What Motivates you?

Posted in blog

When it comes to not finishing things, it’s often a combination of poor planning, lack of understanding, and an overall lack of motivation for the task at hand.

You have to be motivated to complete what you’re planned, otherwise, no list is going to save you from distraction from a long term assignment. You might be super excited about the topic (that’s your motivation), but if you’re working to complete a large project, paper, or task that was assigned to you, and you’re not overly interested in, you’re going to have search a bit harder for motivation. Consider, giving yourself a reward when you finish, or if it’s a large project, give yourself mini rewards at important checkpoints along the way.

Try this process for pairing your motivation with a plan

  1. My motivation for working on ( write the name of the project) this week is: ( circle at least one item from the list)
  • competition
  • set a goal
  • reward by going outside
  • interesting to me
  • finish it and get it over with
  • to use my imagination
  • reward with a snack
  • reward with free time
  • to earn a good grade
  • praise from the teacher
  • give myself a positive feeling
  • to learn something new
  • to work with a friend
  • to have a feeling of success
  • feeling sure of what I am doing
  • reward with a game
  • reward with physical activity
  • to have order

Now that you have a better understanding of what motivates you to complete your project, commit to taking steps forward this week.

2. Three steps that I need to work on (insert name of project) this week are:

Reflect

At the end of the week reflect, by responding to the following questions by circling the response that best fits.

How well did I do? Good OK. Not Good

Was I motivated in the way that I thought I would be? Yes. Some NO

Did I do the 3 steps that I outlined for the week? Yes Some NO

What would I change next time?

If you need more help breaking down projects and turning them into a plan that works, check out The Breakdown online course. Or skip the course and jump right into the planning by grabbing the planner below.