WHY INTRINSIC MOTIVATION MATTERS MORE FOR CLIMBERS
A recent study showed that climbers are generally highly self-motivated and task-oriented (Gonzalez, 2019).
Can you relate to this?
In psychology we generally differentiate between two different types of goal orientation:
Task orientation
Ego orientation
Our goal orientation relates to how we define success. The orientation of our goals influences how we think and act in climbing:
Task-orientation describes our effort to improve our skills and abilities through learning, rather than comparing ourselves to others. It correlates with fun, intrinsic motivation and satisfaction, improved performance, effort, and persistence and less fear of failure. Task orientation has been found more prevalent in female than male athletes. It is assessed regarding our own past performance.
For example, we want to improve our balance in slab boulders and hence, push ourselves to practice specific movements that we have previously found challenging.
Ego orientation, one the other hand, is a striving to win and to be better than others. The focus lies on the outcome, the evaluation benchmark is social comparison. When our perceived climbing ability is low, ego orientation can lead to negative behaviours and outcomes such as poor performance, lower efforts and lack of persistence.
An example for ego orientation is we want to send the route before our climbing partner does, or we want to send a 8a route outdoors to be seen as an experienced and skilled climber in the community.
If you remember the self-determination theory on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation from our last blog post, you can link them to goal orientations as follows:
Task orientation is positively associated with intrinsic motivation
Ego orientation with external motivation
Current studies show that climbers scored highest on intrinsic motivation and task goal orientation. This means that climbers appear to be doing a lot of things “right” to stay intrinsically motivated and enjoy the sport.
Here are some tips on how to foster your own intrinsic motivation and task goal orientation:
Focus on having fun when you go climbing!
Remind yourself why you like climbing in the first place!
Remind yourself of your strengths!
Be present in the moment.
Focus on the experience on the wall.
Add variety to your training/climbing sessions.
Allow yourself to see the goal as learning and improving in the process rather than solely focusing on end goals.
Focus on improving your own skills rather than comparing yourself to others. What others can and cannot do is not in your control!
Find the right challenge for you. Sometimes you can challenge yourself more, sometimes the situation requires that you take it easier and listen to yourself, your mind and your body.
Ask yourself: why do you want to climb a certain grade, be better than a certain person etc.? Is this actually good for me and my climbing? Why do I have this goal? Find goals that focus on progress and improving your skills rather than ticking arbitrary boxes (e.g. grades)