Students talk a lot about motivation. There are two kinds of motivation—internal and external.

• Internal: Students with internal motivation want to do well in their classes because they have a strong desire to learn, even when it isn’t much fun. Successful athletes and musicians usually have internal motivation—they practice even when they don’t feel like it, and they are willing to put up with the discomfort of struggling, and with the challenges that committing to a practice schedule brings—i.e. not having as much time to socialize with friends.
• External: Students with external motivation only want to study when they feel like it, or they will gain a specific thing they value. For example, if a parent says, “I will buy you a car if you make the Dean’s List this semester,” an externally motivated student might get right to work. Other students will only work hard in classes where they instructor is fun, or if that class clearly relates to their major, or if they simply happen to find it interesting.

As you can probably guess, students with internal motivation are often more successful. As you will notice, most of the beliefs listed below come from students who depend on other people or circumstances for their motivation.

 

8.1: Beliefs and Challenges Students Might Have Related to Motivation

Beliefs some students might have that interfere with motivation:

• The Entertainment belief: Some students expect their instructors to go out of their way to make classes and homework fun. When the instructor doesn’t do this, they lose motivation.
• The “That Doesn’t Work for Me” Belief: Some students have strong preferences for how they like things and they become demotivated when the instructor has different preferences. For example, a student might want instructors to pass out a handout with a list of assignments and due dates but the instructor has that list on D2L. A student will say, “That doesn’t work for me” and use that as a reason they aren’t motivated and/or can’t do the work. In these cases, it doesn’t often occur to a student that they can take responsibility for having things the way they like them. For example, if a student likes a hard copy of assignments and due dates, they can print one off of D2L themselves.
• The “I’ll do it when I feel like it” belief: Some students believe they should only do homework when they feel like it—but most students never feel like studying a difficult subject or writing a research paper.
• The “I can’t see what this has to do with me” belief: Some students only want to take classes, read books, etc. that relate directly to their interests or life goals. A student who wants to go into law enforcement might end up taking a literature class to fulfill a general, but they hate discussing literature. They feel unmotivated and don’t put the work into the class.

8.2: Discussion Points about Motivation

Students, especially in a one-on-one setting, might benefit from a conversation about motivation. First, it is important to explain that instructors are not entertainers, and students are unlikely to ever feel like doing homework.

You might discuss how a particular class fits into a students’ goals by explaining what skills they will learn from the class that they can apply to other classes or to job. They may benefit from talking through how doing well in this class, even if they don’t like it, benefits them because it boosts their GPA, which makes it more likely they will get accepted into their course of study, be able to apply for scholarships, etc. Also, persevering through a boring, challenging course teaches discipline—and discipline helps in all aspects of life.

If your student says things like, “I just don’t like the way the D2L site is arranged,” or “I can’t pay attention when the instructor is so boring,” help them understand they are responsible for figuring out how to work within the systems that are there. You can explain to them that they are giving away a lot of power if they allow their instructor’s decisions to control their success.

8.3: Motivation Resources

There are three resources in this chapter:

• Short-Term Motivation Tips
• Long-Term-Motivation Tips
• Saying Goodbye to a Habit or Belief That Holds You Back

 

Short-Term Motivation Tips

1) Reset Your Space

• Take time to clear your workspace. This will help get you in a mindset to work. Set a timer for 10 minutes, pick up your workspace, and organize your course materials.
• Consider what type of space you work best in. If you need quiet, you might need to leave a house full of loud roommates or family members and head to the library or a coffee shop. Find an environment to work in that’s best for you.
• Consider sounds and smells. Does it help you to listen to music? All music or only instrumental music? Would lighting a candle be calming for you? What about your space helps you the most?

2) Reset Your Mind

• Try meditation before studying to help center your mind. Practice your breathing technique and work to calm your mind. Find a short, guided meditation online to follow.
• Give yourself a motivational pep-talk! Tell yourself that you are a smart and capable student. Try to rewrite any negative scripts from the past.

3) Reset Your Body

• Exercise, even low-intensity exercise like walking, stretching, and light yoga, can help decrease stress and anxiety.
• Find an exercise activity that you enjoy to help increase your energy and focus.
• What works for you? A 15 minute walk outside? Some short stretching activities? Try different things and see how you feel after.

4) Choose your ONE low-effort motivation booster!

• Look at all the suggestions above and think about your life, mind, and body. Pick one suggestion to be your quick, low effort “re-set button” when you’re lacking motivation to study or do coursework. Is it going for a 15-minute walk outside? Is it clearing off your desk and lighting a candle? What about meditating for 10 minutes? Write your low-effort motivation booster below!

My low-effort motivation booster is: _________________________________________________

Ideas for Use: Short-Term Motivation

 

Long-Term Motivation Tips

1) Know your GOAL and know your WHY

GOAL= What you want to achieve.

WHY= Why you want to achieve that goal.

