How Do You Motivate The Unmotivated?

I recently asked an educational leader, "How do you motivate unmotivated students?" He said, "Read The Pedagogy of Confidence" by Dr. Yvette Jackson.

I have only read the introduction of this book, but I now feel a light glowing in my head. Actually, that light is a glow. Dr. Jackson writes that confidence that comes from competence - having the ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully - actually creates a glow in your brain. When you are good at something, you gain more confidence. When that happens, and you start to believe in yourself more, you start to burn glucose that results in our brain "glowing" from this energy. This response makes us feel stronger and surer about ourselves and our abilities. This leads to more motivation - even from our athletes who we label as unmotivated.

Success -> Feeling Competent -> Build Confidence -> Gain Motivation

We live in a society that focuses on and celebrates winning at all costs. We privilege and praise work, and one of the worst things that we can be called is a 'loser.' If we lose enough, or if we don't show success in something, we can develop feelings of incompetence that dim the light on our passion and leave us unmotivated.

Failure -> Feeling Incompetent -> Lose Motivation

This can also lead to a focus on what we and our athletes can't do. Our focus on our weaknesses can be so strong that we undervalue our strengths and cause us to become even more unmotivated.

Dr. Jackson states the key to getting out of this rut and motivating the unmotivated is asking "What are your strengths?" and, "What are the strengths of your athletes?"

When we believe in people, we focus more on their strengths and what they can do. When we focus on their strengths, we ask questions like, "What do they do well?" and, "What do they do the best?"

Our athlete's motivation to work and learn is directly affected by our confidence in their potential AND in our confidence in our ability - as coaches, teachers, and parents - to nurture and cultivate this potential.

We show our confidence in our athlete's ability to learn and grow by fearlessly articulating and supporting a belief that everyone can learn and grow, and by believing in our ability to help everyone learn and grow.

EVERYONE CAN LEARN AND GROW, AND WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO HELP EVERYONE LEARN AND GROW

Motivating the unmotivated begins with standing up against a deficit culture that focuses on weaknesses, and cultivating confidence in your ability to build on your strengths and the strengths of others. It then requires finding ways to earn small victories that build up our competence and confidence.

MOTIVATION COMES FROM CONFIDENCE. CONFIDENCE COMES FROM COMPETENCE. 

Your culture, your team, and your locker room must be an oasis that inspires, encourages, and motivates learning, growth, and hard work. It is generated by a culture that accommodates and assimilates the many different cultures of the people that make up the team. A shared culture that accepts, appreciates, values, and integrates the many different cultures of the people that make up the team is a strong culture through which motivation can grow.

Remember, motivation starts with belief in yourself and belief in those you coach and lead. Belief grows from competence. Small, successful steps lead to more competence and more confidence. More confidence leads to more belief. More belief leads to more motivation. More motivation leads to more success, and the cycle continues.

And never underestimate the power of meaningful and positive relationships in this process. Building relationships and building bridges between what you are teaching, and the lived experiences of our athletes tells them that we value who they are and the lives they have outside of sports. Show them that you appreciate the reciprocal relationship necessary to make our team an oasis in which they feel like they can confidently grow.

Jean Piaget once said, "People shape themselves to fit their world." Focus on your strengths and the strengths of the people you lead so they can shape themselves to fit in a world where they are successful.

Start by asking yourself, "What do I do well, what do I do great, and what do I do the best?"

Ask yourself, "How can I do more of what I do great?"

Ask yourself, "Which athletes have I impacted the most, and what did I do to impact them?"

Then go motivate the unmotivated and change lives.

All people are intrinsically motivated to succeed, and when students/athletes aren’t motivated, the question to pursue is, “What is being done to engage them and focus their attention?”

The catalyst for motivation is engagement, and engagement results in focused attention.

Somewhere between apathy and wild excitement, there is an optimum level of engagement.

Developing interests and connecting to personal experiences stimulate motivation.

Motivation depends on context, and it is important that we recognize how their lives affect their motivation.

Conditions that motivate our students and athletes are positive beliefs, personal goals, and productive emotions.

Conditions that demotivate our students and athletes are associations from the past that provoke negative feelings, past failure, irrelevant content, or a lack of respect.

When we have goals, confidence, and believe in ourselves, our brains release dopamine and endorphins – powerful pleasure chemicals. They reinforce motivation.

The keys to engagement for motivation for all of us are relevance, challenge, feedback, demonstrating and building confidence, and positive beliefs.

Confidence is built through recognizing and using our gifts and strengths.

References:

- Jackson, Yvette. "The Pedagogy of Confidence." Teachers College Press, 2011.