Putting Psychology to Work: Motivate Your Running with Confirmation Bias

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Every time I do something really stupid, I remind myself that I have a master’s degree from Harvard. Sometimes, that makes me feel worse.

When I was in grad school at Harvard, I had a cool professor who helped us learn to apply ideas from psychology to our teaching to better motivate and educate our students. (Thank you, Hunter Gehlbach!)

I loved it. It turns out, psychology is a really great tool for understanding people’s behavior so we can influence it. While it’s fun to picture ourselves becoming psychology masterminds who can manipulate our spouses and children, as runners we can benefit from using psychology to motivate ourselves.

Motivate Yourself Using Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is our tendency to look for and pay attention to information that supports something we believe, and ignore information that challenges what we believe.

Example: You think barefoot running is the greatest trend out there. You add other barefoot runners to your twitter feed, and recommend “Born to Run” to all your friends. You search for barefoot running blogs online and add them to your feeds. You secretly believe your friend who hated her minimalist shoes just didn’t give it enough time to ease into them, and probably shouldn’t be running on so much pavement. You stop talking to running shoe specialists at your local running store. Basically, you look for people and information that supports what you believe, and stop looking for, or discredit, information that doesn’t support your belief.

How can you make confirmation bias work for your running?

Being aware of your own confirmation bias can help you overcome it. If you’re having a tough time with your running, you may feel that running isn’t working well for you. Once you start to feel that way, your brain starts looking for examples that support your negative feelings. Guess what? It’ll probably find them, and the more it finds, the more negative your thoughts about running will become.

If you start feeling discouraged and unmotivated about your running, try to remind yourself that confirmation bias is going to work against you. Try to make it work for you instead, but telling yourself you CAN do this, and looking for all the evidence that you’re capable instead. Write all the evidence that you’re capable down, and ignore all the evidence of failure. (Ok, within reason… I’m talking about keeping motivated to stick with running or a reasonable goal here, not looking for evidence that you can run a marathon despite being injured or something crazy like that.)

When you start trying to reverse your confirmation bias, you’ll notice there’s often a TON of evidence of your own capability and motivation you were ignoring.

So don’t get bogged down in the negatives you didn’t go for a run this week, it’s cold out, you’ve quit three gym memberships… running isn’t going to be any different and instead focus on the positives you’ve gone for runs when it was less than 20 degrees out, you like running more than you ever liked the gym, you have great friends who always ask how your running is going, you’re really looking forward to that race in the spring.

If you pay attention, you’ll realize that being aware of your own confirmation bias can help you be more objective. Have a friend who you feel doesn’t make time for you? Maybe you’re too quick to dismiss her texts or belated e-mails. Maybe that boss you think doesn’t like you is stressed out and busy, and you’re ignoring some evidence that she’s really happy with the work you’re doing because your insecurities are making it hard for you to accept praise.

So… remember to look for evidence that supports what you WANT to believe, and focus on it when you need some extra motivation. You’re not being delusional, you’re just stacking the deck in your favor… our brains do it to us all the time. Make it work for you 🙂

How are your New Year’s goals going?

It’s almost the end of January, and with that, 2014 is a twelfth of the way through!

I looked at the calendar and realized it was a good time to check in regarding my New Year’s goals.

The glaring item: my goal to average 15 miles a week in 2014.

I met that goal one week out of four – and I was pretty happy with the chance to use some of that running time for other things.

In the winter, it’s often too cold and slippery to run with the double jogging stroller, not to mention how early in the afternoon it gets dark. Every time I run, I am using babysitter time, or taking time away that the four of us would have had as a family. That’s tough.

So I am changing my goal to 9 miles a week and a barre class in the winter, and then starting in late March or April I will begin training for my June half marathon and increase my mileage.

In the meantime, that’s time with my family, to organize, color, read stories, make better meals, and live a little less on the edge 🙂

I am, however, LOVING the barre class I am taking and the chance to diversify my fitness so that stays 🙂

How are your goals going? Did you pick appropriate ones for you?

More time for little moments like these – worth it :). (At least until stroller weather!)

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When people are no longer surprised by your running

We were up in Maine during an incredibly hot weekend in July. Temperatures were in the nineties, combines with sun and humidity that made it difficult to even BE outside, let alone RUN outside.

I was at an event with some mutual acquaintances, and I told one of them that Greg had run the Shipyard Half Marathon that morning despite the intense heat.

She just shrugged her shoulders, said “of course he did” and asked how my boys were.

Umm, what? What do you mean “of course he did?!” IT IS 90 DEGREES OUT!!!! People fell over on the course! That’s THIRTEEN (.1) MILES!!!!

Ok. Yeah. Of course he did.

I can see her point – Greg has been running very seriously now for over four years, he’s run 4 marathons and 14 half marathons (I think, I’m losing track) and is always towards the front of his age group.  Freezing rain doesn’t stop him.  Wind doesn’t stop him.  90 degree weather doesn’t stop him.  Really, there just isn’t much that stops him.

And yet… now that I’m a runner, I realize that just because he runs fast, long, and often, doesn’t mean it’s EASY.  Yes, he could easily run a half marathon at MY pace, but when he goes out and runs a half marathon in 90 degree weather at HIS pace, he works AS HARD AS HE CAN for all of those 13 miles.  And it’s not easy.  It’s worth more than a shrug, that’s for sure.

But at the same time… it’s a big compliment when you do something awesome and people are no longer surprised.

A friend asked me recently about my running and I told her I was signed up for another half marathon in June, but had been running less recently because of busy family life and the freezing cold weather.  She didn’t seem surprised by either statement.

That’s right… it’s no longer surprising to someone that I’m signed up for a half marathon.

Hmm.  Neat.

Happy running – will you get so far people stop noticing?  Another good reason to do it for yourself 😉

I know, I haven’t been posting!

It’s been busy around here! We’re adjusting to a new cooking routine as whole food, plant based eaters, and recently I spent three days in Vegas with Greg while he was on business!

Best part of Vegas? People were surprised to find out that I had two children. They were not surprised to find out that I’d run two half marathons. Oh, sweet, sweet validation 🙂

Not bad motivation to keep running!

I’ll be posting more soon 🙂

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My week so far

Long run Monday, intervals Wednesday, barre class today, and hoping to get in a few recovery miles tomorrow and a run with the mothers forum runners on Saturday.

It’s shaping up to be a good week!

Today I wore my new workout tank, a gift from my sister, and it made me smile 🙂

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I’m on track for my fifteen miles a week, and looking forward to picking some races for the spring and summer! My only upcoming race right now is a half marathon in June – I’m hoping to find some other races before then 🙂