Читать книгу Sports Psychology For Dummies - Leif H. Smith - Страница 64

External motivation is associated with outside rewards and benefits. Common characteristics of external motivation include the following:

 Participation in your sport for rewards, such as praise, fame, and trophies

 Peaks and valleys in motivation

 The need for greater or better rewards to sustain motivation

 The need for varied sources of external motivation in order to sustain motivation

External rewards can be motivating — there’s no doubt about it. In fact, many coaches and parents use external rewards as a focusing strategy and reward system for young athletes, and that strategy is perfectly okay as long as it’s not overused.

If you’re engaging in sports for the sole reasons of getting a scholarship, to keep your parents happy, or for other outside rewards, such as stroking your ego or getting paid for an appearance as a college student-athlete, you’ll find that your motivation is difficult to maintain over the long haul. Don’t get trapped by external rewards — follow the path in your heart and listen to what your gut is telling you.

There is a place for external motivators, but they need to be used to supplement existing internal motivation and love of the sport. Otherwise, they lose their effectiveness.