Don't stop believin' - Journey

'Motivation'

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation. And feeling Motivated, I checked out ‘Motivation’ in Google and found that ‘Motivation’ involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behaviour’. So there and I’m sure it does- but in plain ‘Rory-speak’ (not being a man of great reading), I thought I’d search for some kind of meaning that I could actually understand.

 

With my very limited reading attention span, I quickly learned of ‘Intrinsic’ and ‘Extrinsic’- ‘Motivation’. ‘Intrinsic’ meaning coming from within and ‘Extrinsic’ coming from outside. And rather than just copy and pasting from other authors, I thought it best to give an insight to my own thought process.

 

So, I see ‘Motivation’ as being either ‘Pleasure’ or ‘Reward’ based regarded as ‘Intrinsic’ or ‘Extrinsic’. Simple enough?

 

And it’s funny how over the years ones focus changes. Personally, I’ve moved from definitely being ‘Extrinsically’ motivated’ to now being ‘Intrinsically’ driven. I mean, all those marathons? Most definitely in the ‘Pleasurable’ part of my spectrum. Doing the marathons themselves satisfied my ‘Motivation’. As for a rewards, if you class world record certificates and finishers medals as rewards, well I’m not that fussed - I can’t be as they are gathering dust, stashed away in the loft.

 

In my younger days, I was certainly motivated by work, fast cars and position. And every now and then when I see an old 1997 BMW 3 series, my heart misses a tiny beat as I think back to the time I spent racing my life away on a 160 mile M40 commute to work - living life, very dangerously, in the fast lane to achieve what I thought would deliver satisfaction. A satisfaction that it simply didn’t fulfil, and one that my running experiences delivered time and time again.

 

Now, I’m not saying that everyone needs to start running ultra-marathons to find ‘transcendence’ but seeking and finding ‘Motivation’ from within is undeniably satisfying and makes all material things feel worthless. To me, the finish line of any race is as priceless as any part of the journey. 

 

I have many thoughts on ‘Motivation’ and maybe it’s habitual… Simply something you either have or don’t have? I do know as an addict and from working with other addicts, we possess it in abundance. Hmm…

 

So, right now, if you are lacking ‘Motivation’, think about why you are striving for some things and not for others. Is it ‘Pleasurable’ or a ‘Reward’. My BMW - P354 GDA is long gone (I checked on the Govt Website) but my marathon PB will live with me forever.

 

How’s your motivation?

 

1066 Marathons - 255 Ultras - 15 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records