Strategies

Motivational strategies in this module have been organized into the following themes:

1. Am I maximizing my intrinsic sources of motivation?

2. Do my values fit my goals and actions?

3. Do I feel a sense of control?

4. Do I have balance and connection to self and others?

5. How can I maintain my drive and energy?

 

1. Am I Maximizing my Intrinsic Motivation ?

The more intrinsic interest you have, the better.

Find a reading or research question that you enjoy thinking and wondering about.

  Ask yourself:

• Do you allow yourself time in the day to “just think”?
• Do you enjoy reading research papers on your topic?
• Do you get excited by new research findings?
• Do you find yourself thinking about your research outside of your work time?

If the answer is no, think about ways to incorporate your intrinsic interests into your work:

• What topics or questions did you come to grad school to study?
• What new findings do you find really exciting?
• What courses do you find the most interesting?
• Try a thought experiment: If you could design and work on any project, with no limits at all, what would it be?
  • Whether or not your dream project is realistic, it may give you a jumping off point

 

2. Do my values fit my goals and actions?

Our attitudes or opinions stems from our values which, in turn, result in our actions. When our actions (e.g. chronically missing deadlines) and our values (e.g. being a responsible student) don’t match, we tend to feel conflict.  Unity and cohesion of values and actions is the goal.

 

 

Self-Reflection

What are my values?

Do my current actions reflect my values?

Think clearly & specifically about your future plans

• Where do you see yourself? Do you want a research position? A teaching position? A job with a government agency or NGO? A job in the private sector?
• Consider whether how you spend your time day to day corresponds with your future goals
• Imagine where you see yourself after graduation, and structure your time to pursue that goal
  • If you want a teaching position:
    • Attend professional development courses and workshops focusing on teaching (e.g. at the Centre for Teaching and Learning)
    • Pursue opportunities to TA and teach
    • Offer to guest lecture classes in your research area or topic of interest
  • If you want a research position:
    • Focus on lab work
    • Devote time each day for analysis/writing
    • Present your research whenever you can (within the department, at conferences)
  • If you want to work in either the private or public sectors:
    • Make contacts in the field
    • Arrange for informational interviews with people in the field
    • Attend relevant conferences
    • Investigate opportunities for volunteer positions or internships
    • Gear your research toward a practical, real world problem

Operationalize a goal into action steps or sub-goals.

To assist you, use the TOOL: Values-Based Goal Setting Analysis

TOOL: Values-Based Goal Setting Analysis

My Value: ________________________________

Goal I want to achieve: _______________________________________________

Steps to achieving my goal	Barriers	Strategies	Date achieved
1.
2.
3.
4.

Example:

 

My Value: Being a valued researcher

Operationalizing Goal: Publish my latest research findings in X Journal

 

Steps to achieving my goal	Barriers	Strategies	Start/Stop dates
1. Set aside 2 hours each day for writing	Very tired after working in lab all day	-Have a rest after my lab shift. --After my two hours of writing, treat myself with some ice cream.	Now until end of the month
2. Send a 2nd draft to my supervisor	Lack of concrete feedback	-Ask post-doc in my lab to read over my draft. In exchange, offer to do something for her. -Set app’t with supervisor.	By end of next week

Source: Forsyth and Eifert (2007) The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety

 

3. Can I make choices?  Do I feel a sense of control?

Human agency is the capacity for human beings to make choices and to enable those choices to be acted upon or imposed on the world.

The degree to which a graduate student has agency often depends on the individual’s experience and the supervisory relationship. It is common for students to swing between feeling uncomfortably independent and alternatively voicing concern that they do not have enough scope for making choices regarding their research project. An “autonomy supportive” supervisor will know how much latitude can be given to a student so that he or she can perform optimally.

PhD students are generally given a great deal of independence to design and manage their own projects while Master’s students might need to work more closely within the protocols or research focus of the supervisor.

Use the TOOL: “What do I control?” to assess how much control you have. Doing this exercise often helps you see that you have more agency than perhaps you thought.

