Athletes often ask me about motivation.
During calls, via email and DM.
Motivation comes and goes. It's great when it shows up, but sometimes it disappears for weeks. Many athletes feel hopeless without it.
The usual answer is discipline. That can work, but you have to force it. Willpower is a limited resource.
Try boredom instead.
When you let yourself get genuinely bored, your brain starts looking for something to do. Motivation just shows up.
I work on a computer all day. For a long time, I'd wind down in front of the TV. Another screen. My wife and kids were the same. Not hours on end, but more screen time than we'd like.
So we scaled back the non-essential tech. It was interesting. We all got bored. Very bored.
We quickly noticed that the kids were more creative. They invented games. They went outside and played. They practised their sports because they wanted to.
It happened to me, too. More time in the garden. More time pottering around the house. More training. The motivation just showed up.
When you're bored, you get restless. You want to move, and so you do.
If you’ve been struggling for motivation lately, try getting bored.
Unplug from your devices. Less TV. Less gaming. Skip the podcasts and avoid mindless scrolling on the internet and social media.
Very quickly, boredom will set in and nudge you out the door.
Try it and let me know if it works for you, too.
