine appreciation to those who helped you get to where you are. Everyone enjoys being appreciated and by showing genuine appreciation, you're nurturing a meaningful relationship with people who will want to help you again in the future. They will also be more likely to include you when celebrating achievements of their own.

2. Give back to yourself
Spend time on yourself and be present. Treat yourself to a massage, get your nails done, or go for a walk on a sunny day! Take a moment to soak it all in and enjoy what you have accomplished. Giving yourself some time alone will allow you to reflect on what you have achieved, the ups and downs that lead to that point, and where you may want to go from here.

3. Reflect
It is important to take a look back at what lead to your achievements. Ask yourself questions like:
What did I enjoy?
What went well and what would I have done differently?
What skills did I gain?
What were my strengths or weaknesses?
What obstacles did I overcome?

Reflecting is powerful and will increase your chances of more success in the future. Reflection also allows you to learn more about yourself and empower others who are traveling along a similar path to you.

It doesn't matter how big or small your achievements are. Celebrate them constantly. Whether you're celebrating your first push-up or your first-born child, celebrating strengthens pride. Be proud of yourself and what you are capable of.

At Black Tusk Athletics, we are proud of the community that has grown within our walls. A community of people who are just like you and are on their way to unlocking their true potential. By becoming a member at Black Tusk Athletics, you are joining a community of people who want to see you succeed.

Written by Steven Fry - Black Tusk Athletics Trainer