Something that a few people have asked recently is what I’m doing through winter, and how I’m staying motivated. It’s tough, and especially so this year; we had half of our summer stolen from us, and the other half was a bit of a patchy affair. It feels like I haven’t played volleyball probably for months, because everything has been so up and down.
I thought I’d share a few methods that I’m using to try to stay positive and motivated through winter, to see whether it helps.
Tip 1 for Staying Motivated: Focus on what you can do
This is something I definitely learned from lockdown 1.0, and something that I am working really hard to stay on top of. It’s really easy to look on social media at what other people are doing across the world-but the chances are, that’s a highly curated, reductive view of what they are actually managing to do, and it doesn’t help you at all.
I broke my hand at the end of October, so I haven’t been able to do any volleyball or lift properly all of November. Frustrating, but instead of wishing I were in Australia playing, I’m focusing on planning for the future, smashing my rehab and doing the fitness work that I can do. I’m really happy that I’ve made good progress in all these points-so set yourself a feasible target, and start working towards it.
Tip 2 for Staying Motivated: Keep it fresh
There are two killers for motivation: not being able to achieve what you are aiming for, and getting bored. Step 1 addressed the first point-keeping your training and goals fresh will make sure you don’t fall victim to the second.
Keeping it fresh could mean lots of things. For me at the moment, it means that we have added in some conditioning (running) into my programme. It’s something that I haven’t done for ages, and I’m really enjoying the challenge that it’s brought. I’ve got back into Strava, got myself a heart rate monitor, and am busy geeking out on my running. And that’s OK!
Once we get through winter, I’ll get back to being obsessed with beach volleyball. But if that occupied my thoughts 100% of the time, 100% of the year, I’d burn out. Having something fresh, different and challenging is fun and is really helping me in staying motivated.
Tip 3 for Staying Motivated: Get Outdoors.
I’ve restructured my working day to make sure that I can spend some of my time outside in daylight hours, walking, working out or running. I’ve also been doing a bit of wild swimming! It’s so tempting to get stuck indoors at the moment, with the temperature dropping and the light still drawing in. However, I find that the injection of fresh air every day helps to break up my day and also to counteract the dull sides of working from home.
I hope this helps guys, please let me know your thoughts below.
Stay healthy and see you all on the beach soon.
Sam
