Teen Motivation: Do You Motivate "Toward" or "Away"?

Consciously being aware of how you motivate is a great tool to get you moving into the direction that you want to go. Do you find yourself using motivation “Toward Good Stuff” or “Away From Bad Stuff”? Only one of these models sets the groundwork for positive, sustainable action that results in less stress, increased fulfillment, and productivity toward where you want to go.

 There are two primary ways to get you into action:

1) Motivation Away From Bad Stuff: Moving away from the things that you want to avoid (i.e. bad grades, getting yelled at by mom and dad)

2) Motivation Toward Good Stuff: Moving toward what you want to get (i.e. good grades, a clean room)

Most of us tend to operate under the “Away From Bad Stuff” model. For example, you may be pretty comfortable with your math grade, so you coast along, but then your math grade may start slipping. Then, you panic, get a burst of energy and motivation, and work really hard to raise the grade, thus moving AWAY from what you want to avoid. Then, you may relax again until the grade starts to slip and you have to light that fire under yourself and the vicious cycle continues. The panic can cause a lot of stress, last minute cramming, and is not very sustainable.

What would happen if you shifted to the “Toward Good Stuff” model? This would involve creating a sustainable action plan from the get-go so that you don’t need to experience the stress and panic in the first place. For example, you just cleaned your room and it is looking impeccable. What would happen if you actually created a system for your room where there is a place for everything and everything is in its place? A well-designed action plan is implemented to continually work toward keeping the room clean and getting to where you want to go. This method is a lot more sustainable and it is certainly less stressful to make small daily efforts to work at maintaining the system for a clean room rather than thinking about the impending doom of getting yet another lecture from the parents about how the room is a disaster area. The same method can apply to your grades: creating a positive, sustainable action plan of studying from the beginning, so there are no huge dips in grades that can cause the stressful frenzy.

In what areas do you find yourself being motivated “Away From Bad Stuff”? What is one thing that you can do today to slowly start shifting to the motivation “Toward Good Stuff” model?

-By Hayden Lee, Certified Academic Life Coach for Teenagers

haydenleealc.com