Motivation is key

To be completely honest, the title of this blog is simply the text that is on the shirt of my new gym outfit. It does fit perfectly into what I want to write about this week though. I often get questions about how I stay motivated in the winter and where I find the motivation to do things that will benefit water-skiing, but do not necessarily seem linked to water-skiing in the short term. Also sometimes people point out how they admire that I still stay positive and confident I will get where I want to be even though it seems endlessly far away and extremely difficult. Now this is meant as a compliment to my perseverance, but it feels like a reminder of how hard the journey can be sometimes. So for this weeks blog I will share some of the things that help me stay motivated. 

First of all, throughout the week I got more and more bored with my routines at the gym. I do quite a lot of cardio, which I already try to switch up as much as possible and keep exciting and challenging, but still seeing the gym this often in the week gets boring, for me at least. That’s why I decided to try and find more ways to get my cardio going outside. I don’t particularly enjoy running, so I was looking for another alternative, though I did end up also running to the gym, which is about 4km, so that I wouldn’t have to do my warming up in the gym. I also dusted off a pair of roller skates. After being able to do some ice skating this winter, I was reminded of how much I like that and that if you look at it as a sport rather than leisure, it is actually a good work out. Sadly the natural ice that covered the lakes already melted again, so I tried roller skating, since it is pretty similar. It had been long since I had last roller skated, but since I could still ice skate like I used to, I figured I could regain confidence soon enough. For the first time, I did a run of 6km to get the hang of it again, but I really liked the challenge and alternation with my normal routine, so I hope to expand this. 

Whilst looking for changes outside of my comfort zone to incorporate into my work-out routine, I was also faced with how driven I am to improve. I noticed it in roller skating, I track my work-out when I go, in order to go faster and further the next time. In a similar way, I stay motived in the gym. I want to be able to do more repetitions, or higher weights and push myself each day. In this way, even though it is not my ultimate goal to be great in the gym, I am motivated to improve here, without having to think ‘it will help me in water-skiing too’.  I also treated myself to a new outfit to wear to the gym, which actually motivated me as well.

Finally, as far as working towards my rather large goals in water-skiing goes which do feel endlessly far away sometimes... I think I am mainly driven by a passion for the sport. Even though I haven’t reached a goal yet, I’m happy to practise every day to take steps towards a goal. Seeing my friends reach their goals also helps a lot. It is great to see others achieve the things you wish to achieve one day, or see them achieve something that used to be my goal too. In this way I am able to celebrate my own milestones, but also those of other people, which means there’s just that much more to celebrate in a season. And lastly, maybe most importantly, I genuinely believe in my goals. I do think that if I give it everything I’ve got, I will be able to achieve the things I want to achieve, even though the progress might look, and feel, slow.