Think back to a moment in time when you had set a goal for yourself, maybe a personal project or a New Year’s resolution, only to watch your motivation fade before actually achieving it. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. People from all across the world relate to this occurrence, starting their goal optimistically, but feeling its purpose start to slip away.
This poses the question: why does our motivation vanish when we need it most?
The decrease in motivation as time goes on is a problem that almost everyone has faced, whether it be for a personal project or a goal they set for themselves. The reason for this phenomenon is difficult to pinpoint, but many believe that it may be due to burnout, boredom or stress.
Sarah Johnson, an AP Psychology teacher, gives insight into this universal struggle.
“I think part of it is the resilience factor, that it’s easy to make a goal and harder to actually follow through and complete the goal,” Johnson said. “Sometimes people lose motivation because they can’t see the progress that they’re making. Because there’s a difference between getting that initial motivation to make the goal, and then staying motivated to actually accomplish the goal.”
Heather Walker, from “Culture Amp”, adds on to Johnson, giving an example of how motivation can differ after receiving feedback.
“If effective feedback that bolsters employees’ sense of progress helps to sustain motivation, it stands to reason that motivation would decline when employees’ tactical and executional progress doesn’t align with their performance rating.”
In this article, Walker discusses how the employees were only motivated after receiving feedback on their work. This isn’t just shown in workplaces, but also in everyday student life. Audrey Bang (’29) knows exactly what that feels like.
“Well, I was super motivated the first few days, and then afterwards I was like, what’s the point?” Bang said. “Why am I even doing this? So I just gave up.”
Susan Zhang, someone who has also struggled with the nefarious motivation curve, gives a way to combat the struggle. She explains how writing the tasks down can help with actually reaching your goals.
“Maybe put [the goal] on a whiteboard or put it somewhere to remind yourself that’s your goal.” Zhang said. “Because if you don’t write somewhere or you don’t put it on the wall, you tend to forget it over time.”
Johnson also brings an idea for staying encouraged to complete a goal, suggesting that breaking the task into smaller ones can help maintain motivation.
“And so if they break [the goal] down into smaller goals, and that they can check off along the way, or that they can reward themselves along the way, that is one way to stay motivated,” Johnson said.
