I was recently talking to a friend of mine who teaches English as a foreign language, and the subject of our conversation turned to motivation. My friend was explaining that many of the children in her classes are actually only there because of their parents’ desire for them to succeed, and not out of personal choice. How on earth, I wanted to know, does she manage to keep her teenage students motivated to learn, when often they do not even want to be in the classroom?

As you might expect, there was not just one simple answer to this question, but as we talked it became clear that two things are particularly significant – varying the structure and the content of the lessons and handling the process of learning in ‘bite-sized’ chunks. Spend every lesson plodding through the same book and the kids are just going to be bored to tears. Focus all of their attention on that final exam, or set them tasks that are just too difficult for them to complete well, and the whole thing just feels totally unmanageable. Either way, their motivation is lost from the start. The key, according to my friend, is working towards that end goal one step at a time, making sure that each student gains some level of personal satisfaction at every turn.

As I listened, I was struck by the similarities with maintaining motivation in a job search, and most especially if the jobseeker has been unemployed for a protracted period of time. What my friend was really talking about, you see, was setting goals. The only real difference comes from the fact that, in her case, she is the one who sets the series of mini-goals which lead her students towards their eventual success, whereas in the job search, the only person who can do it is you.

The first part of the process of goal-setting is, of course, being clear about your ultimate objective. In the case of the English student, you would think this would be easy – he wants to pass the exam. But which exam? Michigan or Cambridge? His choice could have a significant impact on his future. The same goes for the jobseeker. Spend all of your time and effort looking for the ‘wrong’ job and not only will you be unable to convince a potential employer of your motivation and enthusiasm, but you will also be leading yourself along the road to future unhappiness.

It takes some serious self-exploration to find out what truly motivates you and to decide where you want to end up. It requires an understanding of your own personal values and priorities in life, the skills and strengths that you have available to you to work with, and of course any limiting factors that are standing between you and your ultimate goal.

However, once you have worked out WHAT it is that you want to achieve, in the same way that my friend does before she ever sets foot in the classroom, you then need to come up with a series of steps that will determine HOW you are going to reach your ultimate goal. These might begin with addressing some of your limiting factors, such as by gaining further education or training, or simply improving your resume. They might then follow up with a series of mini-goals in the areas of research, networking, gaining referrals, arranging informational interviews or simply the number of resumes that you send out each week.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next