It is important, too, for your well-being that during times of limited agency, you have mechanisms and approaches to help you cope, relax, and accept.  

See TOOL “Learning to Accept What We Can’t Change”for ideas on how to practice acceptance.

TOOL: What do I control?”

Activity:

1. Choose one of your challenges. Using the model above, enumerate which aspects of the challenge are under your control and which aspects are externally controlled.

2. From there, prepare a plan of action to attain and maintain what you do control and a plan for managing those elements over which you have less control.

3. For elements in your life over which you have no control but still must face, acceptance of your situation will help to relieve stress.

TOOL: Learning to Accept What We Can’t Change

The following are some ways to help your learn to accept what you cannot change.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is awareness, without judgment, of life as it is, of you as you are, of others as they are. It is a condition of “being” present rather than “doing”.

How to practise being mindful? Mindfulness is a learned skill that develops with practice.

• Sit with your eyes closed in a quiet, safe place.
• Begin with some slow, deep breaths to calm the mind and body.
• Pay attention to the moment (rather than the past or future)
• You may wish to focus on something like the breath, the soundscape, your body, an object, a mantra or simply watch, from a detached, non-judgemental point of view, any thoughts, feelings, moods, or sensations that arise.

Resource: Dr. John Kabat-Zinn’s wonderful book Full Catastrophe Living lays out his Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program.

Surrender

• Trying to control a problem can result in the problem controlling you.
• Reach for help when it is too big for you to handle yourself. Queen’s Counselling Services provides free and confidential counselling from both learning strategists and personal counsellors.
• Surrender to a higher power, whatever that means to you.

Love Your Problems

• Accept the problem by telling yourself the truth about it. Describe it in detail.
• Unconditionally accept the problem. This is not giving into the problem, or giving up, but is a way to be with the problem and get to know it. Rather than denying the problem exists or struggling against it, “loving the problem” frees you by draining its power over you.

Celebrate Your Mistakes

• Deal with fear of making mistakes by celebrating them. Get them out in the open. Examine them. Hiding them takes a lot of energy.
• Mistakes teach you more than successes do. Mistakes are how we learn.
• Mistakes involve risk-taking which means you’re stretching the limits of your ability and growing.
• Celebrating allows you to focus on correcting the problem.
• You’re not alone. Everyone makes mistakes.

 

4. Do I have balance and connection to myself and others? The ABCs of Well-Being

A Awareness

Self Reflection

How I am feeling?

Am I suffering from ‘academic fatigue’ or burnout?  

Due to the enormous pressure during grad school, maintaining a state of well-being is critical to feeling motivated. Tiredness after many months of non-stop work, exams, meetings, etc. is normal and can usually be remedied with more rest and relaxation. Burnout, on the other hand, is more notorious. It steals your internal drive, happiness, energy, and sense of connection.

Consider speaking to a counselor or mentor if you wonder whether you’re experiencing burning out.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm

B Balance

Beware of the Fate of Don Quixote

In short, he so busied himself in his books that he spent the nights reading from twilight till daybreak and the days from dawn till dark; and so from little sleep and much reading his brain dried up and he lost his wits.

—Cervantes

A chronic lack of balance in your work and personal life is all too common amongst graduate students. Many grads (and their supervisors) have a hard-driving, “workaholic” approach to their schedules, which has some benefits in terms of deliverables. However, the downsides are many: loss of connection to friends and family, isolation, low mood, exhaustion, reduced recreation and exercise, etc. Aside from the psychological need to relax and unwind, humans have a social need to connect with others so taking time to hang out, go for a coffee, etc. is TIME WELL SPENT.

Creative thinking, based on the intense research you may be doing, is most likely to happen when you allow your mind time to wander. A real gift with many positive returns.

So, are you taking good care of yourself? Consider using the Tool: Self-Care Check List to assess this. If you sense an unhealthy imbalance, set a few goals to invite balance back into your life.

