Motivation has to be one of the top buzzwords in the fitness world. There is no shortage of magazines, trainers, advertisements, pro athletes talking about motivation. And rightly so! Motivation helps us push towards goals. We are more likely to follow through ideas when we are feeling motivated. There are a ton of YouTube videos with motivational speeches and inspirational music. Sometimes bundled together! Type in “Motivational…” whatever in any search bar and you’ll go down a rabbit hole that has no end.
And yet despite all the fit-fluencers, self-help gurus, life coaches, and epic workout music playlists, people still struggle with motivation. Some will tell you that you just have to start, “hardest part is to get off the couch”. Others will tell you that you lack motivation because you’re just inherently lazy. But talk to any neuro-scientist, psychologist, or behavioural therapist, and they will tell you something different. They will tell you that motivation is so much more complicated than “you just gotta want it bad enough”.
Motivation, they may say, is a skill that can help fuel your attitude. And just like any skill, motivation must be practiced in order for you to become better at it.
So…What’s the deal with motivation? More importantly how do we develop it. To answer this, let’s look at the third book in my reading/blogging project: “Smarter Faster Better” by Charles Duhigg. Specifically, the first chapter titled “Motivation”.
Neurology And Motivation
in 1980 a French neurologist name Michel Habib conducted some research on people suffering from severe apathy. He found that, after looking at their MRIs, they all had the same profile. They all struggled with extreme passivity and lack of motivation. As one man described it “I don’t seem to have as much get-up-and-go as I used to.” (p.11)
The odd things was that there were no signs of illness, and no depression. Most of all, the people weren’t even bothered by their condition. They didn’t even care that they didn’t care about the things they were once passionate about.
Dr. Habib did find something very interesting in all of their brain MRIs. They all had “tiny pin pricks of burst vessels in their striatum” (p.14). The striatum, according to neurologists, is believed to help regulate our moods. It is also thought to help us translate decisions into action.
Neither counselling or meds had any positive effect on any of the patients. They didn’t even have any positive or negative thoughts, only complete lack of motivation.
Brain Games
Fast forward to the year 2000, experiments and research by Mauricio Delgado yielded some interesting findings. Between the year 2000 and 2014, Delgado decided to go deeper into Dr. Habib’s research. His first study was an FMRI which looked at patients brains while they played a computer game. The game involved them looking at a screen that would show them a number between 1 and 9. The patient would have to guess if the next number was going to be higher or lower.
It’s important to note that this game wasn’t testing any skill or ability. Rather, Delgado wanted to see which part of their brains were active during this super boring game. And guess what…In every case, the striatum lit up during the game, regardless of the outcome.
Fast forward again a few years later, a similar experiment was done. This time, however, half of the time the participants could make their own guess, and half the time the computer chose for them. As expected, the striatum lit up again BUT ONLY when people made their own guesses. The striatum went completely silent when the computer chose for them.
Thus, the researchers concluded “the anticipation of choice itself was associated with increased activity in corticostriatal regions, particularly the ventral striatum, which is involved in affective and motivational processes.” (p.18)
The Freedom To Choose
This lead the researchers to further conclude that that people enjoyed themselves more when they were in control of their choices. Regardless of winning or losing, people were motivated because they believed they were in control. More succinctly, CHOICE BUILDS MOTIVATION!
This suggests a very important thing about motivation. Namely, that motivation is NOT STATIC. Motivation, as the research suggests, is a skill that is developed. Much like writing, reading, or dancing, it can be learned and honed through practice.
However, there is one important prerequisite. In order for this to work we must truly believe that we have authority over our actions and surroundings. We must FEEL that we are in control, even if it is the illusion of control. “The need for control is a biological imperative. The less control we have/feel the less motivation we have to do the work. We prefer choice over non-choice, even if there is no reward” -Delgado, Journal of Psychological Science, 2011.
Theory Of Motivation
The theory of motivation tells us that people are more driven when they have the opportunity to make choices. Specifically, these have to be choices that provide them with a sense of autonomy and self-determination. And speaking from personal experience, having trained a few hundred people throughout my career, people love having a sense of control over their health and fitness. My way of helping my clients stay driven is to invite them to be part of the program design. Other times is to include specific exercises for muscles or skills they want to develop, and then asking them which they want to do.
So if you want to motivate yourself, or rather ‘will’ yourself to do something, you have to find a choice. But not just any choice; you have to find a choice that allows you to exert control. The assertion of self-control is what matters most.
Locus Of Control: In and Out
Psychologists have determined two specific forms of individual control.
INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL: Is the belief that you can influence your destiny through the choices you make. This is correlated with less stress and more success.
EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL: Is the belief that your life is primarily influenced by events that are outside of your control. This is correlated with more stress and less success
Therefore “If people are given an opportunity to feel a sense of control and can practice it, they learn to exert “will power”, then and only then does motivation become more automatic. Making choices, as well as the expression of control AND the affirmation of our values = self-motivation.” (P.31)
The Power Of Choice
The most powerful choices for generating motivation do two very important things:
1-They convince us that we are in control
2-Endow our actions with larger meaning
As such, if we want to develop self-motivation, we have to keep practicing self-determination. Moreover, our choices MUST BE MEANINGFUL! Meaning, our choices must be related to a larger whole. It is not enough to simply choose between Pepsi and Coke. Rather, Do I want soft drinks to be part of my nutritional plan. We have to give ourselves emotional rewards for subversive assertiveness. Otherwise that drive for self-motivation will fade. (p.36)
Self motivation is a choice we make because it is part of something bigger and more emotionally rewarding than the immediate task at hand. (p.37)
Final Thought
The fitness industry has no shortage of bad trainers and coaches, ones that shame and guilt their clients into exercising. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are filled with trainers and coaches who bully people into working out, and for not being motivated enough. I’ve seen and heard my fair share of it, and sorry to say that I too used to do it when I was first starting out.
Does that method word? Yes…in the short term. But it also has the downside of psychologically harming people, and turning them off exercise and physical activity. In short, trainers should not be bullying people into changing their behaviours. Punishment rarely, if ever, works as a form of behavioural change. It may cause immediate change, but no long term success.
And according to what Duhig presents in his book, people must learn and be empowered to motivate themselves. We must be taught how to incorporate meaningful choices into our daily lives, and how to practice them more often. Furthermore, giving people information without also teaching them how to use it doesn’t work. We must learn how to use the information to produce meaningful results.
Now someone might ask “well what’s meaningful?”But I’ll save that philosophical discussion for another post. Suffice it to say that meaningful, in this case, means having long lasting positive effects on a person’s everyday life.
Maybe that is why it isn’t enough to exercise for the sake of exercising. Maybe it is also important to tie our habit to something larger and emotionally meaningful. Finally, emotionally meaningful goals can connect us better to ourselves and loved ones in a more positive way.