Okay,
It's time to do homework.
Some of the homework you've got you might like and some of it you might not like at all.
Now,
I want to be very clear,
This has nothing to do with your character or your discipline or your willpower.
Here's how I think about school.
School's a bit like a big buffet of food where we require kids to take every single thing off of the buffet and eat it.
Now,
This of course is not how adults eat at a buffet,
Right?
We just go get the stuff we like,
Put it on our plate,
And we just eat that.
And the stuff we don't like,
We leave it on the buffet.
Kids don't have this option.
We basically tell you what classes to sign up for.
Maybe as you get into high school you have a little more say,
But you're still required to take a whole lot.
This of course means that there's stuff on your plate that you would not have chosen but you still have to eat.
Now,
We don't talk openly enough about this and we don't talk openly enough about the fact that this can make for a real challenge when it comes to motivation because you're like,
I didn't even choose these beets.
If you don't like beets,
I don't like beets.
Why do I have to eat them?
Well,
That's school.
So this worksheet that I have for you recognizes that on your plate,
Any given afternoon or evening,
There's gonna be stuff you like and stuff you don't like and you've got to get through all of it.
Now,
The technical terminology for this is stuff that we have intrinsic motivation for and extrinsic motivation for.
So intrinsic is we do it because we want to,
Right?
This is the stuff you like to eat.
Extrinsic is we do it because we have to or we're gonna get in trouble if we don't do it.
This is the stuff you got to eat but you wouldn't have chosen yourself.
Now,
What this worksheet does is it helps you divide your work into those two categories and then walks you through a strategy of basically cleaning your plate.
And how you do this is going to be unique to you,
But the key thing that I hope you take from this worksheet and a way that I hope it's helpful is that we take the judgment out of the fact that some of it you want to do and some of it you have to do.
I think often when we talk with young people or talk about young people,
We kind of do it with this vibe of like,
Oh well the good students are really into it and the less good students don't feel like doing it.
Okay,
That is baloney.
Even the most earnest students don't always want to do it or they want to do it at 4 p.
M.
But they no longer want to do it at 9 p.
M.
Or,
And I think this is important,
Sometimes they want to do it because they like it but they also care about the grade,
Right?
You can have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation about the same topic at the same time.
The goal here is just to get it done and I think sometimes it's easier to get it done if we just play our cards face up and we say some of it's gonna be fun,
Some of it's just gonna be work,
And we use the fact that we often enjoy some of what's on our plate to help us get through all that we have been served up.
All right,
Good luck with your homework.
