How to motivate yourself for year-round sports: simple but effective tips. You can easily motivate yourself to play sports all year round.
If your motivation to stick to your decision to play more sports this year is waning, you’re not alone.
The reason your motivation weakens may actually be that you initially chose the wrong motives and goals. And research shows us that choosing the right goal is the key to maintaining our motivation in the long run .
Ukraine , Ukraingate , 5 , February , 2022 | Sport
Reduce effort
Our brain encourages us to avoid physical exertion. That is why the excessive efforts we make during sports will work against us in the long run, which will lead to the fact that by the end of January we will feel less motivated to play sports. Our brain constantly monitors our body for any changes in the state of rest that may endanger our health. The more physical effort we put in, the more the signal is activated, and our brain tells us that this activity is simply not worth the effort and potential risk.
That is why minimizing the effort we need to make a dream come true can actually help us better adhere to our decisions in the long run. For example, if you are afraid of even a fifteen-minute run, reduce it to five minutes. Or, if you hate running, but you like zumba, pay attention to it. The golden rule is that the activities you are trying to motivate yourself for should be enjoyable. And research shows that we are much more likely to do something if it requires less effort, especially when we start new exercise regimens.
The same principle applies to reducing the psychological effort required to exercise, as our brains also encourage us to avoid it – to such an extent that when we are given a choice, we often prefer physical pain instead. He does this because he wants to save psychological effort in case of emergencies.
When it comes to starting a new exercise regimen, things like including exercise in our schedule or getting out of bed an hour early require psychological effort.
Unnecessary decision-making should be minimized to reduce psychological effort. When it comes time to play sports, cancel decisions such as walking or going to sports, or put your exercise equipment in the same place so you don’t have to look for it.
While these may sound like small decisions that need to be made, they can all make us feel less motivated to play sports when we need to make them. Research shows that when we think that little effort is needed to achieve our goals, we are more likely to achieve them.
Choose short-term goals
Another major motivational mistake that many people make is that we have set our goals too far in the future. Many people start exercising in order to lose a few pounds – perhaps to get back into their favorite jeans. But when the result is far in the future, our brain does not associate motivation with exercise – so we are less prone to exercise.
By choosing a goal that has a more immediate result, our brain will positively associate the result with the exercises, because they occur simultaneously. For example, the benefits of exercise to improve mood appear faster than changes in physical health, so this may be the best motivation for you to continue exercising. So, make the reason for the exercise that you can achieve – and this will be followed by long-term benefits.
Focus on “being” instead of “having”
The last motivational decision is to change the type of goal you have. The so-called “mother” goals mean little to our motivational brain, which focuses on more important things such as efficiency in what we do and building social connections. An example of a “mother” goal is to train so that you can improve your body. This type of goal is considered less important by our brain because it does not help us achieve the basic goals that help us prosper.
On the other hand, the types of goals that are most likely to motivate us are “to be” goals. An example of a goal is training to be healthier or more athletic or taller, because people tend to want to communicate with like-minded people based on our identity. It is believed that this motivation developed in the past of our ancestors, as the formation of ties helped us survive. Thus, it may be easier for someone to exercise if he does so, for example, to demonstrate his athleticism.
Source : Ukrgate