TOOL: Self-Care Check List

Rate Yourself: 5=Frequently 4=Occasionally 3= Rarely 2= Never 1= Didn’t occur to me

Physical Self-Care ___ Eat regularly ___ Eat healthfully ___ Exercise ___ Get regular medical check ups ___ Get medical care when needed ___ Take time off when sick ___ Get massages/ body treatments ___ Dance, swim, walk, run, play, etc ___ Take time to be sexual ___ Get enough sleep ___ Wear clothes I like ___ Take vacations ___ Make time away from phones, computers ___ Other: ______________________	Emotional Self-Care ___ Spend time in the company of those I enjoy ___ Stay in touch with important people in my life ___ Give myself affirmations, praise ___ Love myself ___ Revisit favourite books, movies ___ Seek out comforting activities, objects, people, relationships, places ___ Allow myself to cry ___ Find things that make me laugh ___ Play with children ___ Other: ______________________
Psychological Self-Care ___ Make time for self-reflection ___ Have my own personal counselling ___ Write in a journal ___ Read literature unrelated to school/work ___ Try something I am not expert in or in charge of ___ Notice my inner thoughts, judgements, beliefs, attitudes, feelings ___ Let others know different aspects of myself ___ Engage my intelligence in a new area ___ Practise receiving from others ___ Be curious ___ Say ‘no’ to extra responsibilities when I need to ___ Other: ______________________	Spiritual Self-Care ___ Make time for reflection ___ Spend time with nature ___ Find a spiritual connection or community ___ Be open to inspiration ___ Be aware of non-material aspects of life ___ Try at times not to be the expert or in charge ___ Be open to not knowing ___ Identify what is meaningful to me ___ Meditate/pray ___ Sing ___ Have experiences of awe ___ Contribute to causes in which I believe ___ Read or listen to inspirational literature ___ Other: ______________________
School/ Workplace Self-Care ___ Take a break during the day ___ Take time to chat with colleagues/ other students ___ Make quiet time to complete tasks ___ Identify exciting, rewarding projects ___ Set limits with clients, colleagues, friends ___ Arrange a comfortable work space ___ Get regular feedback from mentors, supervisors, etc ___ Negotiate my needs e.g. schoolwork—extension, deadlines, etc. ___ Have a peer support group ___ Other: ______________________	Balance ___ Strive for balance within my academic and work life ___ Strive for balance within my WHOLE life: family, relationships, school, play, rest.   ACTION PLAN: From the activities above, choose 5 which I would like to start now: 1. __________________________________ 2. __________________________________ 3. __________________________________ 4. __________________________________ 5. __________________________________

Guilt-Free Play & The “Unschedule”

Another common concern expressed by students is feeling guilty when you are not working. Constant, pervasive guilt means you never have time to recharge your mental and physical batteries. In his book “The Now Habit: A strategic program for overcoming procrastination and enjoying guilt-free play”, Neil Fiore, PhD, espouses the virtues of guilt-free play. In fact, he argues that not taking time to recreate and enjoy life may lead to procrastination. Using his own form of “reverse psychology”, he invented a technique called the Unschedule which prioritizes life goals over work goals thus (he argues) leading to more work and less procrastination. It may seem unconventional, but it works!

TOOL: Guilt Free Play & The “Unschedule”

Purpose: get you working again; face your fear; produce quality work, give you guilt-free time for recreation; turn a procrastinator into a producer

GOALS

1) Get working.

Start by committing to 30 minutes of work each day. 30 minutes is enough time to solve a problem when you’re highly focused, but not so long that you lose focus, or can’t muster up the energy of start. Once you’ve done 30 minutes you can choose to do another block of 30, or stop.

2) Prioritize recreation time.

By starting with scheduling recreation first, the Unschedule avoids the common resistance we have to work. Traditional work schedules leave our play unstructured. The Unschedule tells you to play, exercise, take a day off, not overwork each day or each week, and start small. By limiting your work activity to predetermined periods of 30 minutes and requiring recreational time, the Unschedule subconsciously builds up your desire to work more and play less.

