Ashley Wagner

Psychology hack- when you care TOO much, you aren’t performing at your best.

Research shows us that there are 2 types of goal seekers: mastery goals and performance goals. Both are real, both can motivate you, but they lead to very different outcomes.

Mastery is about you- you want to actually get better. Highlight your work, beat the version of yourself that showed up yesterday.

Performance goals focus on outperforming others or avoiding losing. You know, like when we skate to “not lose”.

One creates a lot more anxiety but can be great for a quick push of motivation. Not necessarily bad, just different. One is slow and steady, resilient.

Which one drives you right now?

How to train self-discipline

When we find ourselves struggling with self-discipline and pushing through tough moments, or sticking with our goals, we often overlook what our experience with discipline was like as a kid.

Having a negative relationship with discipline could look like being pushed to stick with a sport you hate, or going back out onto the field too soon after a hard tackle. It’s the classic old school mentality of “just tough it out”.

You learn that pushing through SUCKS and probably won’t pay off, and your brain and body aren’t going to sign on for a sh*tty deal like that.

Change how you talk about your goals, remind your body why you’re sticking with something in the hard moments, and rework what you know about pushing yourself through.