Blog posts should be nothing but relatable, right? Which is why this is a safe space for me to talk about something that you might also do, right? Right?
Okay, right.
Every evening, I set a very ambitious alarm on my phone (the keyword being ambitious). Sometimes, I find myself dreaming that I had an “old-fashioned” alarm clock that wasn’t on my phone, but that’s a whole other monologue…
By ambitious, I mean early – earlier than I need to wake up for the day’s activities. Let me explain this a bit further –
There are some (or maybe most) tasks throughout our day that external factors dictate that we must do. These external factors could be job requirements, set appointments (health, work, or otherwise), or instances where people or lives are relying on us.
To give you an example, I care for horses in my spare time. Several mornings a week, I am responsible for feeding the horses, taking them outside, and cleaning the barn. When my alarm clock, I mean phone, goes off at 5:45 AM – something inside of me says, “Jennifer, you have to get up.” The power that external circumstances (horses needing to be fed, in this case) have over our actions is incredible.
On the flip side of extrinsic (outside of you) motivation is intrinsic, or internal motivation. With intrinsic motivation, you accomplish tasks purely for your own enjoyment, or because you (and no one else) find them important.
To give you an example, last night I set my alarm for 5:45 AM – not because I had to take care of the horses, but because I wanted to read and have coffee before the 7 AM workout. Mind you, this was not a workout I was expected to coach, it was just a workout that I wanted to do.
I snoozed my alarm clock until 6:50 AM.
But Jennifer ! You still had 10 minutes !! (Not at the pace at which I tend to do things…)
In my very sleepy mind, external circumstances did not require that I wake up at 5:45 AM to drink coffee, read, and work out. Nothing was saying, “Jennifer, you have to get up.”
I do acknowledge that there are other factors at play here – quality of sleep, valuing exercise as a must, etc.
Speaking from human to human (although I am a fitness professional), I wanted to start the discussion on what motivates us to do the things that we want to do, so we don’t regret not doing them later.
**Disclaimer: I wasn’t going to say anything…but…I did wake up for an optional workout yesterday!
What changed in my motivation today? Reach out to us at urbanathletephiladelphia@gmail.com !