6 B - Motivation/Delayed Gratification/Persistance

I have found the concepts we have been studying in Inquiry class quite interesting.  I think learning about them and trying to apply them to my life, both in and out of school will benefit me in the future.  I have found myself comparing what I am learning about motivation, delayed gratification, and persistence, to my life, and to what kind of person I believe I am.  As the weeks have gone on, I am realizing how all of these concepts are closely related to each other.

For example in my reading this week, Angela Duckworth talks about grit, as in the following quote:

She believes grit can wax and wane in response to experiences. In addition, people might be gritty about some things and not others. “You can see a child be exceptionally self-disciplined about their basketball practicing, and yet when you see them in math class, they give up at the slightest frustration," says Duckworth.

Cited from: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/grit/angela-duckworth-grit.html

In a previous blog about delayed gratification, I wrote about how it is easier to have willpower/motivation to wait for something that you really want. If something means enough to you or you want it bad enough, I feel it is easier to be motivated to either accomplish it, or to wait for it, then if it is something that is not as personally important.  The following quote speaks of self-control, which to me, is the same as willpower, and similar to persistence.

In the short term, self-control is a limited resource. But over the long term, it can act more like a muscle. Tierney cites one study in which students were asked to watch their posture for a week. At the end of the week, those students performed better on self-control tasks — tasks that had nothing to do with sitting up straight — than students who had not been exercising control all week.

So when it comes to willpower, if practice doesn't make perfect, then at least it makes progress. Tierney says people who exercise their willpower frequently often have better self-control — observant religious people, are a good example, he says. "Most religions have prayers you say, exercises, meditations you do, all those things build up that self-control."

Cited from: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/18/140516974/resistance-training-for-your-willpower-muscles

I believe that the more persistent you are, the more you practice and perform methods of self-control, and willpower, the easier it is to put it into practice to use in your daily life.  I have learned that it is beneficial to me to put some of these ideas in play in regards to my school work.  I have to be able to plan my time accordingly, in order to get all of my school work done in a timely manner.  I have been trying, and having some success in getting my work done earlier.  I have been scheduling time into my schedule to complete these tasks.  It is very tempting sometimes to take the time that I had put aside to do school work, to go do something that sounds better, with my friends.  I have to summon the willpower to say no, and stay and finish my work.  I know that as the deadline approaches, if have the work completed, I will be much happier, and more relaxed that I am not under pressure to rush at the last minute.