Motivation
"Intrinsic motivation...is an
internal form of motivation. You strive towards a
goal for personal satisfaction or accomplishment."
"I have so many great ideas, if only I could get
motivated."
"I do well with deadlines, but I can't seem to motivate myself."
"I can't seem to lose weight unless I have someone constantly checking on me and I can't afford a personal trainer."
"I would perform better if I could make myself practice more."
Do any of these sound familiar? What the above statements havein common is the individual's need for extrinsic motivation for follow-through, the inability to achieve a desired goal unless someone else provides the impetus to pursue the goal. Without the development of intrinsic motivation, individuals have a great deal of difficulty achieving success in almost any area. If you examine successful people, one of the main differences is their ability to motivate themselves. They are not necessarily more intelligent, or have better ideas, or have better luck; they are just able to pursue a goal to its conclusion.
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Hot Air Balloon Motivation
Although this audio uses imagery for relaxation and can be used just for the calming experience,
the focus of the audio is encouragement and motivation. Once you achieve a state of relaxation,
listening to the motivational statements can increase your self-confidence and belief in your
ability to achieve your goals. This audio is meant to be listened to repeatedly to help increase
your positive self-talk regarding achieving your goals.
This may be used while sitting or lying down in
a quiet, comfortable place. Just close
your eyes and listen without trying to force
yourself to relax. If your mind wanders,
gently bring yourself back to focus on the
words.
This exercise is best the more fully relaxed you
are. If you are unable to relax
completely, listen to the relaxation exercises such
as the meadow or mountain cabin until you are
more skilled with relaxation.
Do not use while operating a car!
TRANSCRIPT
PsychNotes
Some people may be curious as to why this website is dedicated to the
"pursuit of excellence" when I am constantly warning about the dangers
of perfectionism. To address this question we must differentiate
between the pursuit of excellence and the need to be perfect. These
concepts are not only different but can be considered antagonistic to
one another. In fact these concepts are so opposed to one another that
excellence can best be attained by giving up the demands of perfection.
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Although we may prefer to believe that learning a motor skill is purely learning a set of physical techniques,
we have to consider that most learning typically takes place in the context of an interpersonal relationship with
a teacher. The critical question is how does this interaction affect the development of motor skills. It appears
that the mediating factor between the presentation of the instructions by the teacher and the performance of the
skill by the student may be the cognitive process of self-efficacy (Escarti & Guzman, 1999). Some may argue that
the development of effective skills may lead to the increased self-efficacy demonstrated by students of high
ability. Although this process occurs, it is not sufficient for explaining the role of developing
self-efficacy and its impact on learning motor skills. To fully explain the role of self-efficacy, we must
evaluate the interpersonal context of how the teacher or coach provides feedback to the athlete, how that
feedback affects self-efficacy, and how self-efficacy enhances performance. Unfortunately, studies directly
examining this relationship are sparse, and therefore, the inferences need to be made based on research
examining the relation of the different components of the equation such as the feedback/self-efficacy
relationship and the self-efficacy/motor skills relationship.
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Without confidence in one’s ability, an individual cannot perform to his or her potential. It is
even possible that someone with lesser ability, but with confidence, can outperform this person because
belief in oneself can be a powerful influence. What is this sense of confidence? Albert Bandura refers
to situation-specific self-confidence as “self-efficacy” which is the strength of an individual’s belief
that he or she can successfully perform a given activity. The concept of self-efficacy has often been
used interchangeably with the concept of self-esteem which is the process of evaluating the self;
however, self-efficacy is more accurately described as a precursor to self-esteem and is mediated
by the individual’s self-attributions.
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Training “smart” is more important than the amount of daily practice. Too often an athlete
believes that the more he or she practices, the more proficient he/she will become. However, this plan
is not only ineffective, but it can also be detrimental to achieving the desired outcome. An
athlete who practices frequently and hard without an overall plan will be more likely to suffer
the effects of overtraining such as burn-out, exhaustion, and increased injuries rather than
actually improving performance. By developing a set of specific goals and a plan for reaching
those goals, athletes can more effectively use their practice time and even reduce the time
required in practice to attain their goals. Obviously, this does not mean that the martial
artist can achieve rank or win tournaments with little practice; it means that the athlete does
not need to waste time through ineffective practice and through the harmful effects of overtraining.
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Assessing performance and correcting errors are important internal skills for the martial arts student
to develop. But how does one develop this skill? To do so, the martial arts instructor needs to
consciously teach skill just as he or she teaches proper execution of a side kick or using faking
techniques during sparring. However, teaching the development of using internal sources of information
for feedback may be something many martial arts instructors were not taught themselves. So often when
we teach skills, our response to the student’s performance involves correcting errors or giving general
praise, neither of which are conducive to teaching the student how to self-correct errors. In fact,
these responses tend to create excessive dependence upon the instructor’s feedback and presence.
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