The human race as a whole, are resilient people. We know our limits, yet we still try to push past them to become better—better athletes and better people—to love ourselves even more at our full potential. Motivation is key to achieving anything, you can't accomplish your goals without ambition and a positive mindset, even during those tough and gruesome days. In a “Room for Debate” article, “How Do Olympians Stay So Driven?”, former Olympic gold medalists contribute their beliefs on how to continue being motivated.
The only difference between us and those “superhuman” Olympians you see on the T.V. is the level of dedication they've mastered. Sara Hughes, a former Olympic figure skater, claims that, “Having role models is integral to staying motivated. It helps change the mindset from “I’m tired. This is hard. Why bother?” to knowing it is possible to dig deeper… I want to inspire others too”, having role models influence and inspire others to overcome weaknesses and to strive to reach their goals. Having someone to look up to allows you to imitate their level of motivation to then implement it in your own endeavors.
From each point of view, the takeaway is to not give up. Former Olympic swimmer, Dana Torres, better addresses it: “remember that there's no way to reach a goal while in bed sleeping. We all have those kinds of days, but to be truly dedicated, you have to push through them”. Motivation must consistently be flowing everyday despite pain and distractions, in order to propel towards success. Torres explains how you have to be your own alarm clock and your own coach, because the only person getting you out of the bed in the morning to continue working, is ultimately yourself.
The relevancy of this issue pertains to the many people in need of motivation, that are also facing issues. In the big picture it’s fine to look up to someone, to use them as a set of guidelines, but personally, I never want to limit myself to someone’s successes. I’m more comfortable being my own inspiration and making the rules from scratch, than to strive for someone else’s success. This doesn’t just apply to fitness and athletics, so in the face of ANY adversity, how will you gain motivation? What method best suits YOU?
Whenever I've faced adversity or just had an extremely horrible day I hold on just because I know that eventually I will be okay. Even though at the moment my life is not going great. I just tell myself I will be fine and that it is okay to cry now because you will feel better later. Just push through because you are more than strong enough.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, I think that's a great way to keep your head up during tough times. I agree with you that we are actually stronger than we think we are and we all have the capability to overcome our obstacles. I hope things in your life get better, I know you can get through it! :)
DeleteWhat motivates me the most would just simply be music. At first it may seem like its just a distraction of sounds keeping you away from what you're physically doing, but it's actually useful in making me train harder than i usually do. It seems crazy that just a couple of sounds would make you workout ten times harder, but it does. But there are of course flaws in this type of motivation. My coach would argue that music may keep you pumped for the time being, but once your on the mat, it's only your thoughts that keep you company.
ReplyDeleteFor me, my motivation comes from the strive to do better. I always want to be on top of my work, and to make sure that I have the information down. I usually feel motivated when it comes to academics because I want to become better especially in terms of public speaking. At my church, there are so many wonderful people that love to teach about our faith and it inspires me to do that someday. There are so many figures that I look up to, and that truly motivates me to become a better person and to improve on whatever I need to work on.
ReplyDeletePersonally,I'm motivated by always imagining the bigger picture. One of my biggest fears would have to be failure, so I think I naturally have a strive to keep pushing towards my goal if it's something I really want. Also, I get motivation by seeing others in the position I want to ultimately be in the future. I see how their living and happy in the situation they're in and I want to be like that. I live by "trusting the process" and " never settling " those two phrases are also apart of my motivation when I look at the bigger picture of where I want to be in life. In the end, if you really want something you should work hard for it because it'll always be worth it in the long run.
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