Internal motivation for success at MHT-CET

Who won’t like to be known as ‘brilliant’ ? But how many can achieve and actually preserve their brilliance over the years ? Do you know someone from your schooldays who was very bright in those days but now is nothing above an average student ? Well, there are many such students. The questions that immediately arises in my mind is how did this drastic and undesirable transformation occurred ?

Whatever be the reason on surface, the ultimate reason is that the force driving that brilliance is not internal but external. And the moment external driving force goes brilliance too goes. How sad, but true, many students have been dependent upon external forces for being successful in our studies. I have an interesting case study with me today.

Background:

This is about an boy who is about 17 yrs old, a science student studying in Std.12th. He will be appearing soon for his H.S.C. board exam and MHT-CET. So don’t you expect him to be prepared with atleast 65-75% of his studies ? The truth is that his current performance has been average but not to forget that he would excel at his school exams in early years. What happened to him now ? Is he not that intelligent ? Doesn’t he have good resources ?

Observations:

I observed the student, his activities, his surroundings, his friends circle etc. And most importantly, his aptitude. He had an excellent aptitude for what he wanted to be. He had access to all the resources one would need to excel: good professors, good notes, enough money to buy books, etc.!

The problem:

He had a lot distractions. He had a fully loaded mp3 player, a PC with latest games, etc! But they were not the root cause of his deteriorating. The process started when external force could no longer work. In his childhood days, his parents would constantly be behind him for studying. So, as a child, he had no options but to study. Even though it was forced, he studied and could write well in the exam, scored well. But as happens with everything, he got ‘used’ to it and then the response started to fade. He then needed greater amount of force. By this time, his parents (who were providing the external force) got fed up of constantly reminding him and let him on his own. Did you realize that the external powerful force just vanished ? It also took his academic brilliance away with it and left behind an academically average student. The students was in a ‘mature’ state of mind, which meant he had lot worries about his future. Just as some adults turn to alcohol when they are bugged with worries, this boy turned to MP3s and PC games, unknowingly. Deep in his mind, he wanted an ‘instant relief’ from all his worries, which MP3 and PC games provided. It progressed gradually to addiction. This is where short-sightedness started creeping in.

What do you think would have solved his problem? If I had deleted all mp3 songs on his mobile phones, could it help ? No, that would make him agitated and he would then rebel against me. That would make my job difficult. So what could I do for him? Should I give him a lot of homework ? Never!.. The most simple and effective solution will be to get his internal motivational force into action. I used the following approach with him. I had friendly talks with him and in-between remind him of his goal. I invoked confidence in him by acknowledging his capability to make it big in his dream field. I made him realize that the way his academics are now, he had slim chances of even getting into a ‘decent’ college. I made him realize how his competitors were overtaking him in every possible way. And guess what, the boy was zapped back to reality in a second. The confidence which I had invoked in him earlier made it possible for him to withstand the reality and face it with courage. He could realize. Today he is studying without anyone having to tell him to study. His scoring better marks than what he scored earlier. All this took around 3 weeks time with friendly follow-up on phone.

Incorrect approach (What should NOT be done):

If I had directly told him on his face that the way he was performing now, he had no chances of even getting admission into the field, he would try to avoid me and all my words. Also, he would have never accepted that. Natural, isn’t it. Even obese people sometimes don’t accept that they are obese! They would tell you that they are ‘well-built’ and not obese!

Outline:

See where the problem lies. Many times, its lack of internal motivation. Others distractions such as mobile phones, computer games are secondary. Invoke confidence. Then make him/her realize that he/she is on a descending path. Now you have to be careful. Many students tend to become agitated at this point. So be prepared to cool him/her down. One cooled down, tell them ‘general’ ways of improvement. If they tell you that ‘I know that I must study, there is noting new you are telling me about it.’, don’t lose your temper, but calmly tell them that practicing is more important than simply knowing. Every knows that they should study but not all practice what they know they should do. Keep them motivated from time to time and they are bound to improve.

Caution:

Never tell the student real scenario before invoking enough confidence in him/her. The abrupt realization of reality can be discouraging enough to make the scenario bad to worse!

On the contrary, there are many students were average at S.S.C. but have made to the top-medical colleges in India. When I spoke to one such student who I know, he agreed that internal driving force is the most effective. His parents had never picked up a stick to punish him after a very average score of 64%. Still he managed that great memorable feat. He knew that 2 years of hardwork is going to give him an life time achievement and this drove him through all path. There are many others whom I know have made it from an average to an ‘exceptional’ student. If you want to be one of them, let your 1% inspiration drive the 99% hardwork to make 100% success!

I am aware that the path to success is definitely not as easy as reading or writing this article. You will have to face frustrations, times which every things seems to go against you, your competitors surpassing you, etc. But please don’t get disheartened and suspend the struggle. If you want, rest for a while but don’t stop. Always believe in God. You will face tremendous exam and performance pressure at some point ahead. You may feel helpless even when you have the best professors and most loving parents on this earth. At such time, let these 3 people help you and they will always come to your help, no matter what time day or night it is. These 3 people are God, your efforts and your confidence in yourself. They will never-ever ditch you and I can tell this from my and other peoples’ experience.

Wish you all the best luck!