Part 2 – Starting Your BOSS Journey

  Self-motivation is key to most things’ in softball as in life. Difficult to do anything worthwhile without being motivated to do it. Below I will reveal a formula to become and stay motivated. This new way of thinking can be of great help for your Ballplayer Off Season Strategy (BOSS). 

As I have experienced with doing hard work- quality practicing, working out, doing drills like bouncing tennis balls against a wall can be tedious and grueling. Improving yourself is hard work. When doing hard work one golden rule that has helped me immensely is something taken from proven studies of Neurologists-

 Turn the effort into the reward 

What? Huh? How?

I’m not going into all the technical terms like dopamine, intrinsic, epinephrine, etc. Bottom line is studies have proven that if you make effort your reward you then become motivated in doing the work even more. Not only that but you also improve at what you are doing faster. 

It is more beneficial that the feeling of effort is the reward over end goal rewards such as metals, wins or treating yourself to chocolate ice cream. End goal rewards can be good but when the only focus is on end goal rewards studies show less benefits and motivation.

To help you keep motivated, and this is just not coming from me, neurologists that study the brain say- 

“Tell yourself that you loved doing the work or the effort you put in even if that’s not all that true.” 

Crazy as it may seem studies show as you continue to do this while doing the hard work suddenly, the work becomes more enjoyable. And amazingly that work, the effort you put in, is a reward that gives you motivation to continue and challenge yourself more. Using this positive attitude thought process is major factor to self-motivation. 

Examples: 

Young kids that are asked to pick up their toys generally give the half-hearted attempt if any at all. However, if you ask them to pick up the toys and have them sing a song while doing it (making a more enjoyable process) the toys get magically picked up faster and more orderly. 

A student that enjoys to study is more likely to get a better test grade. Plus, the student is likely to make studying more a habit resulting in better overall grades. 

Use this BOSS motivation formula for doing the hard work to improve in Softball- 

• Choose a Softball drill such as the tennis ball challenge in Part 1. 
• Tell yourself how you love doing the work and putting in your best effort.
• Make the feeling of effort in doing the Softball drill your reward. Call it a "Brain Gummy" if you wish.
• Use every time you do the work as your steppingstone for improvement. Journal or write it down.
• Have the journey or the strive to get better be your end goal. The more you enjoy the journey - the better you become.

 Gotta love it- do the work- enjoy the ride! It’s that easy!   

It makes sense that the more we put in the effort the greater the reward. 

Greater the effort = Greater the reward. 

So, put in the time to do the work. Start your BOSS journey today to become a better ballplayer and handle hard better! 

- Coach Roth