Stop Chasing Goals. Start Building Skills

Thought For The Week

If we want to maintain our health and fitness results, rather than chase external validation or reward we need to build intrinsic motivation. Mastery plays a key role in building intrinsic motivation because it fosters a sense of progress and competence. Feeling like we’re getting good at something builds our confidence and keeps us coming back for more. Our goal no longer becomes just about the outcome; the process of mastering the task becomes rewarding in and of itself.

Exercise Tip

While there are many types of exercise you could choose, I think that strength training lends itself particularly well to developing mastery because there are so many different variables. Whether it's lifting heavier weights, increasing the number of reps, improving your technique, developing your body-awareness, or mastering a new exercise, no matter where you’re starting from, you’ll be able to make tangible progress and build confidence over time. The discipline of regularly challenging yourself, learning about your body’s limits, and pushing through difficult workouts will also build resilience, helping you stay motivated even when progress slows, or challenges arise.

Nutrition Tip

Mastery in the realm of nutrition can include gaining knowledge about the nutritional content of different foods and our bodies’ nutritional requirements. It might also include managing cravings, navigating eating in social situations, or improving self-regulation. When we work towards mastering healthy eating behaviours, we gain a sense of competence and control over our choices that drives us to continue. This sense of mastery can also help reduce the feelings of guilt, shame and frustration that are often associated with food restriction and dieting, because it shifts the focus from temporary goals to long-term competence in managing food choices.

Links & Resources

Book: In his book Drive, Daniel Pink explores the factors that underpin intrinsic motivation, and how we develop these to achieve greater things.

Book: Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, explores the idea that mastery is not solely determined by innate talent but by a combination of focused practice.

Video: In his TED talk: The Puzzle of Motivation, Daniel Pink argues that we need to move from controlling people with rewards to empowering people to find meaning and mastery in what they do if we want better work, stronger engagement, and higher performance.

Inspirational Quote

"The pursuit of mastery is one of the most powerful motivators there is."

Daniel Pink