Purposes To help you decide what goals you really value and are willing to ...

Purposes

To help you decide what goals you really value and are willing to work for.

To suggest some methods for getting the motivation to reach your truly desired goals.

Steps

STEP ONE: Decide what you really want to accomplish. What price are you willing to pay? Deal with early distractions and your own resistance.

If your answer is 'yes, I would make many sacrifices in order to________,' you probably already know what you need to do (by noting what other successful persons have done). Becoming highly motivated isn't easy, if it doesn't come naturally to you. But it is possible. I've seen many students change and devote themselves to a career, to studying, to taking charge of their life. Here are some things to do to heighten your motivation:


Write down all the reasons why you want to (e.g. be a psychiatrist) . (You are most motivated when doing whatever is your choice, not someone else's, and gives meaning to your life.) The more reasons you have, the more motivated you will be.

Be sure your long-range goals are realistic and moral. Talk to others about your motives. This will clarify your thinking. Be sure the means and the end-goals are in line with your values.

Consider what a highly motivated person with your goals would do. Observe and talk to a role model.

Set sub-goals, e.g. get all 'A's,' and plan daily schedules, e.g. study 8 hours a day. See scheduling in chapter 13. Plan your life well enough and get enough self-control that you expect to succeed.

Consider the most likely distractions, make plans for avoiding them. Guard against immediate temptations distracting you from your more important long-term goals.

List all the sources of resistance you can foresee--your ways of avoiding the work, your temptations, your excuses, and self-cons. Ask what these resisting forces are trying to achieve for you; see if those needs can be met some other way. Look for the fears that cause you to resist change and try to handle these fears.

When you have definitely decided what goals you want to be your priorities, stop thinking about the decision. Get on with it.

Commit yourself publicly, specifically, and wholeheartedly to reaching your goals.
Altogether, these ideas boil down to--learn self-discipline. A critical part of discipline is learning to postpone pleasures and stick with the job until it is done. You must be able to envision the desired pay offs in the future but stay steady, organized, and dependable along the way.

STEP TWO: Acquire the skills you will need to succeed. You aren't likely to be motivated and enthusiastic about your work unless you are competent.

It is eye-opening to realize that Howard Gardner describes seven intelligences. Schools only teach two: math and language. There are five more: spacial orientation and art, psychomotor skills and athletics, musical talent, an understanding of others and an ability to work with them, and an understanding of yourself and the ability to handle your own problems. Develop all your intelligences. This is the highest level of motivation--self-actualization.

STEP THREE: Make changes in the environment, learn the self-instructions, and provide the rewards necessary to get done what you need to do.

STEP FOUR: Enrich your self-concept: both with wonderful fantasies of possible successes and with visions of ways you might fail.

STEP FIVE: Avoid continuing distractions, especially hedonistic temptations and strong emotions. Keep focusing on the important-for-the-future-tasks at hand.

STEP SIX: Enjoy the fruits of your labor.