Motivation is one of the most misunderstood areas in performance psychology. In general life we look at someone and see that they are just not motivated. We label them as an individual that that is the way that they are. However, we make errors when we do this.

Firstly, individuals can be de-motivated in themselves or by the situation. If it is in themselves then we must seek and understand the reasons that are making them feel this way. Are they devoid of goals in their lives; perhaps short of social suport on a regular basis; could they be feeling blue and down in the dumps or maybe they are experiencing clinical depression making a full effort to get out of bed in the morning to try and complete a day.

An individual may show lack of motivation due to the situation that they find themselves in. In our work in sports psychology we find these shows of de-motivation if an athlete cannot blend into their team; feel threatened by the ongoing demands of competition; dislikes the training regime or in fact has problems with their coach or mentor. This second area is easy to remedy as we can just look at changing the situation such as team integration or more interesting and challenging training regimes.

Secondly, we need to identify what motivates the athlete or business person. Many individuals are motivated by rewards which we term as extrinsically motivated. This can range from medals, money, fame or social benefits such as getting the girl. However, the real driving force in other people is what is happening intrinsically to them, their yearning to be the best; to contribute more to their profession; be held in high esteem by their peers; their ability to go as far as is humanly possible and to acquire the ultimate achievement in whatever they do. This is the hunger and burning desire inside that we see with many sportsmen and sports women.

The tip here is to identify what your style is and if it is all geared to the fast car or the Rolex watch then you need to start seting new goals which are achievement based rather than reward based. This will give you desire and longevity. Take Ryan Giggs the new sports personality of the year 2009 at the age of 36. Do you think he is driven each day by the rewards of cash or girls or maybe he has a goal of going down in history as the most decorated player in the Premiership? I think I know which one it is.

Hope this gives you something to think about as the New Year approaches and we sit down to start writing our new goals for the year ahead.

Geoff