"I have so many great ideas, if only I could get motivated."

"I do well with deadlines, but I can't seem to motivate myself."

"I can't seem to lose weight unless I have someone constantly checking on me and I can't afford a personal trainer."

"I would perform better if I could make myself practice more."

Do any of these sound familiar? What the above statements havein common is the individual's need for extrinsic motivation for follow-through, the inability to achieve a desired goal unless someone else provides the impetus to pursue the goal. Without the development of intrinsic motivation, individuals have a great deal of difficulty achieving success in almost any area. If you examine successful people, one of the main differences is their ability to motivate themselves. They are not necessarily more intelligent, or have better ideas, or have better luck; they are just able to pursue a goal to its conclusion. Read more...

Although this audio uses imagery for relaxation and can be used just for the calming experience, the focus of the audio is encouragement and motivation. Once you achieve a state of relaxation, listening to the motivational statements can increase your self-confidence and belief in your ability to achieve your goals. This audio is meant to be listened to repeatedly to help increase your positive self-talk regarding achieving your goals.

This may be used while sitting or lying down in a quiet, comfortable place.  Just close your eyes and listen without trying to force yourself to relax.  If your mind wanders, gently bring yourself back to focus on the words.

This exercise is best the more fully relaxed you are.  If you are unable to relax completely, listen to the relaxation exercises such as the meadow or mountain cabin until you are more skilled with relaxation.

Do not use while operating a car! 

TRANSCRIPT

• An Easier Way to Achieve Goals that Require Self-control
• Motivational Psychology: Or, How Everyone Can Benefit From Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Will-power or Strategy?
• How to Practice Like an Expert
• Predicting Regret to Help Make Decisions
• Setting Goals Isn't Enough for Success
• Exploring Possibilities for Identity Achievement
• Life is Like...Planning a New Vegetable Garden
• Improving Performance by Mindfully Reducing Self-interruptions
• Mindfulness and "To Do" Lists
• What Are Reasonable Goals?
• Helping Children Achieve Their Potential
• How to Succeed at Goals (or Why Goals Fail)
• Efficiency: Determining the Difference Between Perfectionism and Striving for Excellence
• Do We Really WANT to Educate Our Children?
• Do You Want an Education or Do You Want a Grade?
• Why Do You Have Trouble Delaying Gratification?
• What is an Achievable Goal?
• Why Set Goals If 50% of New Year's Resolutions are Broken by Three Months?
• What Determines the Success of New Year's Resolutions?
• Choose Your Own Dream: Don't Pursue What You “Should”
• Demands vs. Mindfulness for Enhancing Performance
• Listening to Your Heart Helps Moral Decision-Making: But is it Good for Fear Avoidance Decisions?
• Be the Best You Can Be: On Mindfulness and Performance
• Improving Attention and Quality of Effort
• How Both Overly Positive and Negative Misperceptions of Performance Can Affect You
• Are People Who Set More Extreme Goals At Risk for Depression or Mania?

Some people may be curious as to why this website is dedicated to the "pursuit of excellence" when I am constantly warning about the dangers of perfectionism.  To address this question we must differentiate between the pursuit of excellence and the need to be perfect.  These concepts are not only different but can be considered antagonistic to one another. In fact these concepts are so opposed to one another that  excellence can best be attained by giving up the demands of perfection. Read more...

Although we may prefer to believe that learning a motor skill is purely learning a set of physical techniques, we have to consider that most learning typically takes place in the context of an interpersonal relationship with a teacher. The critical question is how does this interaction affect the development of motor skills. It appears that the mediating factor between the presentation of the instructions by the teacher and the performance of the skill by the student may be the cognitive process of self-efficacy (Escarti & Guzman, 1999). Some may argue that the development of effective skills may lead to the increased self-efficacy demonstrated by students of high ability. Although this process occurs, it is not sufficient for explaining the role of developing self-efficacy and its impact on learning motor skills. To fully explain the role of self-efficacy, we must evaluate the interpersonal context of how the teacher or coach provides feedback to the athlete, how that feedback affects self-efficacy, and how self-efficacy enhances performance. Unfortunately, studies directly examining this relationship are sparse, and therefore, the inferences need to be made based on research examining the relation of the different components of the equation such as the feedback/self-efficacy relationship and the self-efficacy/motor skills relationship. Read more...

Without confidence in one’s ability, an individual cannot perform to his or her potential. It is even possible that someone with lesser ability, but with confidence, can outperform this person because belief in oneself can be a powerful influence. What is this sense of confidence? Albert Bandura refers to situation-specific self-confidence as “self-efficacy” which is the strength of an individual’s belief that he or she can successfully perform a given activity. The concept of self-efficacy has often been used interchangeably with the concept of self-esteem which is the process of evaluating the self; however, self-efficacy is more accurately described as a precursor to self-esteem and is mediated by the individual’s self-attributions. Read more...

Training “smart” is more important than the amount of daily practice. Too often an athlete believes that the more he or she practices, the more proficient he/she will become. However, this plan is not only ineffective, but it can also be detrimental to achieving the desired outcome. An athlete who practices frequently and hard without an overall plan will be more likely to suffer the effects of overtraining such as burn-out, exhaustion, and increased injuries rather than actually improving performance. By developing a set of specific goals and a plan for reaching those goals, athletes can more effectively use their practice time and even reduce the time required in practice to attain their goals. Obviously, this does not mean that the martial artist can achieve rank or win tournaments with little practice; it means that the athlete does not need to waste time through ineffective practice and through the harmful effects of overtraining. Read more...

Assessing performance and correcting errors are important internal skills for the martial arts student to develop. But how does one develop this skill? To do so, the martial arts instructor needs to consciously teach skill just as he or she teaches proper execution of a side kick or using faking techniques during sparring. However, teaching the development of using internal sources of information for feedback may be something many martial arts instructors were not taught themselves. So often when we teach skills, our response to the student’s performance involves correcting errors or giving general praise, neither of which are conducive to teaching the student how to self-correct errors. In fact, these responses tend to create excessive dependence upon the instructor’s feedback and presence. Read more...