Rewards v. Consequenses

On the last day of last semester I was so excited to go home. The only thing I wanted to do was see my family. However, there was something difficult that I needed to tell them. I was pretty sure I had failed my Architectural History class, and I knew that before we received the Report card, I would have to admit to them what had happened. Driving home that night I broke the news to my parents. When my dad asked me why I didn't do well, I realized it was lack of motivation.

Given my past, you can probably understand why this week's topic of motivation was particularly interesting to me. For my classes, I decided to try two different and opposing strategies (rewards and consequences) to test which action I would respond better to.

The times when I am least motivated are threefold: First, when I set my alarm for an earlier time in the morning so I can do homework, Second, the last hour of my Studio and Rep class right before dinner, and Third, after dinner when I go back up to my room and need to go back to studio. For the past week I have been implementing both no-cost rewards and consequences based on a chart that I made at the beginning of last week.

I decided on my rewards and consequences based on the motivation chart I completed on pages 280-1 in the textbook:

Since my motivation stemmed from all directions it was tricky at first to pick out what motivated me the most. But After thinking about it, I discovered that it was my family and friends that motivated me the most, so contact with them became my rewards. Therefore, I think that the rewards motivated me more than my consequences though I still think they are important to have as a back-up.

Ultimately, I think the actions that I have taken over the past week will help me to become a better student because the results of the rewards and consequences are very visible in my work ethic already.