Motivational Tools

[cathal]

This summer I saw a quote written on a whiteboard. It was the kind of office that always put up a quote to inspire, or motivate etc. Here it is:

the outcome doesn't matter

what matters is to be there for it

what ever it is

good or bad

kinda like right now

It definitely helped motivate me to keep training during a super busy and stressful summer. What other kinds of motivation tools do you find you use?

[sensei8]

The outcome doesn't matter?!?? Sure it does, especially in the MA. If it doesn't matter, than why are we on the floor?? If the outcome doesn't matter in the MA, then no one cares if whatever they've learnt is effective or not; just unimportant motions without cause.

Perhaps, I'm misunderstanding that first line, but the intent of it sure did get my attention. And it caused me to pretty much, ignore the intent of the remaining lines in that message, in which I did get the intent, but it became lost to me once I read the first line of that message.

The outcome doesn't matter!? It sure does matter!!

Imho!!

[cathal]

For me the line is more like it doesn't matter whether you succeed or fail in whatever you do so long as you aren't a passenger in life. We do what we do and we train how we train because we choose to be present for those things

[sensei8]

For me the line is more like it doesn't matter whether you succeed or fail in whatever you do so long as you aren't a passenger in life. We do what we do and we train how we train because we choose to be present for those things

In that intent, I might agree...might. I have to get over that first line...first!!

[JR 137]

I'm with sensei8 on this one. The outcome does matter. What's the outcome of training in the martial arts? To me, improvement. If I'm not improving, why bother being there? I'll find a place that I will improve.

I like it, except for the first line. I can use most of it as 'be in the moment.'

What quotes motivate me? I've got 2 that are pretty much always on my mind:

"There is no substitute for hard work." A strength & conditioning coach at a college I worked at had that one up in the varsity weight room.

"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face." A different strength & conditioning coach had that one up at another college I worked at. I guess these strength & conditioning coaches are onto something.

Both are quotes that I have yet to find an exception to. Both keep me going, in and more importantly, out of the dojo. They both get me there too.

For a great perspective on life and what's truly important, read the poem "The Guy in the Glass" by Dale Wimbrow.

[bushido_man96]

Its been little tidbits like this over the years that helped me out, and now I try to pass them along to my sons as they start to do things that challenge them. My oldest boy, with Wrestling, and now with football, and the time we spend lifting weights, provide all kinds of opportunities for me to help him understand that nothing worth-while comes easy, and that awesome waits for no man.

[JR 137]

Its been little tidbits like this over the years that helped me out, and now I try to pass them along to my sons as they start to do things that challenge them. My oldest boy, with Wrestling, and now with football, and the time we spend lifting weights, provide all kinds of opportunities for me to help him understand that nothing worth-while comes easy, and that awesome waits for no man.

As a former wrestler and assistant wrestling coach, I can honestly say that I've learned some of the most valuable life lesson from wrestling. There's no sport that's got the level of accountability that wrestling does. Come to think about it, boxing probably has the same level. But I don't think there's the whole team/dual meet points. But I digress...

In wrestling, there's no one to blame but yourself. YOU win, and YOU lose. You don't have the best game of your life that someone else messes up by dropping the game winning catch in the end zone. You don't have an absolutely horrible game, yet your team smacked the other team. You make or miss weight.

I got robbed by a bad referee call once. The ref called me pinned about 3 seconds after the buzzer went off. Even the other team's fans booed. My coach and the other team's coach argued it, asking if I was pinned before the buzzer went off, but he slapped the mat afterward. He said "I have no idea, I didn't hear the buzzer." Seriously.

I went to my bench, thinking I'd get some sort of sympathy from my coach. Know what I got? "IT WOULD NEVER HAD HAPPENED IF YOU WEREN'T ON YOUR BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I had no come back.

Accountability.

[JohnASE]

the outcome doesn't matter

Of course outcomes matter, but then what does this mean? It could be "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." or it could be "You often learn more from failure than you do from success." or maybe "Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

One of my favorite quotes goes something like this... "You should meditate for a half hour per day, unless you are too busy, in which case you should meditate for a full hour."

[bushido_man96]

Its been little tidbits like this over the years that helped me out, and now I try to pass them along to my sons as they start to do things that challenge them. My oldest boy, with Wrestling, and now with football, and the time we spend lifting weights, provide all kinds of opportunities for me to help him understand that nothing worth-while comes easy, and that awesome waits for no man.

As a former wrestler and assistant wrestling coach, I can honestly say that I've learned some of the most valuable life lesson from wrestling. There's no sport that's got the level of accountability that wrestling does. Come to think about it, boxing probably has the same level. But I don't think there's the whole team/dual meet points. But I digress...

In wrestling, there's no one to blame but yourself. YOU win, and YOU lose. You don't have the best game of your life that someone else messes up by dropping the game winning catch in the end zone. You don't have an absolutely horrible game, yet your team smacked the other team. You make or miss weight.

I got robbed by a bad referee call once. The ref called me pinned about 3 seconds after the buzzer went off. Even the other team's fans booed. My coach and the other team's coach argued it, asking if I was pinned before the buzzer went off, but he slapped the mat afterward. He said "I have no idea, I didn't hear the buzzer." Seriously.

I went to my bench, thinking I'd get some sort of sympathy from my coach. Know what I got? "IT WOULD NEVER HAD HAPPENED IF YOU WEREN'T ON YOUR BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I had no come back.

Accountability.

You have nailed it here. That is one thing I've been saying about Wrestling, and how it is all about accountability. I've seen athletic kids go out, and they get smoked because they don't have the experience yet. They get discouraged, and don't stick with it. Its all about the two competitors on the mat, and rarely, rarely, does a ref decide a match. No teammates to spread the blame to. Can't blame anything on the weather. As Bob would say, the proof is found out on that floor!

[Spartacus Maximus]

Motivational tools? I met several sensei in Okinawa who used a shinai for a motivational tool. Motivation should first come from within one's mind. If it is not there in the first place or strong enough, no manner of tool or outside force will be effective in bringing it forth.