Monday, November 26, 2012

on motivation

We're at the end of the first semester of your last year of high school (crazy!). 
As you're pushing through the last couple weeks of the fall semester, 
I want you to consider what motivates you
What incentives can you give yourself to excel in the following weeks? 
What attitude adjustments and paradigm shifts do you need? 
What is going to propel you forward to success despite busyness, senioritis, and the overall need for a break? 
Furthermore, how are you going to motivate others to create a better environment for your class (and teachers) as a whole?

This thoughtful blog is due no later than 8am, Tuesday November 27.

20 comments:

  1. What motivates me to push through this semester is to remember the bad grades that I made last quarter, and how I must revert back to those grades again. I must push on, improving my grades along the way. I can not do what I did last quarter (in which I wouldn't do my work because it took to long, or it was "difficult"). One way I can motivate others is to remind them that WE ONLY HAVE 2 WEEKS LEFT!!! Why mess up now when we are about to finish our semester! Don't be rebellious or lazy, but rather do your best. Another way to motivate my peers is to not have a depressed mood or talk about how work at school is hard. I must have a positive attitude in order to inspire my fellow classmates to do good as well.

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  2. It's getting harder the more that senoritis kicks in, but somehow I manage to stay motivated. Three things motivate me to keep on keeping on: college, finishing strong, and glorifying God. Colleges want to see that my senior year wasn't a year of slacking off and letting grades drop letter by letter. Rather, they want to see a kid who is willing to power through and continue to get high grades. Finishing strong is another motivation. I want to enjoy senior year, and I won't be enjoying it if I'm failing all of my classes. I want to give my last year in high school my all, as my last hurrah. Finally, I want to glorify God with my year, and slacking off sure isn't the right way to do it! I'm been blessed to get an education, so I should take full advantage of it!
    I still do struggle with procrastination, so I definitely need to keep my goals in focus and remember why I do what I do. I need to remind myself continually of my incentives to do well, because these are what push me to do well no matter what. By keeping a positive attitude, and my reminding my peers of how blessed we are, I hope to motivate both them and the teachers at FA.

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  3. College is my main source of motivation. The better the grades, the easier life will be. I need to make myself feel as if every lesson of every class is of importance, as I tend to drag myself class to class knowing that If I skipped every day for the rest of the year, I would most likely pass the final exams without studying. I will make sure I write down assignment dates and do all the homework I can remember. To motivate others past this slump, I plan to encourage when needed.

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  4. I'm not tired of learning, I'm tired of the lack of my aspirations being motivated. I feel like I'm in an environment that doesn't push me to be the best. I'm at a complacent place in my life, and I don't want to submit to the complacency. I am going to strive for what is ahead; that means that I will need to keep my grades up, keep a good attitude about what I'm learning at the moment, and work as hard as I can to reach the future that I envision. I'm not just going to dream, ill make things happen instead of sitting around wondering whatever happened to them. I don't wanna be an adult one day and wonder what happened to my aspirations. I want to look back and say, "who knew that I would surpass my dreams" I don't want to remain complacent the rest of my life, and that means that I have to change it right now. so I guess it starts with kicking senioritis in the butt so that I can propel myself forward.

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  5. What motivates me is my future. The way i have progressed through the year has yielded some ideas and plans i have for the rest of my life that i would like to keep to. I have also experienced the wrath i face if my grades go down especially before a Holliday; its no fun:(. So i plan on pushing through these slumps and getting the grades i need. It can be difficult so stay on task in the final weeks before christmas i know, but i plan on encouraging my classmates and myself to keep it up and doing our work.

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  6. The one thing that is motivating me is knowing that in just a few short months it will all be over. If I can just get over this last little hump, then I will be free and clear and not have to deal with all this stress anymore... until college. In the following weeks, I can give myself the incentive of proving to others and myself that I can get it all done. Attitude adjustments are the hard part. It is hard for one person to be happy and determined if everyone around you is just as annoyed and not wanting to be there. Students and teachers all need to be reminded that it is not going to help anyone to have a not so kind attitude and that neither one of us really wants to be here anymore so we might as well give each other a break. I am going to propel myself forward by first of all praying, and then by knowing that this part of my life can help determine my future and progress. Overall, I need to try to spur on my classmates and try to give them the motivation to do work instead of adding to the complaints of certain projects, homework assignments, and classwork that is not the most interesting or helpful.

