A Look at Motivation and Goal Setting
Motivation and goal setting go hand in hand. Motivation is made up of desire and belief. The individual must first
have the desire to reach a specific goal. If the person doesn’t really want whatever the end result will be (a
grade, a degree, an achievement of some kind), there will be no motivation and goal setting will be of no
value.
What Motivates You?
Motivation and goal setting are not the same things for everyone. To get a handle on what motivates us, we need to
look at our own values. Some of the things that humans value are money, status, family, love of learning, and pride
in a job well done. Others are motivated by the urge to travel. To do good works, to improve living conditions for
others, or to meet new people.
As we make a list of what motivates us, either a written or a mental one, we will find that some of the values are
more important to us than others. Some values have to do with short-term goals, while other ones are more
long-term.
It is important to keep a handle on your level of motivation and goal setting for different situations. Take the
example of a student who wants to get good grades but can’t quite seem to get there. Are they as motivated as they
think they are? Have they taken the time to break down the ultimate goal into smaller steps (goals) along the way?
Are there other distractions getting in the way of the student achieving his or her goals?
Motivation and Goal Setting
If you are truly motivated to achieve (you want to reach the goal and are prepared to do what is necessary to get
there), how do you come up with goals?
First of all, get a clear mental picture in your mind of what you want to achieve. What does it look like and feel
like to you? Next, try to break the big goal down into some smaller steps that make sense to you.
Using the example of a student once again, let’s say that the person wants to improve his or her mark in a certain
class by one grade level (moving from C to B or B to A). How can they achieve that goal? How does motivation and
goal setting work in this case?
The motivation and goal setting might come from a desire to graduate with honors or to be accepted into graduate
school. Since some potential employers of recent college graduates do ask for an official transcript as part of the
application process, that might be a good reason to do one’s best.
The next step is to come up with some ways to achieve that goal. To improve grade in a course, it might be helpful
to join a study group. Discussing course work with fellow students is a great way to find out if you are on the
right track. The group will also give participants the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and perhaps
indulge in some friendly debates. If you are finding a certain part of the course content difficult to get a handle
on, the other members of the group are there to help. Sometimes all it takes to get a better understanding of a
certain portion of the work is to have someone explain it in a slightly different way.
Another part of the student’s motivation and goal setting plan might be to find a fellow student interested in
earning some extra cash as a tutor or to ask the professor if there are any opportunities for extra credit.
As we can see from this example, motivation and goal setting really do go hand in hand.
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