The Motivation Myth

The alarm screams across your darkened room, cutting through the blissful silence of sleep. You roll over, feeling the pillow sticking to your cheek, and fumble around on the floor for your phone. Finally, the noise stops. It’s 5:30 am, pitch dark, and the outside temperature is 2℃. The last thing you want to do is get out of bed, get dressed and get to training. In fact, the last thing you want to do is get out of bed full stop. Surely it would be okay to miss just this one session? How far behind can you fall in 90 minutes? You could just send your coach a message telling them your heart rate is too high, and you’re feeling under the weather and get an extra hour of warm, much-needed shut-eye…

I’d be willing to bet that this is a familiar scenario for every rower; in fact, I know full well that for myself and the majority of my squad, turning up to winter training six mornings a week required more discipline than almost anything else out there. But somehow, day in, day out, from frosty October through to bitter February, turn up we did.

The source of motivation in sport is a hotly contested topic; whilst some argue that success is key to staying motivated, others maintain that you must already be motivated to attain success. Currently occupying a particular niche in the booming self-help book industry, books dealing with motivation – particularly among athletes – are having a moment. Think Brendan Brazier’s Thrive, or Champion-Minded, by Allistair McCaw. Contrary to many such books, which argue that once something has lit the fire of motivation within you, achieving your goal is just around the corner, Jeff Haden’s book ‘The Motivation Myth’, opines that motivation is both the result and precursor to success and that simplifying this somewhat contradictory statement is far more complex. To summarise, the book claims that in order to be motivated to achieve success, the most important thing is to focus on the process that must be followed in order to be successful – consistently repeating the steps which will lead you to success is a sure-fire way of doing so. Reducing distractions, cutting down on the things which are superfluous to achieving your end goal and spending less time thinking about your specific purpose are three things Haden claims will increase chances of success. 

But what if that all sounds like too much hard work? What if you’re someone who needs to taste success once in order to be persuaded to make the sacrifices required to reach the same dizzying heights of victory again?

When it comes to winter training, much of the traditional motivation rowers are fed centres around looking ahead to regatta season, on transferring all the gains made during those long slogs in the dark to the golden finals of Henley. We spend our time distracting ourselves from the cold and the rain, from the smell of the erg gallery and the sweat-damp wall of the gym by thinking of the summer months – the time when we can really test our mettle. Part of this adheres to Haden’s argument; we are following the process – sending it on long UT2 sessions and upping the volume in the gym – but are we focusing on it?

To stick at rowing, you have to love it. It may seem obvious, but it’s a fact, and one that is put to the test every year with the onset of winter. Part of the motivation to continue giving your all every time you step into the gym or get into the boat stems from the love of the sport and the desire to make something concrete from that dedication, but it helps that rowing is – to a certain extent – a team sport and that performing poorly doesn’t just affect you, but your whole crew.

Nothing parallels the feeling of being in a well-rowed 8+, and maybe it’s that which pushes you on. Perhaps you’ve just come back from injury and are determined to prove to yourself and others that it won’t hold you back. Motivation isn’t something that can be plucked out of thin air, there is – like most things in rowing – no quick fix, and there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all approach. But recognising what it is that motivates you, and repeating the things which make success feel as though it’s within your grasp is an excellent place to start.

Lucy

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Photos by Roesie Percy and Fergus Mainland

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Lucy Lloyd

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