“Sooner or later, all motivation is self motivation. And the challenge and opportunity is in finding the external forces that will soon become internal ones.
When we are teaching our students, we are always trying to find ways to motivate them. We want them to want to learn. We want them to enjoy learning. We want them to get good grades. We want them to succeed. Yet, it is like that old saying about how you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
If we can just give our students a little taste of success, hopefully, it will plant a seed of hope. Having hope is a scary thing because it is so easy and quick to lose hope.
I hope that as I can help each student achieve a little success, it will lead to more success and eventually big successes. Sure, there will be obstacles and possible failures but if there are enough successes, the obstacles and failures won’t stop my student from continuing the quest for success.
There will always be mountains and valleys in our lives and it is always harder to climb a mountain than to roll down a mountain. It takes more effort and even some blood, sweat, and tears, but the outstanding views are usually worth it.
I can’t teach self-motivation and I don’t believe that a parent can teach it either. It has to come from within. A student has to want something bad enough that he is willing to risk everything to get what he wants.
Once I can find out what will motivate a student to try, it will take self-motivation for him to keep trying. It is my job to plant those seeds of hope, keep them watered, and to nurture them.
How do you feel about self-motivation? Please share.
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