Internal and External Motivation

You can evaluate your involvement in athletics based on the number of positive experiences you have. You already have some assessment of your enjoyment, though some of you may not like participating in sports but do it because you have an external motivator – such as your parents want you to play. So how do you create positive experiences in your game? How can you turn missing a shot into hitting one? How do you turn anxiety into excitement? How do you turn insecurity into confidence? How can you turn a negative into a positive?

And here’s a really tough one: How do turn losing (or consistent failure) into a positive development or positive experience? How about working on your inner game, starting with your motivation.

Let’s look at two stories that illustrate two different types of motivation.

Michael Jordan, An Internally Motivated Athlete

In a TV interview I saw with basketball star Michael Jordan, he gave us wonderful and simple insight into Internal Motivation. The interview was done when he was about 50 years old and a humble Michael Jordan spoke candidly about his life and sports career.

Jordan’s father was tragically murdered in 1997, the year Jordan won his second NBA title. If you ever see images of Jordan collapsing on the floor in the locker room weeping after winning a title – it was during this year. It’s a powerful image when put into context, and again reveals powerful insights into motivation. But interestingly, Jordan revealed that what drove him was even deeper than wanting to win for his father.

His answer came when sportscaster Amad Rashad asked Jordan how he endured all the challenges and obstacles he faced in his tremendous career, and what drove him to be such a competitor with a tireless work ethic. (Jordan was known for his relentless practice habits, not just for being an extraordinary talent.) Jordan’s response was simple and powerful: “For the love of the game.”

Let’s contrast this with the next story.

Calvin Broudus, An Externally Motivated Athlete

In the fall of 2015, Calvin Broudus, rapper Snoop Dogg’s son, left the UCLA football team. Broudus was one of the top receivers in the country, and he had been recruited out of high school. The athlete announced that he was leaving the team. He said he had come to the realization that he had believed football was the only way to get his father’s love. He went on to say that on his birthday his father told him that he loved him for who he was, whether he was a football player or not. Broudus then decided to stop playing football for one of the country’s top ranked college football teams. It was a very revealing turn of events and gives us insight into motivation, relationships, and how dramatically all of this can impact how you approach the game.

This psychological breakthrough for Broudus yielded life-changing clarity in his relationship to football, but more importantly, clarity about himself as a human being and about his relationship to his father. Broadus had external motivation to play football: to gain the approval and recognition of his father. It is hopeful that parents are supportive, and don’t pressure children to play sports, or withhold love from their children if they are not successful. Other external motivators are things such as money, awards, recognition and even just to attract members of the opposite sex.

Broadus realized that he did not have a personal motivation to play football, and that he only did it for the affection of his father. One may wonder if he even enjoyed playing at all, and if he’d had this revelation earlier, would he have stopped playing, and if he had not, when would he have stopped?