Are you motivated to achieve success or avoid failure?
During our last Eddiesmethod Training Camp, we discussed two types of motivated athletes. The ones motivated to achieve success and the ones motivated to avoid failure. The principle behind this idea is that if two athletes are "equal", the one most motivated to achieve success will inevitably be the better athlete, as he/she will naturally desire competition. When it comes to the athletes motivated to avoid failure, their instinct is to protect themselves, how others view them, their ego or their self-esteem.
The idea is not for you to realise that you fall into one of these categories and move on with your life or athletic career, but to take some time to think about this and understand situations where you can clearly identify if you were motivated to achieve success or motivated to avoid failure and how that was affecting your performance in an event or competition. You can bounce between those two categories depending on what you are facing or what's happening in your life. However, the effective exercise is understanding the concept and making an intrinsic effort to move more and more towards the motivated to achieve success category.
To understand it even better, think of this:
Two equal fighters facing each other in the same last round - one is motivated to achieve success (MAS), and the other motivated to avoid failure (MAF) will show different behaviour. The MAS athlete sees this as an opportunity to give his best during that round, trying to surprise the other with unexpected levels of energy, skills or situations where he can prove he is the superior fighter. On the other hand, the MAF athlete will adopt an avoidance behaviour, trying to hold on to a tie or not get knocked out, thinking that if he does not lose, it's already an acceptable outcome. Also, the Coach will not have to invest in many motivational cues to the MAS athlete.
If we think about the elite of any sport, it will not be surprising to find many more MAS athletes. However, we can still find MAF athletes who can climb the competitive ladder and show significant results. However, the big takeaway is that MAS athletes will always elevate effort in response to a challenging situation or event. In contrast, MAF athletes will reduce effort due to the fear of failure and the threat to their self-esteem.
Can you now identify if you fall more into one of these categories? Can you shut down the external noise and pressure, letting your internal drive to compete and win bring the best out of you? Can you identify what situations caused you to act more like a MAF athlete and understand if there is anything that could be changed for you to have MAS behaviour?
Let me know what you think about it - happy to hear from you. Message me here.
Eddie
Further reading: "Essentials of strength training and conditioning" Thomas R Baechle, Roger W Earle."
