Dit artikel is in het Engels geschreven, samen met Patrick Meier.
Keeping yourself accountable for behavior change
Before you can commit to behavior change, you must find a way to hold yourself accountable. This requires a thoughtful approach. Avoid negative strategies such as guilt, regret, or punishment. Instead, focus on strong positive emotions. Emotional engagement fosters a sense of responsibility, and responsibility is what drives action.
Accountability begins with relying on internal motivation and self-reflection rather than external pressure. Meaningful change involves being honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses, acknowledging your mistakes, and learning from them in order to grow.
Regular self-assessment helps you evaluate progress, identify areas for improvement, and recognize both positive and negative outcomes. It also supports better decision-making and increased effort. Finally, accountability involves a willingness to learn, which is essential for recognizing patterns in your own behavior.
Behavior change
When trying to develop yourself as an athlete, you will inevitably run into plateaus that keep you from progressing. When reaching said plateau you will be challenged with finding a creative way to stimulate more growth, whether that involves improving your nutrition, your sleep, or any other focus point.
The obstacle between you and overcoming the plateau is your ability to change your behavior and maintain it over the long term. Many coaches will tell you things like you just need to want it more, or you need to be more disciplined. I find those words nothing but empty platitudes.
A fundamental part of this journey is about changing your athlete identity, to become the type of athlete who prioritizes their nutrition or focuses on their recovery. To start, we need to define what your current athlete identity is, what we call your current self, and the athlete identity you want to take on, what we call your ought self.
You will soon notice that there is a sizable gap between those two versions of yourself, and that is totally fine. Take a moment to define the areas you are falling short on. How would you think, feel and act if you were the type of athlete you aspire to be? How would your day-to-day life be different? What would you do and what would you not do? Take time with this process.
You can use this as a framework to inform your daily decision-making by asking: if I were the athlete I aspire to be, how would I act now? Then try to take goal-directed action in line with that identity.
To make this process easier we need to not only see the bigger picture but also implement short-term rewards, to stay engaged long enough to reap the rewards of our hard work.
Your brain is designed to seek out pleasure and avoid pain. Visualize pleasure as a carrot and pain as a stick. Many times, athletes do not maintain behavior long-term because the behavior change itself seems more like a stick than a carrot. So naturally, you will slowly gravitate away from it.
Instead, seek out what could be a short-term reward that keeps you motivated. This could be noticing changes in your energy levels, an improved mood, or better focus in and outside of the gym.
Veelgestelde vragen
Waarom werkt meer discipline niet als je vastloopt?
Discipline is geen vaardigheid die je aanzet. Een plateau doorbreek je door je gedrag te veranderen en dat gedrag vol te houden, niet door harder tegen jezelf te praten.
Wat is een athlete identity?
Het beeld dat je van jezelf hebt als sporter. De kern van de aanpak is het verschil in kaart brengen tussen wie je nu bent en wie je wil zijn, en daar dagelijks naar handelen.
Hoe blijf ik gemotiveerd bij een verandering die pas later resultaat geeft?
Zoek korte-termijnbeloningen die je nu al merkt: meer energie, betere stemming, scherpere focus in de gym. Zonder die beloning voelt de verandering als straf en haak je af.
Helpt schuldgevoel om jezelf verantwoordelijk te houden?
Nee. Schuld, spijt en straf werken averechts. Verantwoordelijkheid ontstaat uit betrokkenheid en eerlijke zelfreflectie.
Sparren over jouw situatie?
Loop je vast op een plateau en wil je weten waar het echt zit? In een gesprek van dertig minuten kijken we ernaar.