THE METHOD

1. Punch in-Punch Out
Get a sense of the actual time you spend on quality, productive work. Using the Punch in-Punch Out time clock approach—write down when you start work and when you stop, accrediting yourself with actual time worked. Add up the total time you are spending over a week.

2. Now take a weekly schedule or calendar.
a) Block off times for all committed non-work activities (including recreation, sleep, meals, etc).
b) Now take your number of real work hours and fit them into the ‘empty’ spaces. Organize small, chunks of 30-minute blocks onto the Unschedule.

More “ABC’s” on Balance and Connection:

C Connection To Self and Others

a) Positive Self-Talk

“Self-talk” is the private conversation we have within ourselves- which we may or may not be awae of.

A shift in your language can create powerful shifts in your thinking. Negative self-talk contributes to procrastination and lack of motivation while positive self-talk can jumpstart your work, build self-confidence, and keep you moving forward.  Neil Fiore, writer of “The NOW Habit”, contrasts the language of Procrastinators and Producers. Producer language moves you forward while Procrastinator language gets you stuck. For example statements, go to  TOOL: Language of the Producer

TOOL: Language of the Producer

Procrastinators :  get overwhelmed, feel pressured, fear failure or success, try harder, work longer, feel resentful, lose motivation, focus on what they “should” be doing, feel like they have little or no control of their circumstances

Producers:  put aside fears (e.g. failure, feeling overwhelmed, low self-esteem); enjoy guilt-free play; feel in control of your life/create your own narrative; focus on what they can start now.

Self-Statements that Distinguish Procrastinators from Producers

Procrastinators say: I have to…                        Producers say: I choose to…

Procrastinators say: I must finish…                  Producers say: When can I start?

Procrastinators say: It’s too much for me!        Producers say: I’ll take one small step.

Procrastinators say: I must be perfect.               Producers say: I can be perfectly human. Procrastinators say: I don’t have time to play. Producers say: I must take time to play.

EXERCISE

a) Identify any negative or counterproductive self-talk which incites procrastination or low motivation. e.g. “At this rate, I’ll never finish”; “I should have started earlier”; “There’s only more work after this”; “It’s not working”.

b) Prepare challenges to these negative statements e.g. “I’ll never finish” à “I’ll start the next step NOW.”

“Procrastinator” Statement:________________________________________

“Producer” Statement: _____________________________________________

Source: Fiore, N. (2007). The NOW habit: A strategic program for overcoming procrastination and enjoying guilt-free play. 2^nd edition. Toronto: Penguin Group.

b) Positive Visualization:

Even when you are not feeling especially motivated, visualizing yourself as a motivated person can help. See the guided visualization

TOOL: Visualizing my Best Self.

TOOL: Visualizing My Best Self

Read the following statements aloud or quietly, and take time to really experience the thoughts, feelings and sensations as they arise. Allow about 10 minutes of uninterupted time.

First: close your eyes.

Take a moment to relax and focus on your even, easy breathing.

Now:  think of a time when you felt confident, focused, energized and stimulated.

This can be in a school related experience or outside of school – it could be standing in front of people presenting on a topic, it can be writing a paper, it can be playing a sport, doing a paid or volunteer job, helping a friend or family member. Place yourself there.

Where are you?  Notice your surroundings…

Are you in a group?  Alone?  With a friend?

What are you doing?  What did you do to prepare for this moment?  Did you have someone’s help to get ready?  Did you rehearse what you would do?

Are you speaking?  If so, what does your voice sound like?  Do you sound strong?  Animated?  Calm? 

How do you look?  What is your facial expression like?  Are you smiling?

What are the people around you doing? How do they look?  Are they listening to you?  Are you working together?   

What’s happening in your body? Do you feel relaxed? Strong? Comfortable? Excited?

Are you sitting, standing, doing something physical?

