By Rachel Roth
Like so many crossfitters out there, I am coming off the high of watching all the regionals’ weekends, being inspired by amazingness (yes I like to invent words when I feel actual words are not sufficient enough), and wanting to push myself harder so that I too can be a regional and games level athlete. But what happens when that high completely wears off? When the inspiration and motivation we all felt is more distant, will we continue to use it to its full potential?
Maybe I am more sensitive to it at the moment, or maybe I am just paying more attention, but one thing I have begun to notice among a lot of crossfitters I know, is that they in theory are super motivated to get stronger, faster, and better at crossfit, but that in actuality, their thoughts are not matching up with their actions. They say they are going to work on getting stronger, come in to the box more days a week to train, go a little heavier on the wods because they want to compete, but they don’t seem to follow through with their actions. So my question is, where is your motivation really coming from? Are you intrinsically motivated, or is it external rewards that you’re after?
An individual who is task-goal oriented, is someone who focuses on improving themselves from day to day by working towards small goals. They strive to be a little better than they were the day before. An individual who is ego oriented, is someone who strives to be better than everyone around them, and they tend to judge their own success based on being better than other people. They work for external rewards, like money and fame. Now I am not saying one is better than the other, nor am I saying we can’t want some external validation for the hard work we do. That’s a natural part of being a competitive athlete. But, in my experience with athletes (and this can be applied to a broader scale than just athletes), is that the ones who are intrinsically motivated, tend to be more successful over time. And they tend to be more successful because when the external motivation of winning, or gaining some notoriety diminishes over time, the athletes who are also intrinsically motivated are more likely to keep going, keep pushing, and keep improving. Something inside them is pushing them to go on, even if there are no immediate tangible rewards. Those athletes are more likely to face and conquer obstacles head on and not be stopped by them.
The point to my rambling is this, in order for us to be truly successful, we have to examine our motives for doing what we do. “Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.” If we want to succeed, we have to ask ourselves if we are really committed to the task.
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” -Pablo Picasso