3 Lessons in Motivation From the Greatest Sports Coaches
- by Jordan Fliegel
Inc.com — 3 Lessons in Motivation From the Greatest Sports Coaches
Leaders understand the importance of intrinsic motivation and cultivate behaviors in their employees that breed passion and drive.
There are plenty of ways to describe what it means to be motivated. You’re driven. You’re passionate. You’re dedicated. Maybe you’ve got that inner “fire” or you just “want it” more than anyone else. No matter how you describe it, when it comes to athletic performance, motivation is an essential part of success. It’s the difference between just showing up and fighting for every last inch. And it’s a coach’s job to make sure athletes are motivated to perform their best.
There are two different kinds of motivation-extrinsic (stemming from external forces) and intrinsic (stemming from internal forces). Great coaches and leaders understand the power of both kinds of motivation to inspire their teams. In the workplace, we often rely on external motivation to drive performance-for example, hit this sales goal and you’ll get a bonus-but these kinds of award-driven incentives can be counterproductive. As famed football coach Homer Rice noted, “You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self- motivation.”