Almost every morning during a training block, there's a moment before I even get out of bed where I'm deciding why I'm about to go run. Some mornings it's simple, my body just wants to move, and I'm up and out the door without thinking much about it. Other mornings it's not that at all, it's the math, sixteen weeks out, this is the workout the plan says I need, so I do it whether or not I feel like it that day. I used to think of those as just two different moods. Turns out they're not. They're two different systems in the brain, making two genuinely different kinds of decisions.
This week's episode is about that split, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, and why most advice tells you to pick a side. Chase what you love, don't chase the outcome, or you'll burn out. I don't think that's true, or at least it hasn't been for me. I want the Boston time. I also need the run itself to mean something on the days the number isn't moving. Neither one replaces the other.
The Science:
Researchers scanned people's brains while they decided, in the moment, whether to do something for a purely intrinsic reason, because they wanted to, or a purely extrinsic reason, because of an external incentive attached to it. The two decisions used different parts of the brain entirely. Intrinsic reasons lit up an area tied to emotional processing and gut-level self-awareness, fast, almost instinctive. Extrinsic reasons recruited a completely different region, one tied to weighing learned, socially-acquired value, more like running a calculation. Neurologically, these aren't two flavors of the same thing, they're two different systems, doing two different jobs.
Try This:
A fillable version of this week's exercise.
Think of something you're actually chasing right now. It doesn't have to be a marathon, it could be a business, a certification, a relationship, a creative project sitting half-finished somewhere.
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Step 1: Name the extrinsic version out loud, the actual number, title, or outcome you want. Don't soften it or pretend you don't want it.
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Step 2: Name the intrinsic version. Why would you still want to be doing this even if that outcome never came? Get specific, not "for the growth," what's actually enjoyable or satisfying about the process itself.
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Step 3: Write one or two thoughts you want ready for the unglamorous middle, the slow stretch where you maybe aren't seeing ny results or clear progress. Something that has nothing to do with the outcome.
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Step 4: Write down the extrinsic motivator too, right alongside it. Pretending it isn't real doesn't make it disappear, it just makes it unexamined.
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Reflection: If the outcome you're chasing never actually happened, would you still want to have spent your time trying?
Work with Me: Coaching with me is weekly, 1:1, 45 minutes. We work through what's actually happening. The first step is a free discovery session: you tell me where you are, I tell you how I work, and we decide together.
Have a question you want me to dig into? Reply to this email or DM me on Instagram.
I'm in it with you.
Ilana