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  7. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for…
    One of my famous, horribly written analogies! :
    Imagine that you are late for a very important appointment and rushing to get out of the house. Finally, with your keys in hand, you rush for the door – only to be stopped by a pile of dog feces. You can’t just leave the dog feces on the floor. You must clean it up and run the risk of being even later and making a good first impression with your future supervisor. In a very dramatic, ridiculous way, this putrid pile of dog feces is the equivalent to high school in my life.
    Seriously, no one semi-normal likes school. However, the difference between the school haters who make it and the school haters who end up on the most wanted list is motivation. Some of the things that motivate me personally are: not being in school, weekends, music, and educational learning that prepare me for college and my future career choices. Even though what I am learning in school has nothing to do with my life and future career goals, being pessimistic all the time isn’t healthy either.
    So how can I re-adjust my attitude into being more positively motivated? I can start by telling myself, “I only have to survive one more semester then I’m out of here!” I just have to keep pushing forward, and keep fighting. It’s not so much a problem with having as opposed to keeping positive. It’s all about consistency. Maybe if I try to look for positives in things that drive me crazy (school in general) and think about what I’m thankful for, maybe it would help keep these positive thoughts flowing. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Think positive!
    What will propel me into success goes back to that really bad analogy I started with. My success will come when I learn how to clean up all this unnecessary scholastic feces and still maintain my appointments with the people in my life that actually do prepare me for my career. I have to be wide awake on every front of this battlefield because this last year, senior year, is indeed a fight that I plan to be the victor.
    Finally, motivating others… I don’t think that it’s my job to motivate other students or teachers. Everyone has their own personal incentives to be motivated and if they are having trouble being motivated, it sounds to me like a personal problem with their own attitude. Motivation comes from within and since it’s not my job to entertain someone when they’re bored, it equally is not my job to baby sit the unmotivated. Sure you can try to help, but if that person doesn’t personally decide to make the change you’re not going to get anywhere, however I’m sure if it ever were to happen when a teacher is feeling unmotivated and blaming their students for that un-motivation, all the student’s parents who choose to pay for a private school education and that college preparatory atmosphere will help “re-motivate” that teacher to a level of motivated professionalism.

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  8. One of the things that motivates me is the thought that soon high school will be over forever. Although bittersweet, it also pushes me to finish strong and keep myself involved in my work. Knowing that my grades affect which college I will get into also heavily motivates me. If I do poorly in school, it's symbolic of how I will handle my work in the future... and colleges will see that and think "Oh, we don't want her! She's lazy." And I don't want to come off that way. If I show that I actually want to work hard, hopefully, my classmates will agree that this is something they should want to do too. Attitudes can be very contagious. Students and teachers all need to be reminded to motivate each other because no one wants to go through school every day hating every minute of it.

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  9. Senioritis is, without a doubt, starting to get the best of me. The only way I can keep myself motivated is by thinking about why I am even trying. My main three reasons are my future, my family, and myself. Obviously, getting accepted into a good college is not a piece of cake. It takes hard work and good grades. Every time I think about not doing a homework assignment, this is the very thought that floats across my mind. Though it may seem easier now not to do the work, I have to remember that it more than pays off in the end. If I don't go to college, I'll have no steady job, therefore no steady income, therefore no way to provide for my family, and so on.. Along with this, a huge incentive that keeps me going is making my family proud. Without my mom, I would be nowhere, so she is a huge reason why I try to stay focused on school work. Lastly, one of my biggest incentives is making myself happy. In 30 years, I want to be able to look back and be broud of what I did and who I became. Clearly, not doing my work and slacking off will not lead to me feeling proud of myself. Clearly, slacking off and not doing work wont lead to me feeling this way about myself. One way I feel like I can motivate others is by setting an example. Instead of complaining, I can have a positive attitude. Instead of not doing my work, I could actually sit down and do it. Leading by example is one way I can motivate both myself and others.

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    Replies
    1. *proud
      & I repeated one line twice
      ..sorry im typing this on my iPad and it wouldnt let me go back and correct it!

