What Is Motivation?
I’m sitting here in Chicago, Illinois listening to the wind howl outside my hotel window. I am here getting ready for part of my “new gig” as a presenter for Quest Education Systems. It is a great opportunity and I am loving getting to meet new people and especially working with teachers.
One of the tracks that I present on is “Motivating Disinterested Students.” I deal with the disinterested, uninterested and “at risk” students that have become so common in classrooms across the country. Teachers are looking for any means that will help to reach these kids. And, I get to share tools and strategies with them.
So, this morning I am thinking about motivation; just what is it – really? The dictionary defines it as: “The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action; the reason for the action.” Then it gives all sorts of explanations of the psychology behind it such as: In psychology, motivation is the driving force behind all actions of an organism. Motivation is based on emotions, specifically, on the search for positive emotional experiences and the avoidance of negative ones, where positive and negative are defined by the individual brain state, not by social norms: a person may be driven to self-injury or violence because their brain is conditioned to create a positive response to these actions.
What I believe is that motivation is hope. Hope is not based on something you see, but it is a guarantee of what is to come. When we motivate someone, we are giving them the hope of a better future, a vision of what can be when they are willing to work a little bit harder or attempt to change the way things are now. Motivation is the desire to succeed and the belief that you can! It works on faith – just as hope does. I like the way hope was described once – hope stands on the shoulders of faith and looks for what is to come.
How do we motivate someone? That is the key question. I believe that first we must find out where that person is in their thinking process. What is going on in their lives? Why have they lost their hope and motivation? What is their desire? In order to do this we must get to know that person in an intimate way. We must build relationship with them and gain their trust so they will be willing to share their thoughts and desires with us. That takes time.
Many teachers feel so pressured by course requirements and schedules, paperwork and meetings that they don’t believe they have time to invest in this personalization with students, especially one who is unengaged and unmotivated. This is a problem. There are those who are willing to make that sacrifice required to reach out to these kids and make an impact on them. Still there are others who need to be “motivated” themselves because they have lost hope.
I like what Paul says about hope in the Scripture: ” But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:24-25
Teaching takes time! Motivation takes time and effort! Sometimes the results are not readily evident. We must wait patiently for them to come. In the end we discover that all we did to get that student to be motivated is well worth the investment. What does it take to motivate? Here is an acrostic I came up with that describes the process. I use the term IMPACT.
Invest time, energy and resources.
Motivate – find out what their interest is and use that as a tool.
Persevere – It is a long process and sometimes very hard.
Applaud – Encouragement is key! Cheer on small successes!
Communicate – Make sure there is a clear understanding of goals and the process (steps) to reach them.
Test and turn loose – There must be a testing to determine if achievement has been made. There must be a time of sending forth, turning loose so they can fly on their own.
We live in a time when many have lost their motivation and desire to make a difference. My prayer is that more people will awaken to the fact that there is a generation of young people that are looking for something to believe in. they want a better future but some just don’t know how to go after it. That is where we come in as teachers. We must show them how – sometimes even if they don’t seem to really want it.