What’s happening in your mind? Are you thinking? Creating? Planning? Writing?  Performing?  Just being?

What thoughts are going through your mind?

 Finally: how did you feel when you had finished what you were doing?  Did you feel satisfied?  Relaxed?  Proud?  On top of the world?

 Did you reward yourself in some way for your hard work? 

How to use this Motivation Tool:

When you are faced with a challenging situation or a difficult task you are avoiding, take a few moments to remember how it feels to be motivated and energized.  Remember how you felt in the above scenario, before, during and after the experience.  Tap into this image of your “Best Self” whenever you need to motivate yourself to face a new challenge.  Imagine yourself performing the task competently.  Generate an image of yourself in the situation, fill in the details and draw on this to motivate yourself to work toward this goal.

Written by: Liz Racine, Learning Strategies Development, Queen’s University

c) The Mind-Body Connection

In order to relax the mind, it’s important to relax the body and vice versa. Some people accomplish this through intense physical activity and others prefer calming activities.

 The mindfulness approach has been used for many years in the East to increase mind stability and clarity. Taking a few moments to gently watch your breath, without forcing, can often be enough to naturally slow the breath and heart rate, and release muscle tension. Another approach is to simply watch what is going on in the mind, without judgment or criticism.

TOOL: Mindfulness Practices        

Mindful Breathing

Get comfortable in a place where you’ll be undisturbed for 5-10 minutes. You may sit on the floor or a chair. Sit upright with your palms up or down on your lap. Close your eyes and gently guide your attention to the natural rhythm of your breath—wherever in your chest or belly.

Simply notice the breath as you breathe in…and out…in…and out. There’s no need to make the breath faster or slower, deeper or shallower. Just allow your breathing to do its own thing. Sense the air passing from chest through the nose as you breath. In and out.

Notice your breathing with a sense of kindness and gentle allowing. There’s nothing to do except notice your breath. Sink into its natural rhythm: the rising and gentle falling of the chest and belly as you breathe in…and out. In and out.

If you find your mind wandering or you feel distracted, just kindly notice that, and return your attention to the rhythm of the breath and the rising and falling of the chest and belly.

Continue this practice of kind observing for as long as you wish.

Mind Watching

Goal: to notice our judgmental and worry thoughts rather than getting caught up in them

Start by taking a few slow, deep breaths. Continue breathing throughout the exercise.

Imagine you’re in is a medium-sized white room with two doors: your thoughts come in through the front door and leave out the back door. Pay close attention to each thought as it enters. Now label the thought as either a judging or a non-judgmental thought. Watch the thought until it leaves. Try not to analyze or hold on to it. Just acknowledge having the thought. If you find that you’re judging yourself for having the thought, just notice that. Don’t argue with your mind. Just notice it for what it is and label it: “Judging—there’s judging”. You’ll know if you’re caught in a judgment by your emotional reactions and by how long you keep each thought in the room.

Keep breathing. Keep watching. Keep labeling. A thought is just a thought. Observe your thoughts as if they were visitors passing in and out of the white room. Let them have a brief moment on the stage and then let them leave when they’re ready to go. Then greet and label the next thought…and the next.

Continue this exercise until you sense a real emotional distance from your thoughts.

N.B: Observing your thoughts without judging or reacting to them isn’t easy at first, but with time and regular practice, your mind will get less and less wild. 

Adapted from: Forsyth, J.P., & Eifert, G. (2007). The mindfulness & acceptance workbook for anxiety. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

For a number of relaxation tips and techniques, go to our online module http://www.queensu.ca/learningstrategies/grad/stress/module.html

You might also consider joining a yoga or meditation group where you can relax with others!

d) Using Your Professional and Personal Networks  

Supervisor & Faculty Support

Faculty can play a key role in helping you stay motivated.

Set regular meetings with faculty involved in your learning. Have regular, ongoing email communication, even when your supervisor is not physically available.

