My brother and I recently completed a 20-mile run in the heart of the English countryside at Bramley, between Reading and Basingstoke.
We finished the race well before the suggested time of our required training program and were delighted with the result.
I posted the result on Facebook and shared some photos of me and my brother in our matching running vests and was amazed at how many people were commenting and emailing me about how they want to run longer distances and how they lack motivation. I promised to write and share my own motivational strategy.
At a basic level, when I train on my own, there are many things that I do that keep me energized in that moment, such as varying my routes, running to motivational music on my ipod, having a goal (like a 10k, half marathon or running race). marathon) to work out, and how I feel in my own skin enjoying the health benefits of being fit and fit. While running with others and having people to run with is one of the best ways to maintain momentum and be responsible, it is not always possible to run with others, so we need to be highly motivated.
However, this is not what people usually want to hear from me. They want some psychological process, so I’m going to share what I use the most to stay motivated and motivated, which involves mental rehearsal and imagination.
For most people, the main reason for mental rehearsal is to prepare, using your imagination in a way that ensures you behave, react, and respond to a certain situation in the future. However, I also find that remembering and recalling the mental rehearsal when I am training or ruining an event stimulates me even more when my legs scream for me to stop.
This type of motivational process, when done vigorously and convincingly, should stimulate, inspire, and propel you forward with real energy toward your desired result.
It’s that inspiration and motivation that gets you through the dark, lonely winter mornings and afternoons of running alone, on my own stage anyway.
Many people struggle to get out of bed early or go for a run after a day’s work and often we end up experiencing some conflict, as Aristotle said:
“Appetites are opposed, which happens when a principle of reason and desire are contrary and is only possible in beings with a sense of time, because while the mind asks us to contain ourselves by what is future, desire is influenced by just enough. in the hand: a pleasant object that is at hand is presented as pleasant and good, without condition in any of the cases, for lack of foresight in what is further away in time. “
So while you enjoy the warm, sleepy comfort, snuggled in a bed in the morning with your loved one, it’s that instant pleasure and comfort that can seem irresistible, and instead of looking for the opportunity to get out, run, and be healthy, Fit and free, you find the prospect of running cold, dark, and unpleasant. The long-term end result is not convincing enough compared to the comfort and joy of the moment.
One way that an NLP training from Robert Dilts that I enjoyed several years ago helped me establish a path through these types of conflicts was to use the “as if” framework. Something that I have written about in depth here and something that I teach in a lot of my workouts.
The “as if” framework helps us to make the longer-term results and benefits more compelling and allows us to “experience” how things will be once we have achieved that result, and to overcome the short-term pleasure gained from not doing. that (eg, going out in those early races when you’re not in initial form and the earnings seem minimal).
The goal is for us to create a sense of expectation within ourselves and then we can begin to feel driven and motivated.
Our own sense of motivation is often driven by our values; things that are important to us. I mean, anyone who’s thinking of going for a run is doing it because on some level they think it’s important in some way, maybe to lose weight, get fit, be able to run to the bus, play with the kids without doing poop. , or even run a great race of some kind and accomplish something that you consider important.
To develop your own values if you are not sure why you are considering doing something that you want to be more motivated to do, ask yourself what motivates you. What is it that inspires you, drives you, or makes you want to go and do this?
You may want to experience success, regardless of how you interpret it. You may want the accolades and recognition that come from doing so. You may be looking for love and acceptance, or you just want the satisfaction of setting an outcome and achieving it; In the example of running (although it can be applied to most other aspects of life), this can be having a slimmer body, which helps a worthy person. because organizing an event for charity, being able to set a great goal in life or simply feeling more fit in general.
These are all examples of “values” that form the basis of people’s motivation to do something.
So the key is that if we connect our future plans and desired results with these values, those results subsequently become even more compelling and we feel more inspired to strive for them. The simple sentence that Robert Dilts showed us in our training that I still use today was the following:
_____________ (My goal) will help me to better achieve ___________ (My value / s) because _________ (The connection between them)
There are many ways that our own internal representation of desired results influences us. So when we imagine (based on my example scenario above) that if we go out for a run it will be cold, painful, dark, unpleasant and we talk to ourselves in a defeating and gloomy way, then it just isn’t going to happen, is that it?
Give good thought to how you think when considering taking the actions necessary to achieve the desired result. Because it affects your motivation.
When I watch the London Marathon on TV, what makes me want to be there running with those thousands of other people is not just my own personal values and desires as we discussed above … The way TV broadcasts it increases my Motivation – They use music that excites me, they use full color, they show the sights, they offer inspiring stories of people running the race against all odds, the words used by the runners, the tone used by the commentators and much more all combine to build a condition amazing inside your head that makes you look at it feeling incredibly inspired and motivated.
Why not use that for our own benefit as well? Inside our own heads? Behave like the TV station!
You can do it with this very basic motivation process that I use, which I learned in NLP training so many years ago, and despite being simple, you can adapt it to really motivate yourself:
Step one: Imagine that you have already achieved the desired result. the result that matches your values. Imagine that you are getting great pleasure and satisfaction from doing this. behave “as if” is happening and mentally rehearse the scenario, be on that scenario performing well and being happy as a result.
See what you see, listen to what you hear and enjoy the wonderful sensations it produces.
Second step: Be the inspiring TV announcer in your own head now, adjust the scene in any way you can to really motivate you. Add music, sounds of loved ones cheering and congratulating you, imagine what you are saying to yourself, add colors and wonderful things that make this internal representation even more motivating and compelling.
Use inspirational language to encourage yourself, use a tonality that you would use if you were encouraging any other loved one. Use whatever you need to make this as moving and inspiring as possible.
Step three: Now start associating those thoughts and feelings with achieving your result and also start thinking about all the actions you need to take to achieve it, so that you associate the journey (the training) with all those great feelings. Make the workout as enjoyable as the result!
Imagine all those moments when you will go out, cheer up, enjoy the process, etc.
Step four: Do this repeatedly whenever you have some free time and get it lodged in your mind.
Step five: Use the feelings, images, and experience of this process whenever you need it. Let it help you get out of bed, let it help you reach for your running shoes, let it help propel you to run that extra mile and push yourself in a healthy way throughout the trip.
This is looking at the result, of course we all need to learn the correct behaviors and actions to take to make things easier and healthier for us too. So, make sure you get the correct training times and information if you want to run marathons, for example.
This process here today is designed to continually motivate you, and it is what I use to help me mark each new marathon event and the training program that goes along with it each year. I hope you (runners in particular) find it useful.