• Think about your current educational goals. Maybe you have a goal to pass all your classes this semester. Maybe you have a goal to study for one hour a day. Maybe you have a long-term goal of graduating from college.
• Think about WHY you are doing what you’re doing. WHY are you in school? WHY are you working so hard to achieve success as a student? Maybe it’s so you can get a good job, support your family, or be more financially independent.
• Once you know your GOALS and your WHYS, WRITE THEM DOWN AND PUT THEM SOMEWHERE YOU’LL SEE OFTEN. This could be your phone background, your bathroom mirror, or the cover of your course notebooks.
• Goal setting has been shown to greatly enhance motivation and nurture the growth of skills and engagement in learning!

My GOALS:_________________________________________________________________________

My WHYS:__________________________________________________________________________

2) Establish a Study/Coursework Schedule

• How are you going to support your goals? By dedicating time to studying and getting coursework completed.
• Take a look at your week (or your month) and set aside blocks of time just for studying and completing assignments. Always set aside more time than you think you’ll need! This will allow you to be flexible when emergencies (or just life) happen.
• Creating and implementing a clear study plan significantly improves course engagement and academic performance.

This week, I will study the following days and times:

 

3) Identify who to ask for help. Then, ask for help when needed!

• Who can help you achieve your goals? How can you contact them? What can they help you with? Think about the levels of support available to you on campus (instructors, tutors, advisors, etc.) and off campus (family members, friends, coworkers, etc.). Fill in the chart below. When you start to struggle, use to chart to reach out and ask someone for help. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of intelligence, strength, and maturity!

Who can I ask for help?	What can they help me with?	How do I contact them?
Instructor Peterson	Understanding my biology coursework.	I can email: bpeterson@collegeclass.com I can visit during office hours: M/W 12-2 pm, Room 123 I can call: 651-987-6543

Saying Goodbye to a Habit or Belief That Holds You Back

Most people have a bad habit or a destructive belief that gets in the way of their success. Some students say disorganization or procrastination are their big problems.  Others say they would be more successful if they didn’t constantly check their phone, or if they were better about limiting time spent with friends and family.  Others believe destructive things like “I’ll never learn math,” or “I’m a terrible writer.”  Think about a behavior or belief that is keeping you from being the student you’d like to be. Write it below.

 

Step 1: Think about how your behavior or belief affects you, or the people you care about. Most student’s lives consist of four areas– Academics, social life/family, Emotional and Physical Health and hobbies/ extracurricular activities. NOTE: The effects are not always negative! For example, let’s say your behavior is that you spend time socializing when you should be studying– this behavior is great for your relationships.

Complete the chart below:

Area of My Life	Below, write a sentence or two about how the behavior or belief you’d like to change affects these four areas of your life. Make sure to include positive and negative effects.
Academics
Social Life and family
Emotional and Physical Health
Extra-curricular activities and hobbies
Other

Step 2: Imagine how your academic life would be better if you didn’t have your behavior or belief. If you are disorganized and spend hours frantically rushing around to find your books or car keys, imagine what a relief it would be to know exactly where they are. If you continually tell yourself you will never learn to write, how nice would it be to sit down to do your English homework and say instead, “I’m getting better at writing?”

Below, list what you would “get out” of changing this behavior or belief. How would changing it improve your life? Would you have more time? Feel less stressed?

 

Complete the chart below for the behavior or belief you would like to change.

What exactly do you want to change?

How will I change this behavior?
What tempters might make it hard for me to stick to my plan?
What can I do to handling those tempters?

Step 5: Evaluate and Celebrate Small Victories. Recognize that changing a behavior is hard, so give yourself a few days to see how your plan is going.

If you followed or partially followed your plan great! You are on your way to making your plan a habit. Did you sort of stick to your plan? For example, if you wanted to stop playing games on your phone until your homework is done, maybe you managed to do that three of the five weekdays. Below, sum up how, overall, following your plan went for you. Remember to be gentle with yourself if you weren’t perfect.

Consider how following or partially following your plan made you feel. Did you feel more productive? Did you feel a sense of accomplishment? Did you miss your behavior or belief? Was some other aspect of your life helped or harmed by your plan?

Did you not follow it at all? If not, decide if this habit is worth changing after all or if the cost is simply too great. If you decide that this is still a worthy goal, try again. Consider thinking up new or different ways to stick to your plan. For example, can a friend or family member be an accountability partner? Can you change your technique?

Ideas for Use: Saying Goodbye to a Habit or Belief That Holds You Back

If You Are a Tutor . . . 

Tutors are uniquely positioned to hear student “complaints” about bad habits– students might reveal that they didn’t “get anything done” because they spent the afternoon watching TikTok videos or answering every text they received. Student may share how they stayed up watching a favorite Netflix series or how they procrastinated on an assignment. Tutors can help students recognize that these habits are not serving them and use this resource as a strategy to assist students in the process of “letting go” of these habits and beliefs that interfere with success.

Faculty

Faculty who teach First Year Success classes such as Study Skills can use this as an assignment. It is a good resource to use in week four or five when students either begin to realize that their bad habits are posing problems for them (i.e. staying up night after night cramming is resulting in very real exhaustion) or when the good, industrious habit they may have adopted at the beginning of the semester are beginning to slip.

Faculty who teach classes that are known to produce anxiety– math, classes that involve public speaking, or writing– can use this activity as a way to challenge students to adopt more positive attitudes about these stressful activities.