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Do Something that you think is fun - if it's fun, it's not going to seem like work at all.
Set goals for yourself - reaching a goal you've set for yourself is one of the best feelings in the world and will motivate you to keep working towards new ones.
Be tough on yourself when you need to be, but also make sure you're taking care of yourself.
Surround yourself with people who will support you in reaching your goals.
By now, Missy Franklin’s story is bordering on legendary.
As a toddler, she snorkeled away from parents DA and Dick into the ocean off a Hawaiian island to chase a fish that caught her eye.
Now 19, Franklin continues to swim away from the rest of the world and the gap is growing. Sure, the graduate of Aurora’s Regis Jesuit High School and now sophomore at the University of California-Berkeley is blessed with a God-given physique — a 6-foot-1 frame paired with size 13 flipper-like feet — and is as comfortable in water as most people are on land, but Franklin’s ability to motivate herself makes her special.
“For me, motivation comes from everything,” Franklin said. “I think every great athlete internally has a competitive drive that is constantly thirsting for something more. I get motivation internally just from the sheer want to do my best and see what I’m capable of, whereas externally my motivation comes from my family making so many sacrifices, my teammates working so hard and pushing me every day, and my coaches’ unfailing belief in me.”
Of course as a world-class athlete, Franklin has fringe benefits the average joe could only dream about to supplement that internal drive.
Franklin often trains under the guidance of renowned athletic trainer Loren Landow, who works with all manner of Olympic and professional athletes. But as much as Landow helps her physically, it was something simple he said that continues to motivate Franklin on a daily basis.
“(Landow) once said something that I’ve always thought was incredibly accurate and funny,” Franklin said. “One day, he had a few athletes not show up and he said, ‘Well, I guess they liked the feel of their pillow more than success.’ And for some reason, that’s really stayed with me. Every morning when I hear my alarm go off at 5 a.m., I am obviously so comfortable in bed and there are so many times when I wish I could just press snooze and sleep until I don’t need sleep anymore. But then I think about how right then, in that moment, I am getting an opportunity to become better at something I love, and that’s not an opportunity that everyone gets and definitely not an opportunity that I want to take for granted.”
So with that in mind, Franklin extracts herself at odd hours from her comfy bed — grumpily, like all swimmers who practice in the morning — dives into the pool and gets better, lap by lap. It’s happened over and over again, one of the reasons she’s already earned four Olympic gold medals and is a threat to top that in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Getting better is even better when you have help from your friends, though, as Franklin has always known.
Teammates with former coach Todd Schmitz’s Colorado Stars club swim team and at Regis Jesuit used to push her, so there was no way she could give it up at the next level. Franklin fought fiercely against the lure of a professional career to get that feeling, which she’s found with her star-studded team at Cal.
“My entire team out at Cal in Berkeley motivates me every day,” Franklin said. “There’s not a single practice that passes without almost every girl on the team yelling “GO BEARS” or “Come on Bears, We can do this!” My teammates in front of and behind me in my lane will constantly be encouraging me, or giving me tips to help me improve on something. It’s the positivity and belief that, as a team, we have in each other and in ourselves.”
As her ascent continues, Franklin not only continues to thrive on motivation, but she has actually become the personification of motivation.
Nearly any little girl who pulls on a swim cap these days yearns to be just like Missy Franklin. They’ve flocked to see her in the documentary “Touch the Wall” and they continue to emulate her when they touch the blocks like young boys used to stick their tongues out when they played basketball ala Michael Jordan.
“It’s honestly a dream come true,” Franklin said. “I’ve had the opportunity to do what I love every single day, and that has led to me reaching my goals, which has inspired other people, and that is all I could ever ask for. What started out as a hobby that I couldn’t get enough of has led to the ability for me to make a difference, which is the biggest dream of all.”
• Do something that you think is fun. If it’s fun it’s not going to seem like work at all.
• Set goals for yourself. Maybe start with easier goals and work your way up, but reaching a goal you’ve set for yourself is one of the best feelings in the world, and will definitely motivate you to keep working towards new ones.
• Be tough on yourself when you need to be, but also make sure you’re taking care of yourself. If you’re really struggling with getting out of bed in the morning, make that extra push to get out and have a great workout, but make sure after it’s over you step back and think about how awesome it was. Take some time to praise yourself and congratulate yourself on a great workout, or even just getting out of bed and trying.
• Surround yourself with people who will support you in reaching your goals. Whether they will be physically working out with you or just there for moral support, some of the best motivation in the world comes from our dearest friends and family telling us that they believe in us, and that they know we can do it to. You can’t do it on your own.
