When you commit yourself to higher education, it’s sometimes hard to keep your motivation over the long run. A number of drivers kick in, either in isolation or in synergy with each other. It’s not a bad idea to know what they are so you can energise them.

Our 4 personal types of motivation

1. External motivation: the aim here is to secure positive gratification or sidestep a form of punishment or avoid hassle. Take an example: you may opt for a particular course of study because of the quality of career opportunities it opens up, which means it’s less likely you’ll fall into an uninspiring, poorly-paid job.
2. Introjected motivation:you feel under pressure from outside (or you put yourself under it) to take such-and-such a course so you can live up to other people’s expectations. But you then make your choice without trying to find out whether it’s a good fit and without thinking through your future self-development.
3. Intrinsic motivation: this type of motivation is in tune with the joy of learning, the taste for studying and the quest for extended knowledge. In this case, it isn’t a long-term goal you’re aiming for but an immediate objective: we’re passionate about what we do in the here-and-now. Behaviour that is intrinsically motivated generates more added value, creative thinking and successful outcomes.
4. Identified motivation: in this instance, it’s an individual’s personal values that are relevant. For example, a student will opt for a business school that has an entrepreneurship programme in the hope that they’ll subsequently become involved in the social and solidarity economy. It’s a mindset, in other words, that puts a higher price on learning than results.

These four types of motivation are all equally legitimate: it’s not about pitting one against the other, although the last two – intrinsic and identified – are the most robust and stand the test of time.

4 tips to help you stay motivated

1. Develop a mindset that values learning for the sake of learning and not just the pursuit of performance. The feeling that you’ve made progress, even if you haven’t hit your target, will help you maintain your drive. It will encourage you to knuckle down and pinpoint the learning strategies that work best for you.
2. Focus on outcomes that are clear,realistic and close at hand. The best idea is to target intermediate steps: so, aim for a certain grade in the next exam.
3. Surround yourself with the right people: peers and teachers play an important role in maintaining motivation. One of the key factors is having friends in the class who share the same goals in terms of academic success. This is something teachers can encourage by putting on group work sessions. Mutual support, advice and sharing experiences are crucial.
4. Learn to live with failure.What’s important is knowing how to pick yourself up and bounce back. It’s worthwhile listening to peers talking about the doubts they’ve had, and how they’ve thought about giving up. They remind us that you’ve got to keep giving everything – it’s the predictive aspect of motivation that puts individuals in a position to achieve success. The support given by a teacher, or talking things through with classmates, will also help you analyse different learning strategies and check whether they’re right for you. And, last but not least, the quality of the atmosphere in the class is also instrumental in boosting motivation and keeping the desire to learn alive.

Article published in NEOMAG magazine No. 14. Click on the link and read the entire dossier devoted to motivation.