When Anna Kournikova, a 17 year old tennis player with flowing blond hair, reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1997, the women tennis craze started in Russia.
It was one of the most watched television events of the year in Russia, partly because of her looks, her age and mainly the exceptional performance.
She became a hero.
The girls in Russia watched the success of young Anna in masses.
They were stunned by her triumph (as was most of the world) and Russian euphoria happened.
At the time when Anna Kournikova was winning, lots of young girls picked up tennis and wanted to be like her.
They got hugely motivated. And that motivation didn’t seem to go away.
Years after, more and more Russian women were ranked in top 100 WTA.
Russian Women tennis players in top 100 WTA:
1998 – 3 – Anna Kournikova included
2001 – 8
2002 – 10
2005 – 15
2006 – 16
The motivation in these case worked exceptionally well. Why?
The need to belong, to associate, is among the most important human motives.
And that’s exactly what worked for Young Russian girls, who wanted to be like Anna. Fit like Anna. Hero like Anna. Pretty like Anna. And they started working hard to achieve that.
Are you lacking motivation to get fitter? To get healthier? To loose weight? Is it hard to keep going because you are loosing motivation?
Look around yourself. Are the people around you fit, lean, strong and active? If they are, you are probably fit too.
You want to belong, to associate with them. You want to be like them.
Are people around you lazy, fat and couch potatoes?
If they are, that could be a reason, that you are not motivated to get fit.
Is there a woman in your gym, work or book club, that is about your age and she looks great, she is lean and she is fit?
So you tell yourself, I am similar to this woman, she is very fit, she looks great. I want to be like her. I want to achieve those things too.
And that’s how motivation happens.