Re-Ignite Your Motivation

You've probably noticed lately that your or your kids motivation and energy levels have been pretty low. We're all feeling a little zoomed out, tired of at home workouts, and mom and dad are trying to balance working from home with being parents and distant learning facilitators. Because of COVID, this is our new normal for the foreseeable future, so let's see how we can make the best of it.

Before we can talk about motivation, we first have to talk about our mental health. You may have observed your own or your child's mental health has seemed a bit off in recent months with all that's going on in the world. Since it's typically easier for adults to work through what they're feeling, take an active role in helping your kid's process what they're going through. Try this:

1) The only way out of the emotion is through it, so acknowledge what you or your child may be feeling. Own those emotions, process them, and talk about how to work them out. We're all feeling something right now, so talk about and work through them together. Feel them, and Deal with them.

Now, because of the current restrictions and lack of sports competitions, etc, you might find that motivation to train just isn't there. At home or distanced team trainings might be getting boring or repetitive. You just don't want to do it. I get it. I'm noticing some similar trends myself. Here are a few ideas that could help spark some motivation and bring back the fun:

2) Redefine your WHY. Why do you love your sport? Why do you compete? What do you want to achieve as an athlete? Understanding your why can help you visualize where you want to go and what you can do to get there.

3) Set smaller, daily PROCESS GOALS to help you reach your bigger goal. Maybe you want to increase your juggling personal best by the end of the month. What can you do every day to help you achieve that goal? How will you hold yourself accountable to working towards it daily?

4) Bring back the FUN!! Set up some friendly, goofy, competitions with your family or between other families and friends. Things like poster board paper airplane flying contests, toilet paper bowling, or water balloon toss. You can even throw a sport specific competition in there, like longest/most accurate pass, or farthest throw in. Get creative!! But make sure FUN is the number one priority.

We're in weird times without question. But as weird as they are, we have a unique opportunity to work towards mastering our craft and re-igniting our motivation. No other time in history have we had the extra time we find ourselves with now, so choose wisely about how you can make the most of it!