Description
1. Jerry:
“Motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal. It’s the crucial element in setting and attaining one’s objectives—and research shows that people can influence their own levels of motivation and self-control
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.” (Psychology today.)
The way I keep self-motivated is reminding myself every step is a process to the bigger goal, when I receive a graded paper and I get a score I do not like I can take the advice from the teacher an put to use in my next paper to be a well rounded writer. This keeps me motivated to work hard because this is the only way I will get better in lecture writing, furthermore being a case worker having a stronger understand of APA an how to write a compelling report to help a client will go a longer way for them. Everything I do I know it will better me when I become a social worker an that’s what keeps me motivated.
Psychology today Motivation. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/motivation
2. Felicia:
Staying motivated I believe it starts with renewing your mind set daily. Renewing your mind helps you to clear out thoughts. Often times what we think plays a role of our outcome and our thought process. Renewing your mind helps sheds the old outer covering and placing with something new. The spirit of your mind plays how you react to certain things that you face in life. Neuroscience and spirituality suggests that mediation enhances the neural functioning of the brain in ways that improve physical and emotional health. (Maddix, Mark) Life factors can cause lack of motivation when it comes to your classwork assignment or life in general. What helps me to stay motivated in my writing process is I pray before I do my assignment. By praying before my writing assignment I ask God to grant me wisdom, clear my thoughts, guide my mind on what is needed for me to be successful not just in this class but in every expect of my journey. I carry a full load I work full time, full time wife, full time mother and part time student. It is easy to lose motivation in writing because your mind is full with other thoughts and other things besides writing. “Mediation and contemplation of God can change the structures of the brain that control moods, give rise to the conscious nations self and shape the sensory perceptions”( Andrwes, Glena) Once I finish mediating my mind is clear, I am focus, and I am able to start writing. My famous quote by Christopher Columbus is “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
3. Samantha:
An expectation that I have for myself that often leads to greater stress for myself is wanting to help everyone. Often times I become overloaded trying to be there for every need of a family member, neighbor, or friend. I find joy in serving others, but it is also important that I create better boundaries and budget my time more wisely. Author Byron Katie said, “Every no I say is a yes to myself” (Katie, 2017). In an article on establishing these healthy boundaries, it’s suggested that a way to choose what to say yes or no to is to look inward and think of the ‘why’ behind your response. Then think of the opposite response, and see if it bring you a sense of relief (Christensen, 2018).
I like this strategy, and used it recently. I was invited to be on a city league softball team and readily agreed because I love softball and I love my friends. Because of Covid-19, they have new rules at the park where no children would be allowed to attend the games. That immediately stressed me out, because I have 4 kids and it would be tough on our family for me to be leaving even more than I already do between work, school, exercise, etc. I considered perhaps it would be easier and less stressful this time around to sit out, and play next season when hopefully things have settled. I felt relief and even though it disappointed my friends, I knew it was the right decision.
Creating healthy boundaries from people that ask a lot of me, or who may be toxic in my life, will give me the space I need to succeed.
References:
Christensen, D. (2018). Establish Healthy Boundaries by Using Your Inner Compass. ONS Voice, 33(4), 27.
Katie, B. (2017). Mind At Home With Itself. London, UK: RIDER.
4: Bobbe:
The expectation I have for myself is success. Throughout life, stress has played a part in all aspects and areas. Stress leads to overwhelming anxiety, and anxiety is a fear of failure. The fear of failure can block and inhibit the ability to try new things, which leads to the pattern of only wanting to be successful on what you know or can do well. There is great irony in knowing that we have all mastered tasks and become successful be overcoming great challenges, and experienced defeat. Success and the I pick stress associated with this can be insurmountable. I watch my children, in particular my son, not want to try anything new for fear of failure. Becoming a life long learning and providing a strong self-motivation model, as outlined by Downing, are what will block future success (2017). As outlined having those ‘Quadrant I’ goals are critical for success, and require strong self-motivation. My goals in trying a new skill was to demonstrate it can be done, and self determination is key for success.
Growing up, I played sports, and good at them. I was involved in track, soccer, rodeo, hockey, the usual rural style sports- never endurance based athletics. As I am now older I am becoming involved in altitude hiking, which combines many challenges- endurance, mental preparedness, cardio fitness, etc. New skills are more difficult to learn as people age, as well as prepare for. There is a great deal of failure involved, and the success can be more rewarding when achieved. These are great for learning how to take time and care for yourself, in terms of adequate rest. The term ‘self-care’ is used regularly. The human body will have a complete system failure if it is not prepared adequately. Dealing with fitness is good for relationship bonding. As peers maintain and connect deeper during rigorous times of need and experience, there are also beautiful adventures. Each trip we have great expectations for success, and about 20% of the time we end up in failure, mainly due to weather. We have learned to embrace failure. The first few times it was extremely stressful. I had drove over 4 hours to the base, and hiked for 6 hours, and failed to summit. Learning to accept and grow from failure has become as important as the task, or accomplishment itself.
The risk assessment involved in learning when goals should be re-evaluated, and given a pause is a skill. This is a wisdom that successful people have mastered over time. I know experiencing dangerous winds, storms, or un-forecasted events are good examples of when expectations have lead to great stress, but also good decisions. Covey, explains that ‘common sense isn’t always common practice,’ for those who are successful, they will use the most common of senses (2013). Each time I experience a failure, or a goal begins to deviate off course, it is now used as a good opportunity to re-evaluate for another plan for success.
Bobbe
References:
Covey, S. (2013). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Simon Schuster
Downing, S. (2017). On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.