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  10. What motivates me is the fact that if I flunked out (as unlikely as that is because I'm practically a genius :) my parents would probably kick me out. I'm not ready to move out yet. It's too much money. Also, I just want to make good grades and further my knowledge. I have a pretty easy schedule, so my case of senioritis isn't that bad, although I do have those days. I don't really have to study though, because I just pay attention in class, so that doesn't really have an effect on me. I don't feel that my attitudes can really motivate others. I'm not one that has really ever hated school, since middle school that is. I'd like to just finish the year strong. Being in college for a couple semesters already, I can easily say, the professors don't put up with the crap that students give FA teachers, it is a whole new level of difficult. So I'm enjoying high school while I still can.

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  12. Im motivated to get to college with my 4.0 intact. I also want to make sure Im as prepared as possible to enter the life of college and the differences in academic pressure. I want to make myself look as good as possible to my potential colleges in the hopes they wil give me lots of money. I'm also motivated to leave First Academy in the best way possible. I hope that my fellow classmates will be motivated by the legacy we can leave at our school. In the following weeks and months I plan to keep my eyes on the goal, get much more organized, and remember to try hard simply for the sake of trying hard.

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  13. Motivation is certainly needed for all at this time of year. It's time to tap into all possible energy sources to finish out the semester better than the first quarter. The fact that God has blessed me to be at this wonderful school and that He is just so awesome and worthy of my all motivates me. Just this week at church, our pastor challenged us to live these next thirty five days with ambition to live fully for the Lord. I want that drive to be reflected in my work. One of the greatest incentives that will be waiting for me after all the work at school is done is a Christmas break that will be free of that work. Good grades will be a great reward and I might even allow myself to buy a much loved mocca frappe as a present in return for good work. Even though the threat of senioritis, the enticing break, and other distractions loom about, I think that because there are only about three weeks left I will continue to work hard to finish strong.

    Sometimes the greatest influence on others is their actions rather than words. By continuing to stay motivated and do my work diligently, I hope to influence others to do the same.

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  14. I'm the kind of person who is motivated by the results of action. I'm not so much motivated by my future--it's not here yet. Seeing others being affected by my actions and then that effect being used for their betterment is my motivation. Why I am so unmotivated at FA? Well, there is only a handful of people who really care about their future or at least that's what their attitudes suggest. Sometimes I wish that college would hurry up so I can get out of here! haha My attitude is a reflection of the environment I'm in. Jackie, I was never one to be content with mediocre. At FA for the most part mediocre is exceptional. This needs to change.

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  15. I am motivited by knowing that im almost done with high school. Senioritis is getting the best of me so i need to just push through and try and get good grades. I will motivate others by keeping a good attitude and staying motivated myself

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  16. Not much motivates me in the midst of senior year. If I keep my grades even close to the ones ive had in the past, I will still be admitted to most of the colleges ive applied for. BUT, legendary basketball coach and mentor John Wooden had seven life principles that he lived by, and one of them was, "make each day your masterpiece." I choose to make each day my masterpiece because I will never ever regain that day, hour, minute, or second back. I care about the success of others. When others see the joy and success I have by making each day my masterpiece, and ultimately using all the gifts God has endowed me to their maximum potential, they begin a similar lifestyle. Ultimately pouring back in to me just the same as I did them. Thats what motivates me.

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  17. Btw this website is really horrible. It has deleted 2 half done blogs of mine do far. What motivates me is college. I have already been admitted to my college of choice. Over the break I even applied for housing. Right now the only thing that could possibly take my future college life away would be death or doing bad in highschool this year. I will do my best to keep either of those from happening. This is where 99% of my motivation comes from. As far as motivating others, I don't think there is much that I can do other than encourage them and set a good example by doing my work and echoing motivation. Something that I would like to receive is that same motivation when somebody is dealing with my life and my classwork. I do my work in hopes that I can reap the benafits and be proud of my hard work when I get that work back, but sometimes this is impossible due to timely carelessness of a few of my elders. This is the thing that unmotivates me the most. It is painful to do any work, whether it be math, science or literature, without having the confidence that I will ever see it again. However, I still have no choice but to give myself a false sense of trust when doing this work so that I can still excell and hopefully go to college, despite the poor effort and negative attitude of those around me. I have a duty to do the work that is assigned to me, and I cannot point fingers and make excuses every time somebody points out my shortcomings. I must take that advice, hone it, and do my work no matter how much free time it restricts me from having.

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  18. You know what unmotivates me? Selfish people that don't think outside of themselves. compassion is something that everyone could use a little more of, including myself. we're called to love one another and that goes deeper than just saying it.

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