Motivation – External vs Internal 

New Year – Fresh Start – what is driving you in 2022? 

We can help you achieve anything you want. There are so many opportunities within our Club for everyone. We are a club for all. We have members from 4 years old right up to 74 years old. Everyone is welcome and everyone is treated equally and with respect.  We get so many enquiries around this time of year for a whole variety of reasons including: 

·  Parents looking for a new hobby for their child   

·  People looking to get fitter and become more healthy 

·  Children being bullied and looking for self defence skills 

·  Parents looking for help with discipline & behavioural issues 

·  Isolated people who want to get out of the house and meet new people 

·  They see UFC/Combat Sports and think it would be cool to be able to fight like that 

Karate soon becomes so much more than the original reasons for joining in. Have a think about why you love training in karate. 

·  We enjoy meeting the friends we have made and catching up on a weekly basis.  

·  We enjoy the challenge of learning katas and kumite skills.  

·  We thrive off the challenge of setting targets and meeting them (such as your next belt, or holding your own when sparring a higher grade who used to mash you). 

·  We learn to love the pain of exercise and aching that follows you around for days after a hard session (this mainly applies to the adults). 

·  We enjoy the relationships we create with our Seniors who guide us and genuinely care about us. 

·  There is nothing better than taking all your pent up aggression out on a kick pad  

·  The feeling of security that comes with knowing you can handle yourself in a potentially dangerous situation but having the good sense never to put yourself into that situation.    

Now is the time for you to set some goals.  

What do you want to achieve in 2022? 

For most of you this will be an easy question to answer. Many will be motivated by external goals such as your next belt, learning a particular Kata or winning a medal at a competition – even becoming student of the month. These are all great goals to work towards. They might reach a certain belt then quit. And this often happens. The belt was the goal and then the motivation has left the building.  Sadly, students often quit when they can only motivate themselves with external rewards. 

It is very easy to motivate people with the external and much success can be gained. I can think of many examples of young people I have worked with who had all the potential in the world. There were so easily motivated by the external, then once they reached their goal – just quit. All the ability – wasted. Much of the skill gained – lost. Relationships built over many years – left in the past. Karate becomes something they used to be good at.     

But what is left for the rest of us who may have already reached most of our goals but are happy to continue to train? If you set aside the usual – I need to shift 10 pounds after being a big fat pig over Christmas – what will bring us back to dojo to train?  

We have a huge number of teenagers and young adults who have been with us for many years and reached their Black Belt. We also have many adults who may feel they have reached their peak. But week after week they are still happy to come along.  

What is going to get you working harder?  

You need to find some INTERNAL MOTIVATION!  

Unlike external motivation, internal motivation is a much more complex. Internal motivation is the desire to excel in the pursuit of excellence.  

Are you as good as you can be or could you try harder? Are you a Shodan with all the potential to compete or reach Nidan or Sandan but you can’t find the motivation?  

Internal motivation means you’re competing against yourself, not others. It means you want to do as well as you can, regardless of how others do. Internally motivated students are the ones we love to work with the most because they are worth the effort regardless of their ability or talent. Internally motivated students are the ones who will persist in their training.  

They will feel satisfied with each grade but they are driven to succeed beyond belts and dans grades or medals and trophies.  

They train because they want to improve, not because they want to impress others.  

So, how can the internally motivated – stay motivated in 2022? 

• Set yourself a new goal or challenge and stick to it. Lots of small realistic targets will soon add up. For example, you might to work on your strength so you might want to start doing x amount of push ups per week, then increase this just a little bit week by week.  

• Be your own motivator. Even when I am teaching I will sometimes have a little shout at myself and say – “Come On Legs!” (Yes I do this out loud and no I am not mad.) It is my mind taking over when my legs have had enough. You know when you get towards the end of a really long, hard Kata and start to slow down. Or you are sparring and the round is just lasting forever. This is when your mind has to take over and say – FINISH THIS STRONG! The very best competitors (the Olympic Champions etc.) will not be satisfied by winning the Gold Medal. They will be pleased but will go back and review their performance and find ways that it could have been better. You can apply these same principles to your own dojo training. OK, there is no video replay, but you can evaluate your own performance or ask your Sensei for advice at any time. This is what we are here for.    

• Do not worry about what others are doing. If you’re constantly looking to surpass someone else, you’re limiting yourself to what they have achieved or will ever achieve. There must be no limits and you should always continue to push for excellence. Your journey is an individual one, not to be measured against others. Think of it as YOU against YOU.   

• Set more challenging goals. Even ones you don’t think you can reach. Write them down. Then think of ways you can make steady progress towards them. Marginal gains are the key to long term success. I used to be able to do a 5 minute plank. Now I’ll be doing well to get 3 minutes, but 2 babies later and I’ll keep on trying and I know I can do it – if I really wanted to work for it!    

•  Focus on your growth and development as a Martial Artist both inside and outside of the dojo. Practise positivity and gratitude on a daily basis. Every lesson will not be the best you’ve ever trained in, much like every day may not be the most exciting or fun filled. Some lessons you’ll struggle in, but you were there and you tried. Be grateful for the opportunity to be present and healthy enough to participate. There are many people less fortunate. If you are part of our Instructor team, pass on your knowledge with the passion and enthusiasm you had when you first learned. 

 • Pass it on. Are you ready to pass on your skills to others? Teaching others is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Passing on your knowledge and enthusiasm to others is a great challenge. Teaching takes practise and patience to become good at. Nurturing the development of others and watching them grow in confidence is so satisfying. Taking raw talent and turning it into something very special indeed. You can take pride in knowing that you have played your part in their development. This could be the next step in your journey and we have plenty of opportunities available in the New Year for Cadet Leaders, Assistant Instructors and Instructor positions.

Where to go from here? 

We have so much planned for 2022. There are plenty of events coming up in January and February including fitness bootcamps, black belt gradings up to Nidan and a Club Tournament. Get involved and most importantly work hard in class. The way you train will determine the progress you can make. Find your internal motivation and you can achieve anything!