Develop Mentor Relationships

Sometimes students benefit from additional mentoring and support:

• A post doc
• A senior grad student
• A faculty member other than your supervisor with whom you get along with or whose research you find interesting
  • Even within a mentor model, developing relationships with several faculty gives you the opportunity to work collaboratively, be exposed to a broader range of knowledge and expertise, develop new skills, and increase your network of contacts within the field

Develop these relationships with people around the department:

• Develop collaborative research projects with other faculty or post-docs
• Set up weekly meetings with another grad student to discuss and keep track of each other's plans and progress and increase accountability
• Ask another student to occasionally read and edit your work before sending it to your supervisor, and offer to do the same for him or her

If you want to re-shape your program of research, discuss this with your supervisor

• Your supervisor wants you to be happy and productive
• If you are involved in a project that you find uninteresting or overwhelming, talk your supervisor:
  • Discuss whether you can scale back your involvement or get someone else involved
  • Suggest a new project you would be interested in working on
  • Frame the situation in terms of your strengths and enthusiasm:
    • For example “I am really interested in the area of green energy, and I have been doing a lot of background reading on it. Also, I tend to work really well in group setting. The project I am working on doesn’t really focus on my primary interests, and leaves me feeling a bit isolated within the lab. I wonder if we can bring someone else on board to work with me on that project, and I can use the extra time to develop my ideas for the green energy project”

Professional Support

Get professional support: learning strategists, Writing Centre tutors, other faculty members inside or outside your department.

Collegial Support

Colleagues can help you keep motivated. Find a colleague who is a role model. Ask what his/her strategies are.

Family support

Explain your student life to your partner and family, and enlist their cooperation in making realistic plans or committments.

 

5. How can I maintain my drive and energy?

Is it normal for my motivation to wane and wax during my program?

How can I keep my motivation going over a long period of time?

2 - 4 years is a long time to keep motivation high while running the grad school marathon. However, there are things you can do to build endurance and keep moving ahead.

a) Manage Your Time

1. Plan: create a macro-plan or overview of major benchmarks (doing comps, submitting proposal, publishing a paper, etc.). Make it very visual so you can see it regularly. You might like to use the Gantt project planning software. It’s easy to learn and free.
2. Set and prioritize goals: set weekly, term, and program goals. Take time to prioritize, review and re-adjustyour goals.
3. Organize a daily list of tasks and schedule them into your day timer or calendar - use the Interactive Weekly Schedule.
4. Consider blocking major activities throughout the 3 parts in a day.

     E.g. 3 hours in morning- read and write

            3 hours in afternoon- office hours and lab time

            2 hours in evening- think on the day’s readings, mark assignments

            Use large breaks at lunch and dinner to exercise, eat, socialize, check      

              Facebook, etc

5. Set aside a weekly time slot to review what you have done and update the plan
6. Aim for 6 days of solid work and a full day off for re-creation (and groceries?)
7. Look for ways to focus on your priorities; delegate booking research subjects, setting up the lab, confirming room reservations to lab assistants, volunteers, etc.

b) Be Productive EVERY work day

Even when you have low motivation, doing a small task means that you can honestly say, “I worked today”. Most grad students want to feel productive and if a whole day is frittered away, it’s usual to feel bad.

Monitor your accomplishments (even those very small bits of work) by writing them down. You can make lists in iCal, Google Calendar, etc. or you may simply jot down the task and how much time you spent doing the task.

Try using time monitoring software. The following two are easy, free, and fun to use. ‘My Tomatoes’ also helps to get you started on tasks, although eventually longer periods of work will be desirable.

My Tomatoes http://mytomatoes.com  

Time Tracker www.formassembly.com/time-tracker

c) Pace Yourself

Behave like  a  not a  . 

In the Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” the steady paced turtle got to the finish line, not the sprinting rabbit. Sprinting is alright when you have a small, time-limited task or project, but racing through a 4 year PhD is madness.

Go to our online module  http://www.queensu.ca/learningstrategies/grad/tm/module.html  for TOOLS to assist in planning, organizing, and monitoring your time.