Sunday, March 24, 2013

Study Skills - Find Your Motivation Fast

By Lachlan Haynes


The single biggest reason cited for not competing tasks is the lack of motivation. If you're like everybody else in the entire universe (and you are) then at one point or another you will lack the motivation to do something. Welcome to the club. There are about 6 billion human members plus a few million animals as well (that's right animals can be lazy too).

This may not be a regular problem for you (and kudos to you if that's the case) but for many students, 'lacking motivation' can be a real pain in the you know what!

When lacking motivation, simple and seemingly innocuous tasks can somehow become huge mountainous challenges. But why?

Motivation is a funny beast. When we have a feeling of "high motivation" we can be virtually unstoppable. Tasks are tackled with relative ease, our energy levels are right up, no problem seems too great, and everything seems to constantly fall into place. The problem is that the opposite is also true. A feeling of "low or no motivation" leads to failure to complete tasks, low energy levels, all problems seem incredibly hard to overcome and everything seems to be going wrong!

As a general rule, most people are operating on the base level of motivation - which is fear of negative consequences. What do I mean by this? Well, we act out of concern about what will happen if we don't act. For example, you may complete your homework because if you don't you will be grounded. You may strive to get an A on your Maths test because if you don't your average will drop which will impact your ability to get into University or College. It's not necessarily a "bad thing" but it's the way we are conditioned to behave.

You see, if there was no negative consequences what would happen to the world? Would everyone still behave themselves in an orderly way? Or would there be total panic and disorder? How would the world run itself if there was no negative motivation? It's actually a scary thought!

Fear of negative consequences has its place in the world. It's important in its own way - however it should absolutely not be the ultimate reason for you to do whatever it is you do each day. It should not dictate your behavior. That's not living. That's just "existing".

Whilst "existing" may work for you for a period of time (and for many people it works for their entire lives) it doesn't both work and lead to a positive approach to life. The motivation we seek to promote is one where you want to complete the tasks you do for positive reasons.

Want to find real motivation? Act only out of possibility. Never act out of fear. Act out of the possibility of what may come from doing what you're doing. If you're doing homework, ask yourself what the possibility may be. Is the possibility that you learn something new? Is the possibility that you are smarter than you were before? Is the possibility that you are closer to your ambition of a good grade? Is the possibility that you are one step closer to College? What is your possibility? Every act has a possibility. Find yours and you will have found your true motivation. The power of possibility always crushes the fear of negative consequences - if you harness it correctly.

The answer to finding motivation is actually simple. Whenever you are doing something and don't feel motivated simply ask yourself "What is the possibility here? What positive outcome is going to occur from this?" If you can't find a simple possibility (like I could learn something new, I could earn some money which I can spend on something important to me, I'm a step closer to something I really want to achieve) then you really aren't searching hard enough. There is a possibility in everything. Good luck.




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