"I think I can, I think I can!"

February 15, 2015

Have you ever been under-motivated or know someone who is? Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, such as depression or poor self-esteem, people are just not self-motivated enough to do what they need to do. It could be our clients in speech-language therapy, our children, a college student, an elderly relative, or maybe ourselves!! It turns out that the “little engine that could” we all read about when we were kids was right, and there is research to back it up: if we think we can do it, we are more likely to succeed!

A few days ago I was fortunate to attend an excellent seminar on cognitive rehabilitation and memory presented by neuropsychologist and researcher, Dr. Rob Winningham. He described motivation as having two parts, self-efficacy and perceived outcome expectations. Self-efficacy is simply the belief that you can succeed; if you believe you have the capability to be successful, then you will be more likely to achieve your goal.  Not believing in yourself is therefore self-handicapping and self-limiting. That is, having low self-efficacy is being your own worst enemy!

Hmmmm…….This reminds me of a project I started in 1988 with a friend of mine: joining a class to sew our own wool parkas! I had no sewing skills and no creative needlework talent.  Why I signed up for this project, I will never know, because my self-efficacy regarding making my own parka was very low!! Normally I am a very motivated individual, but I just couldn’t wrap my mind around making something myself that I would be proud to wear!

So what can we do to increase self-efficacy in our clients or our loved ones? The first step is to provide opportunities for them to succeed by giving them a task that they can definitely achieve. We may need to start small and progress in baby steps. Once some success is achieved, show them objective measures of the success they have experienced. That is, show them where they started and where they are now through a video, chart or graph, or through whatever other means seems appropriate. Having experiences in mastering new skills and overcoming obstacles will increase their self-efficacy. Another important way to increase self-efficacy is for them to hear about or meet successful people who are similar to themselves. Joining your local organization that serves people with the same disability or impairment would be an excellent way to meet similar individuals (e.g. Autism Society, Cerebral Palsy Foundation, etc.).

The second component of motivation according to Dr. Winningham is perceived outcome expectations.  This refers to the notion of “what’s in it for me?”. Your client or loved one needs to know the benefits of the behavior or therapy they are being asked to complete. Ask them what their goals are and show them how the work they are being asked to do relates to those goals.  If this still doesn’t increase motivation, sometimes the “Protection Motivation Theory” can be a useful strategy.  That is, explain what negative or bad outcomes will happen if they don’t do the work. I had an acquaintance who employed this strategy with her teenaged kids who were under-motivated in school.  She took them to a homeless shelter to volunteer so that they could see a different aspect of society less fortunate than themselves. It worked to motivate the teenagers to work harder and do better in school so they could go to university.

So what about the parka? Maybe I could use some of these strategies to motivate myself to complete it? Nope! Too late as I gave the partially finished parka away after staring at it in my closet for 20 years!

I have been very lucky my whole career to have worked with clients who are motivated to learn and do well. But also, I think speech-language pathologists are very well-trained in the art of motivation and how to organize therapy in a hierarchy of steps to guarantee success. However, you never know when you may need some different strategies to motivate others. I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial about motivation and find it to be of use one day, whether for yourself or the people in your life!

Please share this post.  You never know who you may be helping!

Thanks for reading,

Cindy McCallum, M.Sc., R.SLP, SLP(C), CCC-SLP

Registered Speech-Language Pathologist

Sources:

Winningham, Robert, Ph.D. Cognitive Rehabilitation and Memory Enhancement. Denver, CO: Cross Country Education, February, 2015

https://www.medbridge.com/instructors/rob-winningham-nursing-gerontology/