Following on from yesterday’s post about enticing to try, the next step to consider in James Paul Gee’s framework for motivating is to make sure the activity is Compelling enough. As well as providing an easy way to get started, include more than one way for the participant to interact with the content. I call this The Way In. If I can’t find anything within the exercise that I can at least relate to/focus on, then I’ll not be prepared to put any effort in. So, include one or two things that your client/player is familiar with.
Avoid at this stage of setting a goal that will seem unachievable to begin with. If you as the PT/Coach give me a target of ten, and I’m starting on zero, ten is a long distance away, especially as I’m only just getting started. I also don’t know what ten looks like. If I’m willing to find out, then start me with two, so at least I’m on my way to finding out. If you give me two, then I will reciprocate and put in the effort to put another two on top, and so on.
Mix of Flow ( balance between anxiety and boredom, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). Is the activity challenging enough? Is it a balance between anxiety, hard but doable, and boredom or walking away/giving up? In other words, am I going to learn something new? Am I going to be surprised by some new information, perhaps a different way of looking at he activity, finding a new meaning or feeling perhaps?
Reframing the Role of the Personal Trainer. 
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