Sources of Motivation for Exercising
Motivation is referred to as the force that drives people to seek certain objectives and outcomes. It marks the beginning of all decisions that one makes. Generally, people are motivated to take actions that bring them more pleasure and reduce pain (Goldenberg). One of the activities I undertook today is exercising at home. It involves following a routine of work-out activities right in the living-room where I reside. With the help of exercise videos that I accessed online, I did cardio, push-ups, squats, as well as lateral leg lifts routines to boost my fitness. Exercising is an activity I do every morning to kick-start the day and is among my favorite hobbies.
Different reasons motivated me to work-out not only this morning but also any other day that I choose to exercise. One of them is maintaining a positive self-image. Exercising is an activity that reflects my personality and preference for a healthy fit body. Working- out boosts my perception of how I perceive myself. Another motivator for exercising is curiosity. I have the desire to learn and explore how different exercising routines are appropriately done, as well as how effective they are in improving the health and fitness of one’s body. Other people can also be considered as a source of motivation for me choosing to work-out. The opinions of others regarding how my body looks drives me to exercise every day. I wish to acquire respect from my family, friends, as well as schoolmates by them recognizing the healthy and fit shape of my body attributed to my exercising efforts.
The drivers that motivate me to exercise each morning cut across as both internally and externally driven. Maintaining a positive self-image is an internally-driven motivator as it fulfills my psychological desire to achieve a specific body type. It arises from how I perceive what a fit and healthy person should look like. Curiosity is also an internally driven source of motivation that is brought about by focusing my attention on a specific gap in my knowledge. Other people, on the other hand, are external motivators. As a social creature, I care about the public’s opinion regarding my body and character, and I exercise to get validation and feel valued by others.
Following Dan Pink’s description of the three rewards that drive effective motivation, I find my reasons for exercising to meet Pink’s criteria. Maintaining a positive self-image is a choice driven by autonomy. Exercising is one way of directing the outcome of my health and fitness. My body image and health is as a result of personal exercising routines and schedules. Pink also state mastery to be an effective way to source motivation (Pink). Through growing curious about the health outcomes of exercising, I sought to improve by mastering a working-out routine. Additionally, by practicing and learning from videos I sourced online, exercising has become a skill I seek to improve. Pink also asserts that an effective source of motivation is purpose. The purpose of working towards something that benefits not only themselves but others as well. If the action is more important to the agent that undertook it, it is driven by high engagement, productivity, and hard work. Exercising each morning is an example of such an activity that is motivated by purpose. I anticipate other people will recognize and value my working out routine and possibly emulate me by trying out the same.
Works cited
Goldenberg, Amit, et al. “Beyond emotional similarity: The role of situation-specific motives.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2019).
Pink, Dan. The puzzle of motivation. 25 August 2009. 02 July 2020.