Discussion on Effective Motivation

What motivates an athlete? The answer to that question may seem straight forward but the research behind motivation suggests that there are types of achievement orientation that affect sustainable and effective motivation.

Achievement goal orientation falls into two categories, ego and task. An athlete who is task orientated is focused on learning and mastery for improvement of performance. An athlete who is focused on an ego orientation desires to show that they can outperform others and benefit from social comparison. There are researchers and those who argue that there are more than two subsets of orientations and recommend a third, goal orientated by ego but with a task focus to avoid embarrassment and social orientation that desires acceptance by playing to social norms with maximum effort.

1. Task Orientation: Examples of this theory are the love of the game and enjoyment in learning a new task. This athlete is more likely to continue to desire and be motivated to learn, no matter if they win every game or get praise every day from their coach.

2. Ego Orientation: An athlete with an ego orientation will desire accolades and respect by beating and appearing superior to other opponents. This athlete will seek after recognition with performance wins and coach approval. However, without this stream of ego fueling admiration the athlete’s motivation will decrease until they can feel that next ego hit of glory with a win or the stroking of positive affirmation from a peer or coach.

As a mental skills coach, I see many who will focus on outcomes and become very frustarated when those outcomes don't match their perception. The reasons behind the perception, or the glasses we are viewing our outcomes, will greatly affect our motviation and satisfaction with results. Task Orientated athletes will look to learning after a loss and what they can do to improve, focusing on what they can control. Ego oreinated athlete will be left feeling deflated after a loss because they may not get the injection of feel good from being told what a great job they did and the satisfaction of winning. While winning is great and feels wonderful, perspective on the achievement or the loss will affect the motivation and desire of the athlete to continue and how hard they may want to work.

Love of the game really will take you where you want to go.