Who or what motivates you?

It is Tuesday, August 12th! Lately I have been watching the Olympics in amazement. The strength, endurance and motivation of the athletes have left me more then once speechless. I am in awe of the performances of all the athletes. No favorites, I follow all of them, in particular Belgium, Canada and the US. I love watching gymnastics, swimming and can't wait for track and field to start on Thursday. The athletes' passion can help to put things in perspective for myself to finally get out of this low I have been in for the past few weeks.
I always know what is going on and how I can fix it but the motivation to change my actions is at times not there. I wonder about motivation. I am in the position to motivate others on being active, yet I at times have issues with that myself. So what is it about motivation? What is it that makes some people motivated to move while others care less? How can we keep our motivation high? So, I look at myself for answers. I lost motivation to be active due to a high stress level. However, I know, I KNOW, that being active is what lowers stress. Still, I have a difficult time getting out there and moving if I am overwhelmed and stressed out. I know as a grad student that this will not be the last time so I must get better at staying motivated.
Course work seems to stress me out. Well, perhaps not coursework itself but more the assessment of the work. Not knowing how I am doing is stressful. Ongoing assessment works well for me as far as keeping my stress level low. So, next time, I guess I should just ask how I am doing and perhaps it was because of its length somewhat impossible to really get an idea on how well I was doing. Anyway, key #1, ask the prof how I am doing, key #2: use ongoing assessment with my own students so they don't need the stress and know exactly where they stand in my course and what they can do to improve or keep up their marks.
Ok, I realized that my mood was low, with a result that my motivation to run was absent. But I also know that if I make myself go run, my mood will improve and when I finish running, I feel so much better. SO how come I know what to do to enhance my mood but still can't get motivated to do it? One major aspect that I know plays a role in my mood is feeling overwhelmed and in order to prevent that, I must keep a good journal and write down daily short term goals. When I forget, I get too overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all.
So key #3: Set goals and keep up, write everything down, make to-do list and work through the list. In fact, when I make my list, I always include my workouts as well. When I finish all my goals, I am extremely happy with myself, usually tired and I actually sleep better! What a surprise! Goal setting should probably be Key #1, as that is, for me personally, one thing I know that works!
However, I know many people do not set goals, nor do they make lists and keep up. What motivates them? What keeps them going?
I know that when I come home after a run/workout, the feeling of being tired is to me extremely satisfying, in fact, it probably is a reinforcement to my motivation. But it has not always been like that. I started to find running fun because I run on trails not roads. So therefore, it is about finding activities that are fun! So you can find some intrinsic reinforcement that will motivate you to get out and do it! Some activities it is so "natural" to me that I don't even have to think about it, I will always be ready to do the activity. E.g. downhill skiing. However, no snow... so no skiing. no mountains... no skiing. Must find other activities. Most of the once I really like are expensive and because I have no money at this point I am trying out a new activity: trailrunning. This as a way to stay active. I also like biking and swimming. I have DVD's at home for when I decide to stay indoors and I must find a weight lifting class as I love doing that as well.

What about doing something for something else, or someone else. Running for the cure? Running for love?

My ultimate goal is trying to figure out how to help those first year students not to gain 15 pounds in their first year. How can you make being active and healthy more appealing than drinking, socializing and eating pizza. I am really generalizing here but in fact, truth is that many new students stop being active and organize or manage their first year poorly.
So far I have 3 focus points:
- Keep stress levels low in course (know expectations, ask for them, create them, organize)
- Set smart goals and stick with them (create lists, how many points?, how short of a goal?)
- Find activities that are fun, active and healthy and do them every day. (experience new activities to find out those activities you may not know about but you wish you knew about)
Is this enough? Is this a good start?

What is motivation? Is it love? For this dad it is!