Block 2 sections

Block 2 - Know your needs and motivations
 

Introduction

If you look at your current situation, you should be able to see the lines of your personal, academic, and career plans coming into focus. Your life plan represents the person that you are. How can we be so sure? Because your plans are intimately linked to your needs. Let’s take Julie's example. She dreams of becoming a nurse: this aspiration corresponds to a need. Maybe a need for personal growth?

 

Theoretical notions

Needs


Figure 2.1 Pyramid of needs (Maslow, 1943)

From Initiation à la psychologie (5th ed.; p. 223) by Spencer A. Rathus, 2005, Montréal, Canada: Groupe Beauchemin.;

Maslow, a well-known psychologist, proposed a pyramid of needs, hypothesizing that the first needs that we must satisfy are basic needs, such as physiological needs (food and sleep, for example), and safety needs. According to him, it is only after having satisfied these basic needs that we can fulfill the more social needs, such as the sense of belonging, the feeling of being useful, having self-esteem and, finally, the feeling of personal growth and self-actualization.

Motivation

Motivation is the set of internal and external forces that directs behaviour toward a goal. It's the motor that drives you into action, allowing you to satisfy your needs. When motivation is absent, the result is known as "amotivation." In their research on the link between academic success and motivation, Robert J. Vallerand and Caroline Sénécal (1992) described three types of motivation in college-level students: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation.

HOW TO FUEL YOUR MOTIVATION?

Motivation is what leads you to make choices and take action. Motivation gives you the energy you need to achieve your objectives. There are various reasons why you may sometimes lack motivation:

  • The actions that you want to undertake do not seem of interest or value.
  • You feel isolated when studying and have a hard time understanding the subject matter.
  • The satisfaction and rewards you seek seem to be too far out of reach.
  • You perceive that there is an enormous mountain to scale in order to achieve your goals.
  • You allow your job or other activities take up too much time.

If you feel that you have no motivation to study, look at how far you have travelled already.

If, in spite of everything, you still cannot recover your motivation, ask your Academic Advisor about strategies for rebuilding your motivation. This will decrease the risk of you giving up on your studies.

 

Self-evaluation

Your attitude toward studying Test and results

 

Video capsule

Video capsule: "Know your needs and motivations"

 

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