You Control the Level of Your Success!

Why are some people more successful than others? When researching the topic of self motivation and success, I found several articles and books discussing different aspects to this topic. After browsing through lists of titles, I found a very interesting book called “Motivation and Learning Strategies For College Success” by Myron H. Dembo and Helena Seli. This book mentions key components to self regulation especially motivational strategies in helping students succeed.

“It does not matter what course, seminar, lecture, or job you experience, once you manage the factors influencing your learning, you can be more successful in any task”(Dembo and Seli, 6). This quote from the book points out a key idea of self regulation and how you have control over your success. It is one’s personal actions and motivation that allows them to promote their learning and thus leading to achievement. There are many key points in their article but I would like to mention the the self-regulation cycle which involves self-observation and evaluation, goal setting and strategic planing, strategy implementation monitoring, and strategic outcome monitoring. They also discuss how important it is to manage one’s motivation which “include your goals, beliefs, perceptions, and expectations” (Dembo and Seli, 10). If one cannot sustain their motivation, then it makes it makes them doubt their abilities and thus leading to unfortunate outcomes.

This article was very inspiring and helpful because it gave me insight on strategies to improve not only as a student, but also personally to reach my goals. It brings in several aspects leading to failure because individuals lack the motivation needed to succeed. I began using some strategies mentioned earlier and it has allowed to realize how important it is to take time to evaluate and monitor myself. By doing so, I’ve realized that there are several flaws in my learning methods and mindset. In order to fully reach my goals, I need to be able to understand what my goals are and evaluate what I’ve done to achieve them so far. This has allowed me to understand the significance in self regulation and motivation in completing tasks and reaching my goals.

Dembo, M.H., & Seli, H. (2012). Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success: a Focus on Self Regulated Learning.