We’re visiting motivation again this week but from a slightly different angle. I’ve written before about ‘away’ and ‘toward’ motivations and how ‘toward’ motivations tend to have more staying power in terms of reaching your goals. This week we’re doing a deep dive on extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is another thing that gives you more staying power when it comes to maintaining your healthy behaviours. A new term for you? No worries. Let’s look at some definitions for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation is likely something you’ve come across before but maybe just had a different word for it. Extrinsic motivation is an external form of motivation, like getting paid a bonus if you hit your project deadline at work. In the realm of health, it might be trying to drop weight for a high school reunion or taking up running because you signed up for a race with your friends and you don’t want to let them down.
These external motivators can be very effective in getting you to the goal, but they don’t tend to have long-term staying power once the goal is achieved. Once the project is over and you have that bonus, you don’t want to put in any more extra work hours; when the reunion has passed you return to your old eating habits; and when the race is run, you hang up your running shoes.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation on the other hand is an internal form of motivation. It comes from the personal satisfaction you might receive from doing something. You might complete a project on time because you really enjoy the work and get a sense of satisfaction from meeting the deadline you committed to. You decide to lose weight because you want to have more energy and move with greater ease. You become a runner because you enjoy the break it gives you from everyday life or the satisfaction you feel after a good sweat. No one is dangling a carrot in front of you. It’s all about you.
The good thing about intrinsic motivation is that it is more likely to lead to persistent behaviour toward a goal even when external motivators are not present. With extrinsic motivation, once we remove the external factor, and the behaviour tends to fade away.
I like to think of it this way. What if you couldn’t tell anyone about your goal and there would be no external rewards – fame, fortune, prizes, glory, ‘way to go’s’ from your friends - even once you’ve achieved it? Would you still be motivated to do it? If yes, then you’re likely intrinsically motivated. If not, you may be dealing with extrinsic motivation.
Developing Intrinsic Motivation
So how do we develop intrinsic motivation? Well sometimes we have to start with extrinsic motivation and then we cultivate intrinsic motivation along the way.
Starting with the extrinsic
Let me use the running example again. I used to teach ‘Learn to Run’ classes in my local community. (I really loved it.) Many of my clients would sign up because they wanted to lose weight or get in shape. They didn’t like running but it was a means to an external end. “The doc says exercise, so I’ll exercise.” They weren’t intrinsically motivated to run, they were extrinsically motivated by the carrot of weight loss or stick of the doctor’s orders.
Developing the intrinsic
What I consistently see with new runners is the transformation that can take place after they could mostly run (we started with run/walk intervals) for at least 20 minutes at their own pace. They actually start to enjoy their running. They appreciate the freedom of being out of the house and the clearing of the mind they felt once they got into their groove.
I call 20 minutes that magic number when it comes to running. The body is finally warmed up and the running actually starts to become easier. I know it sounds crazy, but even now after I’ve been running for decades, the first 20 minutes of any run is always the toughest. You’re not running because you love running, you’re running because you know in 20 minutes you’re going to love running!
When starting out, we need to use some sort of external motivator like, I want to be able to run 5km or the doctor says I need to exercise to get us out the door. But as we progress, we actually start to enjoy the activity itself. We start to feel like we can actually do this, our identity begins to shift, we start to feel the effects of our consistent practice. Until we get to that point though, we might need those extrinsic motivators like an exercise buddy or an event that we’re training for or a health coach (wink, wink), that is giving us kudos along the way!
The Magic Ingredients: Appreciation and Celebration
One of the magic ingredients to building intrinsic motivation is giving yourself specific positive feedback. Those that are externally motivated tend to have more negative self-talk dominating their headspace. Challenge your negative thoughts by focusing on specific, positive statements about your progress.
Even when it’s cold out and I don’t really feel like running that day, it doesn’t take much to get me out the door because I KNOW how much better I’ll feel once I’m warmed up and how much nicer a person I become once I’ve burned off some of my anxious energy. Yes, sometimes my husband even gently suggests I go for a run!
Perhaps for you, it’s not running, maybe it’s another form of exercise, or it’s prepping healthy meals at the start of the week, journaling at the end of the day, meditating in the morning, shutting off your devices well before bedtime. We might need some extrinsic motivation to get started but along the way, notice yourself committing to your new habit, notice the positive effects it might be having on your stress, sleep, energy, etc., celebrate that you’re taking care of yourself, notice if you might actually be starting to enjoy it! These little moments of appreciation and celebration are the recipe for building intrinsic motivation and making these healthy behaviours stick around for the long-term.
If you want some help developing intrinsic motivation for your health goals and making the necessary changes to reach them, consider a health coach to support you along the way. Book a free 30-minute call to find out if health coaching might be right for you.
