Concept of determination

Casey Clark

Mr. Gowans

L.A. 12

1/9/2013

Concept of determination

My essay is on the concept of determination; determination is to have a firm purpose, a firm will or intention. Today’s society has a lack of purpose; they have no desire to accomplish their own goals. Today’s society is lazy, unwilling to put for the effort that is only necessary to complete that task at hand. And what is the cause for such idleness? “In an ideal world, people would act for the simple pleasure of it. Unfortunately, in the real world, people often do things because they feel compelled or pressured.” (Motiv Emit 1)  So we can see by what they have said, there it is a lack of motivation, Americans simply don’t want to do things, it seems like it is too much. This is where self-determination plays a role, we need self-determination is needed to motivate someone.

In the “Real World” there seems to be a lack of self-control that results in failure then nobody wants to complete tasks, at the off chance that they might fail. This might be because, “In short, self-control is often imposed or externally compelled.”(Motiv Emit 1) When externally compelled, people will begin to feel inferior, in turn the start to have little confidence and little self determination.  When imposed they feel pressured and in turn when no one is there to tell them to do something they just won’t.  In reality people should make choices, because they want the outcome of their choice, but no they don’t; what is the point. Self determination should come from the need to get the correct outcome. Life should be about making things better, because that’s all we have is hope.  We should not have to be compelled; the risk is the reward meaning the more risky the more rewarding.

In these days people have a lack of self- control, thus they fail to keep life good. “Recent research has shown that exerting self-control appears to deplete or use up a limited resource, which results in a reduced ability to exert self-control.” (Motiv Emit 1)  People allow themselves to limit their capabilities, which results in them being capable of fewer things. The fact of the matter is that there is no limited resource. People tend to just give up on doing tasks, because it simply seems too hard. Today's society gives a minimal effort to everything that they do. They should be able to accomplish their own goals, but they don't have the motivation to do so.

           The people that try to help the unmotivated, the ones with the lack of self determination often, scare the person they are trying to motivate. “In contrast, controlled motivation contains elements of behavior based on social norms, expectations and the avoidance of shame.” (The journal of correctional education pg 178) In turn you can see that although you are trying to help, you would in fact hinder the unmotivated man. People who try to help are often speaking to a rather timid person. If you really wanted to help someone, instead of pressuring that person into do something that he would rather not do, you might think to give him the reasons to complete the, task that this person could not find on his own. The fact of the matter is that if you were to just make someone do something they did not want to do, they would in turn resent you for it. It is far better not to harass a person who has problems with self determination, they already have a lack of purpose and if their purpose became to rebel against you, they might get nothing more accomplished.

It becomes common that people fail to motivate themselves. “Yet a lack of student motivation is just as common in any classroom instructional setting.” (The journal of correctional education pg177) Although it is common to see failure, it should not be common to see a lack of self determination. But no one seems to have purpose they see no reason for doing the small everyday tasks that matter so much. People see the failure and how common it is and they do nothing to solve the problem, in fact they do quite the opposite they sit, and they sulk, and do nothing short of shed a few tears. They refuse to look for the reason of doing their tasks, because they simply do not want to waste the energy doing something when they could just sit on the couch. You could say that Americans are lazy, the assumption would prove to be true, we just have the means to survive hand to us, which means that we would do nothing else to thrive; there is simply no point.

When people are compelled to complete a tasks it is worse, then if they were to just make the decision themselves. “In particular, feeling compelled to exert self-control may deplete more strength than having more freedom when exerting self-control.” (Motiv Emot 1) This could be in part, because of the sulking and shedding of tears. It is much harder to fail a task that you feel is appointed to you, than one that you have chosen to do, in part this could be because you don't just let yourself down, you let someone else down too. People have no problem failing, it is the fact that they fail someone that never fails to help out.   You would have no problem failing yourself, because you can find another way of completing the task at hand. But to fail you friend, who was relying on you in the first place, you feel there is no other option or you peer would have found it prior to asking you for assistance.

People tend to take to many things personal; it seems as if every failure is a shot to their confidence. “Arguably, how well people negotiate these tasks has a direct and deep impact on their sense of worth and well- being.” (Jennifer G. La Guardia pg 90) When someone fails it simply knocks them of balance, no longer do they feel confident in their capabilities but instead feel like they may not be able to do something that is completely easy. They can no longer keep themselves in check, they lose self-control and they screw up; each failure making them feel even less then they really are, when they continue to fail it hurts them in a big way. Americans today are so emotional, because they are so caught up in the little things that they fail to acknowledge the big picture. The risk of being so emotional is simply that you easily damage your self confidence.

So how do you gain self confidence and self determination? “parents and teacher that show autonomy support attempt to grasp, acknowledge, and convey understanding of the child's wishes, preferences, and perspectives, and encourage the child to initiate, and explore new activities, interests, or roles” (Jennifer G. La Guardia pg 93) So in short, we need to just keep going, pushing through the trials and gaining experiences that may help you along your way. Many Americans these days just keep pushing on through their problems, they refuse to give up and to let their own laziness over come themselves. When you decide that you are going to stick with it, you may find yourself with problems such as depression; so the idea is that you should move on, before you get to the point where even the smallest of tasks become a challenge. You also need to know yourself, your capabilities, you interests, the roles you could play in today's society. Then you just need to put your best foot forward and continue to find the ways that you can succeed in your own way.

In conclusion, you need to put forth the effort, you need to have the intention to succeed, and you need to do things without being asked. Life is what you make it, but first you have to make it, it seems simple but when you decide to do something, you might just be surprised at what you might accomplish. When you feel like giving up sometimes you should, you need to gain more experience in order to be successful sometimes. You need to take pride and have joy in your success; it will give you a little boost and help you to have confidence in order to succeed in your next goal. You must have a desire to accomplish your goals, because if you don't you simply will not put forth the effort need to complete the task. People can only push themselves so far, in order to be successful you need to know when to call it quits. You should never give up the idea that you can choose things for yourself, and you should never give up on success, less you want to fail; you would be non-desirous you would have a lack of purpose therefore you would fail.

Works Cited

La Guardia, Jennifer G. "Developing Who I Am: A Self-Determination Theory Approach To The Establishment Of Healthy Identities." Educational Psychologist 44.2 (2009): 90-104. ERIC. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Mark Muraven, Heather Rosman, and Marylene Gagne. “ Lack of autonomy and self-control: performance contingent rewards lead to greater depletion.”  Motiv Emot 31 (2007) : 322-330. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.  Web. 1/11/13.

McKinney, Dani, and Michael A. Cotronea. "Using Self-Determination Theory In Correctional Education Program Development." Journal Of Correctional Education 62.3 (2011): 175-193. ERIC. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.