“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
-Arthur Ashe
Know Your “WHY”
Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I doing this?” when it comes to your participation in IPO or other aspects of dog sports? What motivates you? Is it the love for your dogs or passion for the sport? Is it for trophies and accolades? Is it all of these factors? Understanding where your motivation comes from can help you make the most of your sport experience.
Motivation is an essential aspect of competitive sports. Motivation is what keeps us going during the tough times.
Don’t Become a Dropout Statistic
In IPO and other dog sports, motivation is especially important because training dogs and competing in dog sports brings a unique set of challenges. Unlike other sports, you not only have yourself to worry about, but also the dogs you train, who truthfully, often have their own motives and ideas about how to do things! Secondly, competing in a sport like IPO is NOT easy! It is a highly specialized sport, with limited resources and many training challenges.
These realities make having the right motivation a key element for you and your dog to achieve success. Without personally meaningful reasons for participating in your dog sport, it is likely you will not last very long in it. In fact, if you have been in the sport of IPO for a few years, you have probably noticed the high dropout rates of new participants. Although there are many reasons for this, it can usually be traced back to motivation.
The reasons we choose to participate in dog sports are different for each of us. What matters is that our reasons, or motives, are personally meaningful. These motives are categorized as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Understanding Intrinsic Motivation
When intrinsically motivated, we are driven by internal factors. For example, learning, mastering new skills, overcoming challenges, putting forth effort, and having a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment from our sport are all intrinsic motivators.
With intrinsic motives, we easily become immersed in an activity, without regard to outcome, simply because we find it enjoyable and fulfilling. For example, when you use every spare moment with your dog to train that elusive stand-in-motion because you enjoy the training and want to master that skill, you are demonstrating intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what keeps us going despite challenges and setbacks that inevitably come up in sports.
Understanding Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation is also an important part of competitive sports, and is related to valuing external factors. These factors include results of competition, trophies/awards, improved social status, financial rewards, and praise. Avoiding negative consequences such as negative public opinion, failure, or punishment (e.g., getting yelled at by a coach) are also extrinsic motivators.
In contrast to the above example for intrinsic motivation, if you find yourself squeezing in extra practice time to train that elusive stand-in-motion because you fear embarrassment or getting yelled at during a club training session, or you want praise and positive feedback from peers, you are demonstrating extrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motives can be beneficial. They put our hard work and training to the test, and help us know when we achieve a certain standard. For example, earning a club IPO title can reinforce a specific skill level has been achieved. As a result, external rewards will actually help increase intrinsic motivation if they are positively reinforcing our ability. The downside of over-emphasizing external rewards is this often makes it more challenging to overcome negative feedback and setbacks when there is a lack of intrinsic motives.
Why Balance is the Key
Both types of motivation are key elements of competitive sports, however, balance is essential. Too much focus on extrinsic motives, without internal motives, can ultimately lead to lower motivation and poor performance. For example, individuals who only focus on extrinsic motives are at risk for experiencing a greater sense of pressure and anxiety during performance, with little to keep them going during the “tough times” in training and competition. Athletes dependent on extrinsic rewards easily become discouraged when they are not achieving the results they expect. This discouragement can further lead to performance decline, and even cause drop out from sport.
On the other hand, too much focus on intrinsic motives is sometimes associated with a lack of competitive spirit. A “fire in the belly” passion for competition is a critical part of sports and vital for success at higher levels. Thus, having both types of motivators is the key.
Benefits of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Working Together
Having both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation leads to many positive outcomes. These can include higher levels of concentration, positive outlook, resiliency, confidence, enjoyment, and perseverance. These benefits ultimately contribute to greater satisfaction and success in sports.
Remember, it is equally valuable to stay focused on the process and the results. The journey often is as important as the destination.
5 Tips for Success: Balance Your Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
- Know your “WHY.” Identify your personal reasons (intrinsic and extrinsic) for participating in your dog sport.
- If you have more extrinsic vs. intrinsic motives, think about what is personally meaningful to boost your intrinsic motivation.
- Create goals and objectives for your sport participation. Make sure these are consistent with your reasons for your sport participation.
- Track progress toward your goals. Stay focused on mastering skills and increasing competency along the way. Give attention to effort AND results.
- Adjust your goals if they are found to be too easy or too challenging. Your goals should be realistic and challenging enough to motivate you, not discourage you.
- When you get stuck or feel discouraged, go back to your list of personal reasons for why you are doing this sport. Use this for encouragement.
- Enjoy the process of training and making daily improvements. Avoid focusing ONLY on the outcome.
- Celebrate your successes along the way.
- Remember, success can be an internal reward (e.g. learning, satisfaction, competency, etc.) or an external reward (e.g., trophy, status, praise, etc.). Acknowledge both.