With the Olympics upon us, we could all learn a thing or two from athletes about motivation and peak performance. Chris McCormack, aka Macca, is one of the most accomplished professional triathletes in the world. He trains with and competes against a group of the planet’s most accomplished swimmers, bikers and runners and has won more than 200 triathlons.
After dispelling the myth that he has some kind of magic formula for motivation, Macca answers the motivation question by giving a few pointers.
Concentrate on the positive, there is something positive in every experience, look for it and tell it to yourself. It takes 37 muscles to frown and 22 to smile.
Whether you’re motivated or not, focus on getting the job done. In other words, plan the work(out) and work the plan. Knowing what’s next is sometimes the only thing that’s needed to keep moving ahead. Goals are oftentimes lofty and far into the future. Know what’s expected of you today and concentrate on that.
To draw on an old saying, everyone puts their pants (or bike shorts) on one leg at a time. In other words, we’re all the same and there is no magic formula. So how does Macca stay motivated all the time? The answer is he doesn’t — and “[He doesn't] expect to.”
Like all of us, Macca wakes up everyday and faces one of two kinds of days: 1) He flies out of bed and owns the day, or 2) He pretends he’s motivated and gets the job done.
Isn’t that case with all of us? Of course it is. The first one is easy. How we handle the second one is what separates people. Let’s be generous and say that the split is 70/30. So 30% of the time you have to “pretend you’re motivated and get the job done!” While there is no magic formula, we can help ourselves dramatically by first accepting the fact that everyone experiences this, second having a plan in place so we know exactly what to do and don’t need to think about it, and then getting busy executing the plan.