Are You Persistent In Your Pursuit Of Success?

What Motivates you?

High Efficiency

Do it.
Do it then tell me what you did.
Tell me what you are going to do and do it.
Tell me what you want to do and wait for a decision.
Don't do anything without my approval.
Don't do anything until I tell you.

Low Efficiency


The following checklist may prove helpful in getting at the sources of poor motivation. If you want to improve your motivation you may want to choose a self-directed improvement program or use the information as a focus for counseling.

1. Really preferring something other than attending this university:

____Would you prefer not to educate yourself and others

____Would you rather attend school to learn something

____Would you prefer a different kind of training.

2. Motivation  as means to ends other than learning:

____To avoid getting a job

____To find a mate

____To have a good time

____To get away from home

____To prove self-worth

3. Distracting personal problems:

____Conflict with same sex

____Conflict with opposite sex

____Conflict with parents

____Lack of confidence

____Undefined resistance to college

____Angry at the world

____Overuse of drugs or alcohol

____Fear of evaluation

____Difficulty in making decisions

____Lack of financial resources

____Marriage problems

____Phobias and other anxieties

____Insecurity

____Loneliness

4. Lack of interest

____Undefined vocational goals

____Undefined educational goals

____Course material is not what I think is important

____Interest in school is not the "in" thing among my friends.

5. Continuing self-defeating behavior patterns:

____Excessive dependence on parents or others

____Fear as a motivator

____Parents as motivators

____Grades or academic achievement as motivator

____High school habits