The Motivation Paradigm

One of the misconceptions that newer students have to overcome is the belief that exercise is something they “should” do for good health. Amazingly, the promise of good health is actually a very poor motivator for exercise. 

Jane Brody writes in this New York Times article that the eventual promise of good health is hard to use as a daily motivator when your day is full of more immediate temptations and distractions. (Jane Brody is one of my longtime favorite health and nutrition writers. Check out her cookbooks.)

Brody writes that good health is too big and abstract a concept to overcome the daily temptations we all face. Good health is always something we can address tomorrow…or until we have a major health event.

But if good health is a poor motivator, what else have we got?

As instructors and coaches, we have a unique opportunity to add other dimensions to this motivational puzzle. This is an important way in which we can help our students who struggle to make it to class, despite their stated desire to become regular exercisers.

Many of the people who are successful at overcoming a lack of motivation use a multi-dimensional solution; a kind of paradigm with short-, medium-, and long-term aspects. Each aspect must support the others to achieve long-term success. Let’s examine how that might look.

Short Term

Immediate problems tend to present themselves in the short term that easily get in the way of an individual’s plan to work out. They brush it off by claiming, “I don’t want to work out today. I will do it tomorrow.” However, another obstacle may present itself the following day, and before they know it, the entire week has gone by without coming to your class.

Long-term goals, such as good health, are not enough to overcome short-term distractions and obstacles.

There are several solutions for the short-term problem:

1. Reframe exercise. The great paradox of exercise is that it is energy-creating, not energy- consuming. Most people who struggle with exercise fail before they even start because they see personal energy as a net-sum game. They believe they have only so much of it and they need to conserve it today because they think their supply is low.
   
   These people have not learned to accept one of the mysteries of our bodies. Energy in our body is not like gas in our car; it is not a finite quantity to be rationed. Think less of energy as a quantity and see it more as a process. You will be amazed.We can teach our students to reframe exercise as a positive, energy-giving experience instead of a negative, energy-draining one. Encourage them to say, “I need to get to the gym so I will have energy for the rest of my day,” instead of, “I’m too tired or too busy to make it to the gym today.”
2. Remember the afterglow. This is a corollary to reframing exercise. Remembering how good you feel after a workout is a powerful motivator. You know the feeling, the glow, the joy it brings. Promise yourself that feeling for the rest of the day as long as you keep your daily appointment with your exercise. As I often say, “Sometimes I don’t feel great walking into the gym, but I always feel great walking out.”
3. Make it routine. Put your workouts on your calendar as an important appointment with yourself. Give them priority. And don’t give them away to conflicts too easily. Just like you pay yourself first to save money, you keep your appointments with yourself to be healthy.
4. Demand to start, allow to stop. What that means is to learn to be stricter with yourself in getting started, but not so much that there is no way out. If pain is involved, you will be less likely to reframe the effort as pleasant. I sometimes make a deal with myself if I don’t want to do my workout. I will tell myself if I don’t feel better after ten minutes, then I can stop. On the other hand, usually I do feel better after ten minutes and continue to the finish.

Medium Term

The medium-term part of the paradigm is more obvious. It is typically a mid-term goal. Often this can be an event or some other measurable benchmark such as a weight goal, or to train for your first century bike ride or fun run. This can often work as a motivation, especially for people who are more competitive.

But how many people have gotten into shape for an event, or lost the pounds they desired, and then fallen back into old habits afterwards?

Long Term

Events come and go. What do you do after the event? What will motivate you, not just for the next three or six months, but for your lifetime? This is the hardest component for most people.

It requires an honest evaluation of your own values and priorities in the long term. What makes you tick? Is it a longer, healthier life, not for its own sake, but to be part of the life of your family? Or does it have a spiritual aspect for you, viewing your body as the “container” for your soul? This requires honest thought and real self-reflection. It’s such a big subject it needs its own discussion. But, for today, recognize that it also is one part of the motivation paradigm.

What you can do as a coach

Begin by helping your riders develop and improve their own motivation by first reframing short-term benefits into positive outcomes and feelings rather than onerous obligations.

The next step is to encourage them to set medium goals that fall in line with their desires. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to elicit information about events in their lives, such as an upcoming wedding or vacation for which they may want to lose weight or look more fit. Or, you may be able to suggest medium-term events, such as a charity ride that your facility is hosting in four months.

Another idea is to create your own event as a medium-term goal for your class (or studio), such as a 30- or 60-day challenge, offering rewards for attendance.

Occasionally remind your students of these medium-term goals, and offer encouragement and recognition when they achieve milestones.

After the event is over, this may be the time to help them formulate long-term goals that become the foundation for adopting fitness as a permanent lifestyle.

The payoff is huge if you can put all three parts of the paradigm into alignment. Your students can be unstoppable if you can help them make short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals that fit together and support one another. Your students will love you for your help on that journey.

Part 2 will discuss how we motivate our students using the research-based intrinsic concepts of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.